Portrait Painting

Portrait painting can feel a little daunting at first, especially for younger students, but it’s amazing watching confidence grow as they begin to understand that portraits are really about observing shapes, colours and light rather than simply trying to “draw a face”.

For this project we worked on facial proportions, skin tones, shadows and colour mixing while gradually building the portrait in layers. I always love seeing that moment when the eyes and expression begin to appear and the painting suddenly starts feeling alive.

One of the lovely things about teaching portraits is seeing how two students can work from the same image and still create completely different interpretations and styles. 🙂