Adding Color to a Portrait

Colors have these dimensions: Hues, Values, intensities

Popular portrait colors:

UB Ultramarine Blue
CB Cerulean Blue
Ver Veridian
COG Chromium Oxide Green
AZ Alizarin Crimson
BU Burnt Umber
BS Burnt Sienna
CO Cadmium Orange
VR Venitian Red
CRL Cadmium Red light
YO Yellow Ochre
CYL Cad Yellow Light
IB Ivory Black
W White

D1 Dark One : BS+Ver+CO ( a brownish-red warm dark color)
D2 Dark Two : BS + Ver + CO + W

N1 Neutral3: W + IB + YO ( a grey)
N2 Neutral5 same lighter
N3 Neutral3 same still lighter

HT1 Half-tone One: W+YO+CRL+COG+CO (orange)
HT2: Half-tone Two: W + YO+CRL + Ver (yellowish)

L1 W + YO + CRL (bright pink)
L2: Light Two: W + YO + CRL + CB lighter
L3: same still lighter

This week (first week of February) we will continue our study of colors used in portraiture.

Later we will study direct painting with very little or even no preparatory sketch, but for now we follow the more traditional, academic approach.

At my reception Friday (Springfield Museum, 6 - 8:30 pm), I will have some of my portraits on exhibit similar to the following:



This painting, "The colonist (Monroe)" , is in the academic style of the British School which influenced the early American school of portrait painting.



Also, one academic Italian portrait that was created using a four-step process shown below:

Portrait Class Lesson 2

We will continue to emphasize drawing. This time we will work from a live model. You should concentrate on the head and face not the entire figure. We will also add color in a controlled manner:



Step1: Use tone as well as line. This indicates areas of shadow. Sometimes it is ok to use just line but painting will be easier later if you use some tone and shadings here. The point is also to leave some of the underlying canvas showing through the drawing, either pure white canvas or the toned ground.

Step2: Use big brushes to mass in the larger forms. Use alizarin crimsin plus white for the pinks on the cheeks and nose. Use ultramarine blue and white plus alizarin crimson and white for light highlights on nose and forehead. Use warm colors for highlights (cad red light plus yellow ochre plus white.


Establish color mixes: one pale rose and the other pale olive. The first is cad red light, raw sienna, and white the second is green, yellow ochre, and white for the olive.

Establish a color mix for shadows: Below the chin, green, yellow ochre, cad yellow, and white. Under the nose, raw sienna, burnt sienna, and white. Dark parts of the hair are alizarin and black plus ulta ble and biurnt sienna.

Note: In class this week we would like to get to this stage within one hour and then switch to another pose and try to get to the same stage on another canvas or board. The goal is to practe the sketch and then the large block in. Here is another example:

Portrait Class Begins

Welcome to the portrait class (started up at Maude Kerns 1/14 on Wednesday evening). Looks like we have a full house at 16 people signed up!

Announcement: Everyone is invited to my opening reception at the Springfield Museum.. There will be some portrait examples.

The outline for the class:

• Equipment and Set up


• Basics and Concepts of Painting


• Classical Academic Painting


• Direct (Alla Prima) Painting


• Demonstrations


• Working from live models


• Looking at Good Examples

I talked about two different ways of establishing your preliminary drawing: the Renaissance style and the Modern style. The Renaissance approach uses a moe or less complete drawing with very little white canvas showing. The modern approach is more sketchy leaving a lot of white canvas.

(The Renaissance Style)
Note that using this style the artist spends a significant amount of time developing the Grisaille(F r. "Grizz-eye: grey")I prefer Sienna to traditional grey but either is good. Traditionally it is a monochromatic underpainting (imprimatura) in grey or brown.

(The Modern Approach) This is a more limited (sketchy) drawing done with the brush
Using a #4 bristle filbert If possible.

We started by concentrating on drawing with the brush trying to create subtle, soft edged likeness. The drawing has to leave a lot of white canvas showing. I emphasized that we need to spend at least two weeks drawing and re-drawing until we master this idea. The drawing, when properly exectuted, has half-tones as well as the full range of values from zero to nine.

To get ready for painting you will need brushes and colors:

Use Graham paints
Use a limited palette

1. Ultramarine blue


2. Alizarin Crimson


3. Cadmium Red


4. Cadmium Red light and/or Cadmium Orange


5. Cadmium Yellow Medium


6. Burnt Sienna


7. Thalo Green


8. Yellow Ochre


9. Titanium White


10. Ivory Black

In this class we will learn how to combine the Renaissance and modern portrait painting techniques. The modern approach calls for spped and direct painting. The older Renaissance methods call for careful drawing and slow, indirect painting, often building up the portrait over time, using glazes. Both approaches and/or a combination of the two are taught in many academic settings today.

Preview of modern approach: We build a portrait in four steps:
Step1: the sketchy drawing shown before that positions the head and establishes relative distances for key features (this process is called "mapping").
Step2: indicating the darker areas of the drawing:

Step3: add color: Pay attention to warm and cool colors and keep values in mind when painting in color. Also get masses right first, not a focus on details:

Step4: Add halftones and detail eyes, nose, mouth, hair

Looking at Examples: What was just shown was a very quick, rapid fire demo. In actual practice, taking more time with each step, results are much more refined. How much "finish" to give a portrait depends on the painter's goal. We shall discuss this in future classes. Here is a "finished" portrait of an Italian soccer player completed using this 4-step method: