Painting eye glasses

[Mary Sparrow]

Im getting ready to paint a portrait of a teen male, he is wearing eye glasses, I have never painted anyone wearing glasses and was wondering if anyone could give me tips on how to pull this off. I don't know, maybe it won't be as hard as I think, but would love any tips you have. Thanks in advance.

Mary

[Daniel Arredondo]

Eye glasses are not as difficult to paint as you may think. Look for the shadows created by the glasses, and paint them. Look for the highlights on the frame and paint them. If they are the thin small frames that may be all you may need to do other than paint the highlights on glass. In most cases 360 degrees of the eye glass does not have to be painted, many times indicating the glasses is enough. Look for detail like the magnified light created on the zygoma or cheek by the glass, or the noserests and thier uniqueness.

Glasses have helped me with my drawing. When placing the glasses I have found my nose to be too long or short, so glasses can become a measuring device for the length of the nose.

Hope this helps, Daniel.

[Chris Saper]

Dear Mary,

I have found that I am happier,when working from photo resources, if I take photos of the subject with and without the glasses. If you don't have the "no-glasses" image in hand it can be very hard to see that you're trying to paint. If prescription are very strong, either near- or far-sighted, the size of the eyes and edge of the face can be fairly distorted. If there were a great amount of distortion, I would probably point this out to the client, and ask if there was a preference...as it could affect the perception of the subject's likeness.

To date I have had best luck in painting the entire face, using the "no-glasses" reference, and painting the glasses at the very end, just a few strokes to sit on top of the surface.

I agree that that not much information is necessary to depict the glasses; lost edges work well for many types of frames. If you show a bit of glare, be sure it is not in a place that obscures the eye. Also the shadows that are cast on the skin generally need to be shown lighter in value that the photo would suggest. Their placement can be a good visual clue to the shape of the forms making up the face.

Hope all is well!
Chris

[Karin Wells]

Eyeglasses can be difficult to paint because of the distortion to the features that they can cause. I usually handle this in two ways.

1. If the sitter is someone who always wears glasses, I prefer to paint them holding their glasses - not wearing them. Also, frame styles change often and can seriously "date" a painting.

2. If I must paint someone wearing glasses, I take reference photographs of the sitter with glasses and without. I paint the face first (without the glasses) and add them later. I try to lose the edges of the frames wherever possible as it looks more "real." Here is a painting that I did this way.

Good luck!