Oil portrait process

[Justin Snodgrass]

I added an article to my website that breaks down my current process for oil portraits. I would consider myself a novice at this point and would love to get some feedback related to the process.

Oil portrait process


The portrait used in the example is 4' x 4' and was done from a photo. Though I might not have chosen the specific photo myself, it was the one that the client wanted to use. My first commissioned piece

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Justin Snodgrass

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Beautiful painting.

[Richard Bingham]

Amazing. Simply . . . amazing.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I love it as well. There is such substance to that little boy. Nicely done!

The way you have explained your work progress on your site is also very informative and should be easy for any client to follow.

[Mischa Milosevic]

David Hocney should take lessons from you as you project images on the canvas or paper.

I am sorry but I have no words of praise for your procedure. I think that copying a photo image is one thing but it should lead towards honest study of drawing and painting.

Your method, as advertised on your web page, gives the idea that all artist do the same thing. To me it belittles the hard working, talented artists and the life time of sincere and solid education. I do not think that there is one person on this forum, maybe one or two, that has not tried the projecting method but we have see the error of our way. Are you saying that one should go back to something that has been proven to be a falsity? You are honest about your method but then that suggests that all others are dishonest and this is the problem David Hocney has.

I apologize if my words seem a bit harsh but I feel that this is quite important when methods of procedure are questionable.

[Richard Bingham]

Originally Posted by Mischa Milosevic

. . . I have no words of praise for your procedure. . . .

Originally Posted by Richard Bingham

. . . Amazing. Simply . . . amazing. *

* not necessarily praise . . .

Accurate draftsmanship is not a "gift" that springs from divine inspiration. It is a manual skill that any reasonably intelligent person can master if they apply themselves to a considerable amount of hard work and discipline. That doesn't necessarily automatically elevate their efforts to the level of "high art" any more than copying photographs does . . . but what that study does accomplish is to refine one's abilities to observe and respond in ways that can be conducive to making "great art".

Those whose only concern is with a superficial image will never understand the quantum difference that working from the life represents as opposed to copying from photographs. There are probably 10,000 issues one might bring into question in assessing an enormously oversize snapshot of a baby.

[Chris Kolupski]

Justin, boy you hit a nerve! You remind me of me during the 1999 ASOPA portrait festival when I innocently marched up to the microphone and asked the panel on stage if it was alright to use an opaque projector. Dead silence. They himmed and hawed uncomfortably while I stood there clueless. Sandon finally mumbled something about an opaque projector being a crutch that could be overrelied upon and would stifle my development. Well, I used my opaque projector anyway, but Sandon was right. It became a crutch. In 2002 I attended a week of Incaminati http://www.studioincamminati.org That was the end of my opaque projector.

Justin, there is simply more joy and excitement from painting from life. There are also many color and value discoveries to be made that will not be made by copying from photographs. My suggestion: have some friends over for dinner every month with the following proviso: You cook for them and they sit two hours for you to paint. Give them a glass of wine after the first hour and maybe they'll sit for three. I did this and it turned into a business- without the dinner and wine. I still use photographs for traditional portraits, but the jobs I favor are the faster portrait sketches from life.

When you work from photographs try this instead of the projector: squint at the photo just as you would a live model. Place the photo on a music stand nearer to your face than the more distant canvas. Paint with your arm extended holding the brush way back from the ferrule, not up close like your pictures show. Start the same way you already do: with a thinned umber. But paint larger tones more freely and flatly, painting over the line. Focus on big angles and geometric shapes, zero in on more precise drawing from a larger view. Check out the student gallery here: http://www.studioincamminati.org/gallery.php -All of it painted from life, and painted very very swiftly.

Happy painting!
Chris Kolupski