Recommended painting tips with Gerry Bryceland
Get to know Gerry Bryceland and some of his portret painting opinions? When you are planning to draw a self-portrait, you must plan out your intentions before you start working. Can art be spontaneous? It can be, and you should embrace this. But when you are trying to create a finished piece of art, you should lay down a framework of what you intend to create, then start working toward that goal. For example, if you are planning to do a simple sketch, then there’s no reason you can’t draw on plain copy paper. But if you are planning on creating a finished self-portrait that you intend to frame, then you need to use a higher quality paper. If you are planning to add watercolor or acrylic or ink to your drawing, you need to use paper that can handle the moisture. If you plan to use oil paint, then you need to draw on paper that has been treated to be used with oil paint. The point here is that planning ahead of time to reach a goal should be your preferred method of working as an artist.
Drawing realistic portraits can definitely be a challenge, but this holds true at the beginning for any new technique that budding artists wish to learn. The key to conquering portrait drawing is by mastering each facial feature, in this case the sum of all the right parts will make an accurate whole. It is very important to train your eye to observe the essential details that give each face its own individual identity – the drooping of the eyes, the slant of the lips, the slightly arched eyebrow, and many other particularities that can help you achieve a realistic portrait. Not to worry, though the human body may seem too complicated at first, it can be simplified and broken down into easier and more manageable parts! Let’s give thanks to the generally symmetrical bodies that nature has gifted us with that allowed us to create basic rules of proportions to serve as our useful starting point. Now, let’s start with the step-by-step of portrait drawing by first gathering the materials you’ll be using for this tutorial.
Gerard Bryceland‘s advices about portret painting: The eyes are the most important detail of a portrait and it is essential that you paint them first. They are the focal point of the face and the feature that brings the image to life. If, at the outset, you can suggest that spark of vitality which the eyes bring to a portrait, you will establish a strong foundation for the work, which in turn, will give you the confidence to tackle the other features of the face. There are a few key elements that you need to capture in painting an eye: the solidity of the eyeball and surrounding eyelids, the luminosity of the iris, the depth of the pupil, and the reflected highlight on the surface of the eye.
What makes a good self-portrait drawing? That depends on what type of picture you are trying to create. Do you want a self-portrait that looks exactly like you? Or how about an abstract or expressionist portrait that captures your personality? No matter what your intentions are, or what type of self-portrait you want to draw, drawing a self-portrait is something of a right of passage for every artist. Even if you don’t plan on drawing figures, as an artist, you should still take the time to explore your own face and use it to create a unique and insightful piece of artwork.
About Gerard Bryceland: I’m Gerard Bryceland an artist based in Maidstone Kent and regularly get commissioned to do work doing paintings and portraits of people and their families. I’ve always been an artist from my childhood, I loved drawing my friends and family initially just to mess around with my friends and had a lot of fun drawing them. But as i got older it really just became a business as my friends and their families would want me to do family portraits and that type of thing. With word of mouth word gets out and before you know it you know it I’m 35 and still doing the same thing.
