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Message
Posted
There could never be a portrait of my love
For nobody could paint a dream
You will never see a portrait of my love
For miracles are never seen
Anyone who sees her soon forgets the Mona Lisa
It would take, I know, a Michelangelo
And he would need the glow of dawn that paints the sky above
To try and paint a portrait of my love
And also
It would take, I know, a Michelangelo, or anyone you know
To try and paint a portrait of my love.
Posted
You're right of course when you say it doesn't matter if the hair is out of place but it would matter if the nose was for instance, at least it would to me. In fact looking at the above it's quite evident that some of the proportions aren't accurate and that jars with me. A grid can help with proportions. If you are happy to go straight in with your brushes and produce a portrait that you're happy with then great but for me, a degree of accuracy is vital if a portrait is to succeed.
Portraits, done from life. 
Posted
Started typing the John got there before me. Rembrandt definitely, John Singer Sargent…we could go on, right up to the present day. Not Renoir for me re portraits, but as someone who maybe captured the feel of the time, yes. Whatever style you favour, it’s all about observing carefully. You can still produce a “ loose” or “free” portrait but you still need to have observed and studied before you start. Nothing to do with the hair out of place ( look at some of Russell’s excellent egs), but all to do with observation.
Egs of not doing this are ears in the wrong place, heads which would reach to the top of a bobby’s helmet, eyes which look in different directions, necks too long etc etc. I’ve been there, done that….Although my style might be different and I approach a portrait in a different way, I’m definitely on the same page as Russell - OBSERVATION.
Posted
An interesting discussion. I don't do many portraits where the person is known, if I did I suspect I'd use the grid method more often. If it's just a head and shoulders portrait, I have a shot at drawing it freehand first. Maybe 50% work out ok. When it doesn't, if I need a likeness, I revert to a grid. On those rare occasions when I copy a whole painting, I ALWAYS use a grid. These two copies were made with the grid...
In the first one, I tried to draw the woman freehand, messed it up, and started again using a grid. (I made NO attempt to use the grid for the background). I used a grid for the second picture because I KNEW I'd never get it all in freehand. I use the grid just for basic, essential, proportions.
Mostly I'm not after a likeness, just a type. I'm talking about realistic portraits, mostly I don't do them heading more for caricature.
I'm a BIG fan of Renior's earlier work, but I don't think he was a great portraitist. For a start, I don't know what the people he painted looked like...he DID show people enjoying themselves...that I do like.
Do what works best for you...freehand or the grid method...that will be the best method. Whichever you go for, there's still a huge amount of creativity involved.
In the first one, I tried to draw the woman freehand, messed it up, and started again using a grid. (I made NO attempt to use the grid for the background). I used a grid for the second picture because I KNEW I'd never get it all in freehand. I use the grid just for basic, essential, proportions.
Mostly I'm not after a likeness, just a type. I'm talking about realistic portraits, mostly I don't do them heading more for caricature.
I'm a BIG fan of Renior's earlier work, but I don't think he was a great portraitist. For a start, I don't know what the people he painted looked like...he DID show people enjoying themselves...that I do like.
Do what works best for you...freehand or the grid method...that will be the best method. Whichever you go for, there's still a huge amount of creativity involved.
Posted
Well this has certainly got us talking which is exactly what the forum is there for.
I painted this portrait of Debbie Harry last Friday at art group. Our tutor was introducing portrait painting in acrylics, something nearly all the members hadn't done before, so they were all drawing careful grids and spending twenty minutes working out where to put the nose. I asked our Tutor Anna if I could just paint and I did this in two hours on a 60 x 40cm canvas. It's not finished because we're going to be moving onto oil and overpainting in a couple of weeks but I think it does look like the lady and it is certainly not done with any detail. I just picked up a big brush and got stuck in, it's the only way I can paint and for me it works. I've only been a member there for a few weeks and Debbie does seem to have come as a bit of a shock! I'm not trying to be clever, they happen not to have done portraits before and I have, but it does illustrate the point that you don't need to produce a photographic image to depict the person.
Edited
by Peter Smith
Posted
Obviously a portrait doesn't have to be photographic but if proportions are inaccurate there is a possibility of producing a caricature of the person you are portraying. 'I'm labouring the point but proportion is everything in portraiture, in my eyes for sure. 'Painting loosely' is a term that crops up fairly often on POL but it doesn't mean painting sloppily nor will it disguise fundamental errors.
Lewis your Manet copy is very impressive!