Portrait Artists

I was looking at portrait painting at found Kyle Lambert's digital photorealistic painting on an ipad, even iphone....
I'm like, wow !!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__rPHTWxS4g

and then I was looking at his blog
http://kyle-lambert.blogspot.com/
and finding more cool stuff,

I found out about Chuck Close
and I'm like double wow !!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgsFYXsdcp0

Did he go back and forth to paint those tiny colorful shapes to make up a giant face ?
I found this other video on youtube, it kinda breaks down the painting into values, contour and adding grid, so it's like individual squares and then it's ready to be painted.
So..... it's more like, do the preparation, then paint tiny individual squares to make up a whole giant face.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFZLwNDyCU0

or see here
Art Lesson Plan : Chuck Close Grid Drawing projects for students
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/larry-valuegrid.htm

Portrait painting - Little girl w Balinese Hat

Acrylic on canvas
(left) size : 30 x 40 cm
(right) size : 30 x 35 cm

The one on the left I did 3 years ago (2007)
and the one I just finished is the smaller one on the right.
Yes, there's definitely improvement there.
sorry, reference photo is not shown :)

First of all :), I don't really do portrait, I prefer painting animals, more freedom there :D
So I struggled with this painting
because I don't know how to do portraits ;p
and because I want to focus on the painting technique instead of the drawing technique, I cheated, yupppp :) I photocopied-enlarged the original photo (it's an old out of focus photo, btw) and I traced it onto the canvas.
but even then, I can't make it to look like the real person, I mean, it doesn't have to be photo-realistic, I like it better if a portrait painting is smudgy, coarse brushstrokes, loose, alla prima, etc but you know how even such "messy" paintings look like the reference photo/person ?
I couldn't achieve that, even after tracing it !!
Both paintings were done by me, both were traced using the same size enlarged photocopy but both end up looking like 2 different girl.
can you imagine the frustration ?
okay, after a comparison, the little girl's face on the right is slightly wider, that's why she looks a bit chubbier ;) but only by 0.7 cm, more or less.

I used Acrylics only, without any medium (retarder, glazing, flow enhancer, etc)
I wanted to achieve an oil-like-alla prima painting, but I couldn't, instead it's kinda rough and the color is not exactly perfect either. (no color theory here, I just any colors that I feel appropriate)
and I was searching for youtube videos on how to paint portrait with acrylic, but I end up getting a lot of oils instead, some are good though. (links below)
and I ended up always smoothing the painting out with the brush.
I dunno why I keep on doing that, I did a study to paint Bing Crosby CD Christmas CD Cover and I think I did great, but I can't re-do that technique on this portrait though.
Here's the original CD cover art.


Here's the WIP




done

and If my painting looks unfinished, I kinda like a painting that looks that way. and I deliberately leave the hat as it is, pink and yellow unfinished :)

close up of the face


Bottom line, I think portrait artists rocks, their skill is something I wish to "absorb" lol :)

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Here are the youtube links that may be useful for you (and me)

Color Palette for portrait - wetcanvas
http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Portraiture/Palette/

Portrait Painting
ACRYLIC
nice n fast : acrylic with gel medium (retarder ?)
but color palette not shown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQsazAmERlo

OIL
alla prima by Robert Liberace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMv_nOHO_9g

Jeffrey Watts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaTtPA_HvXA

Tamara Geddes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMPanPKw6bs

Craig Nelson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi4Zcy6TyF8

Irv Rudley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsJlUm6bYYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCjQl0BrlQY&NR=1

Sharon Sprung
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xnFc8qyX8s

painting realistic eyes by Tamara Geddes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_N_Mqu4G6Q

Natalia paints oprah (irudley's student)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsrJVe4d54Q

and I think this is Acrylic :
Farsad Labbauf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD6Woiczcq0&NR=1
This could be achieved with a computer, but a human doing this ?
If there's no initial sketch or whatever to help the artist, wow !

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My Paintings

Gentle Rhinoceros

"Gentle Rhino"
Acrylic Painting on Canvas
50x60cm


the horn took forever and I still can't achieve the super shiny metallic result
For this I used Titanium white and Payne's grey
and a very light touch of Cadmium yellow light (super thin) on where the light hits on the horns.


just having fun with photoshop ;p

added color on rhino's face, titanium white, mars black, burnt sienna


next is adding more color in the rhino's face
It's a combination of adding color with dry brush, scumbling, anything really :)
it was all "try this and try that" to see what works.


adding wrinkle lines

after this, I used a soft round brush to soften the top part of the wrinkle lines and maybe add some more highlights underneath the wrinkle lines, when necessary
oh and I did the eyes.

and done :


closeup :


Painting Total time :
1 day + 15.5 hours
done in 9 different days in the span of 27 days

what I still want to learn : how to achieve that realistic metallic-stainless steel horn