Graphite drawing by Jordan. Learning to draw is not as hard as some make it. You need a good teacher; someone who understands realism and wants to teach you foundation. I can’t express enough how important Foundation learning is. You must learn to understand form and how to create it with warm and cool tones in graphite. Starting to draw with a “Hill and Valley” concept { which I created in my teaching experience } is key to understand more complex skill sets.
I guarantee I can teach you!!!
Starting to add tones and set form with values.
I repainted the face and expression. The upper eye lids needed to be created. I drew from a model, but her upper eye’s were heavy. When I was painting the eyes I knew the angle just wasn’t correct. Here, the lashes are not in and detail shading. I do like the anatomy now.
I painted to this point. There are several areas if not all areas that need attention. At this point of realism I need to set the weight of the object or person, correct perspective, and form first before I fine tune the details. I like it so far. The think next I will paint the hands and letter in and then regroup, reevaluate and then details. The background will be damask in contrast eventually.
Oil painting is easy when you have knowledge about drawing forms. Realism in any medium is about layers and lighter layers of building forms. I will add more on this later, don’t have the time now, but stay tuned. This is titled, “The Un-sent Letter”. It is about a young woman sitting getting ready for her wedding day. She is holding a letter she never sent to an old love. It is about life decisions and “Letting Go” of the past’ heart wrenching. There will be several clues painted to add to the story, which line up with my recent photography. More to come.
This is the final oil portrait. An excellent example if you work hard at learning, a new skill level is possible. It is all a process, realism that is. You need to play attention to angles and how they change forms and where the highlights belong. Every new skill level will advance form here on. The next painting will include these new learned techniques and beyond. You can do it with
the right teacher!
August 28th.
Okay, Tom is starting to fine tune detail and really look at forms and shapes.
When you find the painting to be “Stuck” in values; therefore the values are stuck in 4,5,6 and 7 start to add the highlight white on the proper section of the forms. This will allow you to see form and the forms should start to create realism. All the fine detailed placement of highlights should start to make the figure appear or resemble the actual person.
This takes time and the more you paint portraits the easier it will become.
Always paint in the direction of the FORM! Realism is in layers. No EXCEPTION for the medium.
The skin tones are starting to create forms and structure in the face. There is a spot on the neck where the canvas isn’t taking the paint very well. It could be the brand of canvas or from using paint thinned by turpentine. Don’t use turp to mix down the paint; use Linseed oil to thin out paint. Turp is meant for cleaning brushes. The turp will break down the binder holding the pigments together. The paint may flow more easier but the paint is worthless and may fade over time. At this point of learning portraiture there are many layers to achieve; but after painting awhile the layers will be less. You should be able to mix your flesh tones sooner than later in which will allow less layers. In other words you will understand how to achieve flesh with less layers because you are understanding form and it’s depth in a value scale one to ten and ten to one.
→→ Very important: Realism is layers and with each layer there is less paint used with smaller brushes. As you learn how to paint form, flesh and wrinkles [Hill and valley, not lines] you will be able to cut out some layering. Always follow the form in drawing and or painting.
In the final layers “Tapping” tone in with the flat top of the brush will help technique. You are after Blending tones and or the Value scale; one to three blend or four to seven blend of tones. You want to paint where the value range of three’s; example one to three, four to seven in range. The goal is to have the tones blend very evenly.
Start with Burnt Umber and Raw Umber for the flesh base and white. Use a red to tint off the main pool of color.
The red background is gone! That’s good. Red is a powerful color and wants to come forward in space. It will fight whatever it is up against. It is about taking your time and learning with smaller brushes and strokes. Realism is in layers with each layer with less paint and area. KEY! always paint in the direction of the form.
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Here is the before and below after picture. Since the color was too red-ish for skin tone, by mixing an oil paint in a flesh tone color with more linseed oil, not too opaque to correct the tones. The under color [ red} will come through and add a tint to the semi-transparent flesh color. Oil paint has a nice blending ability and when it is not completely dry start to “TAP” and blend flesh tone colors in value ranges light to dark to accomplish form and building form on the face and neck. Remember to keep highlights in place, anything light will come towards you and darks will recede in space. 
Learning to see the details around you; what a leaf or tree for example looks like when you are standing next to it versus how a tree or the detail of a leaf look in comparison farther away or distance. Take the time to look and notice color and how the color changes and the details or realistic details slightly become unfocused as they go back or a way from you in distance.
I advise you to start thinking about color or graphite in values [one to ten; light to darkest] for all colors as well as grays/blacks. Are they warm or cool in tone? Warm tones will come forward in space and cools will sink in space. The way God designed it, not an artist trick. Think about how color fades in distance and lack of detail in landscape.
Don’t worry so much about the name of the color printed on the tube of color, look to see if it is warm or cool in tone and where would you use it on form, shape etc.
Roxanne 