The Portrait Painting Exercise That Changed Everything

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[jacobjett]

I've gone through the portrait course a couple of times now and my results were incredible. It's not a once-and-done lesson. Every time I revisit it I find new ways to improve. Plus it's a lot of fun and breaks the otherwise intimidating process of painting a portrait down into easy-to-handle steps. The planar head exercise in the course was REALLY helpful. This video is absolutely on point. Take this advice and your portraits will improve. I really can't recommend the portrait course enough.

[AntonioDavid-quzq]

With all the concepts presented in your videos, there's really no excuse to paint a bad portrait. I like the exercises or "quick studies" you bring up, as they fit well with the notion of "paint 30 small paintings instead of 1 large painting" that is really working out for me.

[elainek]

Great video as always Chris, thank you.
I paint pet memorials and the same thing apples to animals. Underneath all that fur is a basic anatomy with shapes and planes that must be understood. Your work is always a joy to watch.

[alanb]

Great video! Your explanations of "why" use Asaro heads are spot on. The race car analogy is great. I have three different Asaro heads. They are invaluable! Thank you for this teaching.

[innconspicuous]

I used your portrait painting advice a few months back and was able to immediately produce a rather decent portrait for my first try. I've always considered myself a pretty good artist but just could never do portraits and this is just so cool for me thank you so very much for helping me release from too many details at first!

[AzureSymbiote]

I've been doing the Asaro head through the app you showed over the past few days.

[neu-ter]

I opened the restaurant and haven't been painting portraits in awhile but I'm ready to get back to it thank you so much for all of your work in teaching us

[RatusMax]

You said and explained this this so perfectly. This is one of the best 8 mintues of information I've ever heard. Now the only thing that other's have to do is take it seriously. I avoided and dismissed planes of the face for a bit when I started watching this channel. I got really well at painting a portrait but it was taking 6 hours. Simply using 100% observation to paint is taxing on the brain. It was utter hell when I moved to cityscapes and had no idea about perspective and how to sell the illusion. I just 100% observed simply painting EVERYTHING. 10 hours lol. That's actually when I stopped and started going back and looking at planes of faces, perspective, a little bit of anatomy, color and light, etc. AKA the fundamentals. I knew I was lacking in something. Then I rewatched that planes of the face video from some time ago and started to look into it.

When I saw that there are repeated base patterns that things adhere to, I could turn off my brain for a bit and place placeholder shapes that sell the overall feel. Then start putting what I needed by observation. This is a tricky one because if you aren't looking at a subject, then the likeness will start to fade away as the placeholder shapes start to take over the painting. They should only be there to give information to compare to the actual person. The moment I start looking at a painting for more than 4 seconds while painting and not bothering to look back at the subject. I am painting a simplified version of the subject that my brain saved a while back. The only way to make sure I get accurate shapes is to keep the source stream of information coming in and bypassing pulling information of the subject saved in the brain.

So although we want to keep an overall idea of how things adhere saved in our brain to know how to sell the overall feel. We also want to look at the subject to make sure we are building the right thing on that template.

That cut my portrait times to 3 hours. Recently, 1.5 hours. However that might have been a fluke lol.

Cityscapes are so easy for me I just paint in all those rectangles and come back in later to add what is needed. No more do I try to copy every single detail wondering if that is what sells the illusion. I know the foundation of what does. I can ignore the information that is not needed to sell it.

[sallyfinch]

This video really nails it! Outstanding Chris!

[EmeralDQueenTV]

I've been watching your videos carefully, I like your approach on oil painting and the way you explain techniques and other topics related to painting in general. I've just signed in to your Patreon I can't wait to improve my skills with your teachings. Thank you for all these wonderful videos here on YouTube!

[Restless]

thank you so much you are so handsome too

[paintcoach]

So what questions do you have on portrait painting? What do you struggle with?

[jstye-]

Just Truro buy the ‘head’ on line. I paid for it now they can’t send it to uk! I have to try to get my money back

[Deborah]

Chris I have Bern watching your videos for quite a while and need a little bit of advice. I entered my first competition and have been selected to go on exhibition. They have offered the opportunity to put it up on the wall for 6 months for sale. Do I put my early painting up for sale or not? Thank you Deborah.

[violitautry]

When painting or especially with drawing portraits I struggle with accidentally aging my faces. Not sure how It happens so not sure how to correct it, any advise?

[CT]

I'm not clear about the direction of brushstrokes. They change every time you paint a new plane to emphasize that shift in planes, but other than that they go in random directions right?

[RealJayDouglas]

Sorry to bother you, but I cannot access the Fundamentals Course, and I cannot change my password. I need help, and there is apparently no Support available. Thank you.

[JosueMartinez-wwvj]

Good tutorial but show more art and show less of yourself talking, show the art process with your voice in the background.