Portrait Sketch Demonstration

I did a demonstration on Wednesday!  A great opportunity to stretch my public speaking skills, which need much stretching.

I took the opportunity to go over my "7 Essential Skills Artists Use" content.  I learned that I probably want to short the skill set, using the seventh as a sort of prologue to the other six skills.  I also learned that I probably don't want to go over the skill set while I'm trying to demonstrate painting a portrait.   Not unless I figure out a way to unify the two.  At times it felt like I was giving two different lectures simultaneously.   Lesson learned.

 So here's how the sketch went:



First I nailed down the general proportions.




Next I worked on creating more detail.




With the computer I can work on composition late in my painting, allowing me to save this complex subject for later in my talk.




Finally, I surprised people by breaking out some old photos from the late 1800's and reformatting the model's hair and dress to look older.




I never post a painting as is.  I always let it sit a night at least, and then touch it up.  This is what I did to the painting just now.  The composition needed a little tweaking, and the neck had some muddy color, and some of the edges needed a little something.

We painted the model a couple weeks ago, so you might want to check out that step-by-step, too!  I've got a few more stages saved.

I hope you enjoy!