Step-by-Step demo of "Reluctant Princess"
I'd like to share my process of portrait painting with you. First, let me address the photo issue: yes, I paint portraits mostly from photos and while I could write a whole essay about this controversial issue (yes, OF COURSE, painting from a live model is preferential and I still practice it regularly!), let me just say for now that I love capturing spontaneous moments full of emotion which cannot be held for a long pose from life. Especially when it comes to painting portraits of children I find it essential to use photography to capture their exuberance and personalities. To me a painting of a child sitting still while posing does nothing to capture the spirit or character of that child. As any parent knows, children hardly ever sit still, so I have no desire to capture them that way. In order to get good photos as references, I definitely prefer meeting the kids and taking the photos myself. This allows me to get to know them, view their coloring in a natural setting, observe them from all angles and interact with them in order to catch glimpses of their personality.
In the case of Abby, my model for "Reluctant Princess", I already knew her and had asked her and her brother to be my model for the day. With their mom's okay I brought along some props and shot lots of pictures (I hope to share more with you in the future). The moment I put that tiara on Abby's head (which I knew was against type), I knew I had the making of a painting!
Back in my studio, I printed out an 8x11" copy of the best image. Since I work on Wallis sanded white museum paper which does not allow for easy erasing I prefer to get the drawing correct on a separate sheet of paper first and then transfer that to my painting surface using transfer paper (knowing that the basic likeness and proportions are correct allows me to focus on the values and colors during the actual painting process). I then retrace the lines with pastel pencils and spray them with fixative so I won't lose them in my next step: the underpainting (see image 1).
I then create an underpainting with watercolor (image 2), using bold colors, sometimes complementary to the local colors added later (for instance, in a green landscape I love using reds and oranges first which then sparkle through the green final layers). For skin tones I always use watercolor so I can still see my drawing underneath, but for background and clothing I sometimes use pastels which I wet with odorless turpenoid to create a wash.
The underpainting lets me get rid of the white of the paper and establish my palette and values very quickly. I usually go very bold with the colors during this step knowing I can always tone things down. This step also helps me to loosen up. The great thing about the medium of pastel is the forgiving nature of it. Just about anything can be fixed, covered, redone. It certainly eases the fear of that blank paper!
Also, the underpainting can help me envision where I want to go with the background if I don't have a plan for this yet, as was the case here. Sometimes, I have a complete plan in mind for the finished image, but if I don't, seeing the subject outside of the photo, enlarged in my composition with some color added, most often inspires the next steps. At this point, while I was waiting for the watercolor wash to dry, a bright pink background kept popping into my mind, but thankfully I pushed that aside and settled on a grey/green background that would let Abby's hair and face be the focus (image 3).
As you can see I started adding dry pastel over the watercolor in the hair and face.
I decided the background needed something more and added a darker value of the grey/green to really bring out the tiara and sunlit face. I used an opposing diagonal to the one already created by her pose to create an X composition which brings contrast and balance to the painting at the same time and adds interest (image 4).
Image 4 also shows broad strokes of pastel added everywhere excpet the tiara, which I saved for last (wanting to firmly establish the hair first). To create harmony I add touches of the background color to the hair and skin, but in this case I decided to leave the background color untouched by anything other than that beautiful grey/green (one of my favorite colors among my hundreds of pastel sticks). Usually it's a good idea to add some of the subject's colors into the background as well, but rules are meant to be broken sometimes!
In image 5 you can see that I changed the line in the background, refined the eyes and started to blend the many colors found in the skintones. I very lightly blend with fingers in some areas, but more often use the pastels sticks themselves to blend the edges where different colors meet. Pastel pensils can also be used to lightly hatch across areas of softer pastel to blend them. I tend to blend more in children's portraits than adults because their skin is naturally so much smoother. After everything else was pretty much done, I tackled the tiara which required keen obersavtion and patience. I wanted to create a realistic look without overdoing it and still staying pretty loose. As you can see in the close up, the tiara is painted in strokes of color barely indicating the individual rhinestones, but by paying close attention to the values and directions of the strokes it ultimately created a realistic look.
I also made the t-shirt much darker and added loose strands of individual hairs with a pastel pencil or sharpened hard pastel stick. I checked and double checked the values and likeness in mirrors (I have one large one by my easel and also use a hand held old compact mirror) and from a distance of at least 10 feet. You can see the finished portrait at the top of this post and again below:
