Focus on Portraiture: How to Paint Portraits: Skin Tones, Light, and Features

Portrait painting is one of the most rewarding yet difficult areas of art. Many things can go wrong; a shadow out of place, a feature slightly off, and the subject’s likeness vanishes. Portraiture means more than just copying the image in front. It relies upon spot-on facial ratios, skin tones, colour links and the subtle details that give a face character and expression.

Painting the Mona Lisa, close up painting of an eye, lips and Two Women

A Hub Resource for Portrait Artists

This page brings together my portrait painting articles, tutorials and guides to help artists improve their portrait painting skills.

Painting your first portrait? Honing existing skills? This page provides a focal point for any practitioner seeking keyways to bring a realistic human likeness.

Skin Tones and Colour Mixing in Portrait Painting

Skin tones can seem so elusive when what we see fails to compute onto canvas. Assumptions push in, insisting tones are a definite shape or colour, that features have outlines. But no. Faces contains a rich variety of hues that subtly shift under lighting, atmosphere and mood, tricking the eye.

Mixing accurate flesh colours sensitively is key to portraiture. Awareness of colour shifts in cheeks temples and jawline can dramatically improve the realism of a painting, bringing a better likeness.

What Colour is Skin of Different Races?

The person’s race can also bring assumptions: Pigments for a black person (African or Asian for instance) requires mostly black; a Caucasian (of Northern Europe) is mostly pale and therefore requires a lot of titanium.

And skin tones between, such as olive or tan coloured person (as seen in Mediterranean and pale Asian casts) seems to complicate matters. What oil pigments does the portraitist need to capture such an array of skin tones?

My articles on this hub page explore how to capture skin tone, shadows and what can go wrong.

Painting Light and Shadow in Portraits

And what about the lighting? The setting forms the footing of every successful portrait. It determines the shapes that comes together like a jigsaw. Notice how backgrounds, reflected light and even clothing reveals, in various ways, the structure of the face beneath the skin and the character of the sitter.

Without this understanding of light and background, opportunities pass the artist by. Portraits can appear flat or lifeless. Strong directional light helps bring out facial features, while subtle shifts between light and shadow bring a smokiness seen in sfumato.

Painting Facial Features Delicately

The eyes, nose, mouth and ears are usually the first areas viewers notice in a portrait. Beginners tend to draw them illustratively, with outlines and idealised notions. Noses look like spoons, eyes like almonds. And the lips appear stuck-on with teeth like piano keys. The three-quarter view can also trick the artist into drawing the features as though face-on, making the portrait appear wonky.

Rather than treating the features as separate items, view them as part of a connected structure, a jigsaw. The way light strikes the nose affect the highlights of the eyes. The cupid’s bow impacts the shape of the lips. Features come together as a whole to create expression and character.

Painting Hair in Portraits

Hair can ruin a good portrait. It is often treated as a separate entity with contours and lines, bringing a wiggy look. Black hair looks wiry, blonde hair looks like straw. The notion that someone is brunette or ginger gets in the way of the colours presented in hair.

Achieving a Good Likeness

Many artists find that their portraits look technically accurate but fail to capture the sitter. The secret is noticing proportion and relating the facial features to one another to bring the overall character of the face.

Rather than add more detail, find the distinct characteristics that make an individual unique. Careful study often produces stronger results than excessive detail, resulting in an overworked painting.

Materials for Portrait Painting

The art materials used can also affect portrait results. Sable brushes are better suited to soft blending, while stiff brushes bring a fresh feel. Art mediums can assist with glazing techniques and blending.

Learn more about the art materials needed for portrait painting through my topics.

Brushes for portrait painting
Oil painting mediums for glazing
Suitable painting surfaces for portraits
And colour mixing materials

Common Problems in Portrait Painting

Oil Painting Medic identifies common problems with portrait painting. My articles suggest fixes for muddy skin tones, out of proportion facial features, harsh shadows and art techniques. Every portrait offers an opportunity to improve.

Use this page as a central reference point for portrait painting articles throughout the blog. As new tutorials are added, they can be linked here, creating a valuable portrait painting resource.