LESSON 1 : Portrait of Robert
De Niro
This is a step by step
demonstration of my personal progression in the making of a portrait from
a photograph. Forget all you know about oil painting technique if you have
some, pastel painting steps are totally different. You can work the way you
like, you don't have to care about oil constraints. One rule, work the very
highlights at the end, and sometimes, over the sprayed artwork. Beware, unlike
oil painting, It is not easy to cover very dark areas with light colors. As information, I give
the closest Rembrandt (R), Sennelier (Sen), Vang (V) or
Quentin Latour (QL) , reference for any color I use when it is possible,
to allow artists to use their traditional palette, but it will be only an
approximation. I remind you, most of the colors I use are home made.
Start
with a sketch on a 18' x 25' velour paper with a Koh-I-Noor Sepia hell
lead. It is very important to catch the most likeness possible at this stage
so you 'll just concentrate yourself on the colors and value in the next steps.
Work slightly, no heavy strokes that would mark the paper.
With
the flesh tone 2, (~R.339.5+R.409.8)
or (~Sen.71) Or (~QL.69)
cover all the skin area and start the background around the face with a grey-green
tone (~R.709.7). You'll always work the
background and the portrait at the same time, it is important for a constant
evaluation of the color balance.
State
the shadows and the transition halftones first with Light Shadow tone
(~QL.122). Don'y worry with details here.
Use a dark grey-blue (~R.727.3)
for the jacket. White area, here the collar, will be filled at the end to
keep it clean.
Accentuate
the shadows in the darkest parts of the face, and state the base for the beard
with Medium Shadow tone (~R.408.3+R.538.7)
. Mark also the hair root that will make the transition to black hair. You can
darken the eyes at this step if you want.
Here,
warm the central part of the face with Orange tone (~R.411.8).
Don't cover evenly, just let the basic tone come out here and there. This will
avoid a stiff like painting.
The
lower part of the face is alway cooler than the rest, especially on men's portraits.
Add a touch of Neutral1 (~R.538.7+R.709.7)on
the beard and on the eyes's shadow to cool it and on shadowed area of the neck.
Here I have added a touch in the background as well.
I
go on cooling on a larger area of the lower part of the face, up to the cheeks,
suggesting the beard beneath the surface of the skin and slightly over the eyes
and the temple's hair with the Neutral tone2 (~R.538.8+R.709.7).
Using the same tone, mark the light shadows on the shirt, add some transitions
in the background using a light brown (~R.409.8)
Using
a Koh-I-Noor
Sepia dark lead, key in the darks to define some details. You can start
showing some hair at its root and on the beard and mustache.
Before
going any further with the face, lets paint the hair. Use Brown tone (~R.409.3)
for the base and add a touch of dark grey-blue (~R.727.3),
same thing for the jacket.
Now
state the evenly lightened areas of the picture, use Flesh tone 2
(~R.339.5+R.409.9)
to
state them. Notice how this bring some relief to the tip of the nose.
Add some spots of blue-green (~R.640.8+R.709.8)
in
the background to contrast with the overalls warm flesh tone.
Using
black tone, darken slightly the shadows areas and the jacket, mark the
hair in the beard and mustache and keep some light part as a base for up coming
grey hair.
Since
the previous step, the background need some stronger values. Here use a dark
grey-green (~R.709.3)
over and on the left shoulder to fade it with the background. Add some previous
colors to the background.
Unlike
Oil painting, each time you add a layer, you cover partially the one underneath
and don't mix with it, so at this point, we need to enhance the previous Orange
tone and the new beard area.
With
the Light tone (~R.409.9),
state the highlights all over the face. Give some details to the ear, the forehead
and lines here and there by adding a dark reddish tone with a
Conte stick #2453. We must see the blood color through the thinest part
of the ear.
Now,
put the grey hair, use a 1 inch edge of a very light grey-green (~R.709.9),
you can break your stick in 2 half circles to get a sharp edge. You must draw
the hair in full strokes, don't hesitate or stop in the middle of a reflection
and draw again, this would ruin the effect. Avoid the use of the pastel tip,
remember, use an edge. Add black on beard, mustache, eyes, eyebrows. Use the
Conte Pierre Noire for the thinest details.
Draw
on the grey hair on the beard and the mustache, here you can use a sharpened
Carre Conte white 2b. Add also some pure white hair on temples. Darken
the background on the right side with black and the jacket down to the
bottom limit of the portrait.Before going to the next step, I modified the left
eye a little bit, and darkened the eye-sockets.
Close-up
of the previous step to see more details, we are almost done.The noze has to
be better defined, the area between the eyebrows too.
Lets
reajust some values first...
Here
is the final step after a lot of small touches around the eyes,the forehead,
the bridge of the noze. The up lip was darkened. I removed some grey hair
from the beard, added some blue highlights in the background and their reflection
on the skin to fade the right face's edge in it. This bring some depth to
the artwork. I sprayed the portrait in several slight layers.
Just
e-mail me if you want to know more about a specific step, or about my pastels..
Depending
upon you requests, I will put some more lessons. If you are interested in
video lessons, just let me know. There are on the way.
A
last thing, I apologize for my average english.
Thank
you.
