how to paint portrait by AuntieJoo

here is a quick guide to how to get those tones of a portrait down.

this is a close up of a portrait by photographer Mike Disfarmer, which we will be using as a reference.

paint the mid tones in quickly, with diluted paint. You will ONLY paint the parts that are light-mid gray. You leave the darkest parts unpainted at this step.

when the mid tones from step 1 are still wet, apply the lighter tones as shown here,  blending them with the mid tones. But you would want to leave some light tones as they are without blending with the mid tones.

This is where you will start to see the features forming, when you DRAW in the darkest tones.

To paint with colours, I suggest that you stick to not more than 4 colours. Here I first coated the paper with green acrylic paint OVER an unwanted acrylic painting that was painted in browns. You can see the green undercoat at the top of the painting.  I painted the green loosely, leaving some parts of the browns to show. ( that's why you can see slight bits of browns on the face. ) When I actually painted the portrait I used light blue, black and white only.

For this the paper was coated very loosely with black acrylic paint, not apaque, but rather thin. For this painting I used light blue, white, black and crimson red. ( the crimson red was only used on the blouse, mixed with lots of white)

If you experiment with different brushes, papers and colours, you can get very different results, all using step 1-4!! Try it! I personally don't like to define my paintings too much, I like them rather rough and sketchy looking. If you want things to look more defined and detailed, continue painting the details in with a finer brush, from step 4 onwards. Happy painting!

my wonderful friends!

Me and my friend K, a couple of years ago at a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant:D

My super pal Piggs! I have not met anyone like her. She is a true original.

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Afraid to be human

I made this sketch, partly thinking about the great Degas who lived what seemed like a very unhappy life, and partly thinking about the ways we mask ourselves, in the pursuit of a "happier" or pain-free existence. I don't think this work is finished yet. I think it can go on a little bit more... But I just wanna share this now. (Vans, I did this after you told me that you like Degas)

(click on images to view larger versions)

The truth is, no one cares. He left us beautiful paintings and drawings. Maybe, that is enough.

Not quite a cat nor quite a pet

Santa Paws by ForestStrike

Mutant Kougra, Neopets.

By ForestStrike.

"Er ... Neopets is a site I play. And i love it so I draw all the Neopets." - ForestStrike

Thank You ForestStrike! Hey, I need some help here....

See those creatures in the drawing above? They are very unhappy as they drag their feet to work everyday, and then drag their feet home every evening. I was thinking if you could kindly provide this sad city with some super duper "ForestStrike!" creatures that would save the day?

To view more works by ForestStrike, go HERE.

纯真

“纯真” by Ng Yun Ling, pencil on paper

This is a portrait of Taiwanese band Mayday's lead singer Ashin, by Yun Ling, based on a photo of Ashin when he was a student.

Crochet Buddies!

I conducted my first crochet workshop at Doinky Doodles! today and it was lovely. H and E had never crochet before and it was a struggle for them initially but they tried and made these cute "portraits". I kind of think of these crochet faces as "self portraits" cuz they do look like them somehow. Here are the photos.

From left: me, H and E.

H's on the left  and E's on the right, of course. Don't they feel like their creators? (this was how H and E looked when they tried to figure out how to hold the crochet hook and yarn initially :P.....But after an hour of trying it was getting better. :D Thank you H and E for being such fast and easy-going  learners!)

A self portrait by Yawen