|
I saw your lovely portrait. You have made a great start! I taught myself to do pastels and am now showing them in Boston.
A TEACH YOURSELF PASTEL PRIMER 101:
A. Get Daniel Greene's tape "Erica", take his workshop if possible (he lives in NY state). Buy or peruse as many books on pastel as you can; libraries are great resources.
B. Buy the most colors you can get your hands on and the finest quality.
C. Do as much work from life as possible in natural light.
D. Try this: take a photo of a simple head in natural light. Seat your subject in the same light next to the photo. Rub your pastel color on a small piece of paper and hold it up to the photo to match the value. Then hold it close to the subject. This is a great aid in learning skintones. Most people don't realize how rich color is, even in a photo, and make their work too pasty.
E. Use Portra portrait color film (Kodak). It has the best skin tones.
F. The value sometimes is more important than what you think the color should be. Kitty Wallis says that when she runs out of a favorite color she is forced to consider a new one. You can get wonderfull surprises that way.
F. Use good paper.
G. Don't answer the door when you're working because (unbeknownst to yourself) you'll look like a chimney sweep.
|