To clear the air (and rant a little), and a step-by-step!

I've had many people ask about my portraits- the process, if they're actually painted, etc., so I wanted to do a "step-by-step" of a portrait being painted. To be clear, each portrait is hand drawn first, then painted in by hand. There is no digital coloring at all- it's simply REAL painting! With technology these days, people have a hard time believing artists still actually use just paint in their work. Flip open any magazine to the back and you'll find an ad for "popping your face" with a grid of the digital photo in four different colors. This is totally a cheap take on what Andy Warhol did, though most people don't really know or appreciate exactly what he did/was to the history of art. If you're not sure who Warhol is, Google him NOW! You'll learn a lot about printmaking, which is a major form of art that we owe a lot of creative credit to (wedding invites, banners, t-shirts, fabrics, purses, etc.), as well as have a better appreciation for art. These "pop art" ads look something like this: 

Photo credit: mydavinci.com

They're overpriced, really cheap/crappy, and just an insult to artists who create these by hand (sorry). If you really enjoy something like this, consider commissioning an artist to do it. It's not that expensive, you'll get a priceless treasure that was created by hand using someone's brain and skills, and it will look 10x better, last 10x longer, and have 10x more meaning. I PROMISE. 


[Please note that I'm not referring to photos stretched onto canvas (as in a printed photo on canvas that has not been manipulated). Those are awesome! I've done that myself....several times. Just make sure you look around and buy something that is good quality and not overpriced. Some places I really enjoy are imagekind and Canvas On Demand.]

So back to my original plan for this post....
What follows is a step by step of a hand painted portrait. Total work time is about 8 hours on this one. It's an 8x10" deep-edged, stretched canvas. Enjoy!

The original photograph

First comes the sketching

Adding in some face colors- just orange for now.

Now some yellow to show a different level of shadows

Some lips and hair color

Finished hair, eyes and teeth

Shirt colored in, background color added and my signature. He's finished!

Many people ask how I add the colors in. Before I sketch I find all the shadows and highlights. This helps me to place the colors where they should be and decide how many values I should use. The color palettes just come naturally now because I've done SO MANY of these portraits. When people order a portrait they get to choose a color palette (if they want), and that usually helps me determine what colors I'll use in the painting.

So hopefully you've learned a little bit (about Warhol, printmaking, crappy Pop Art, and what I do)!