help: how do i get a likeness in portraits

[LadyMedusa]

I'd suggest you to just try to imitate dirrectly (no complicated technique to that) and then try to correct your errors :).
Thats what I pefer to do personally when copying from references since grids confuse me.
If you don't succsess, don't despair, try again, after a while it'll get easier :)

[Lunatique]

The key is to not think of what you're drawing/painting as actual object, and just think of everything as simply shapes, degree of angles, curvatures, and varying distances. This is what some people mean when they say "Don't paint what you think you see, but paint exactly what you see."

You know how when you move to a new place and you're trying to guess if a particular furniture will fit into a space? That's the kind of thinking you use. Judge size, length, angle, shape..etc--don't be artsy about it--it's quite mechanical. The artistic part is the composition, the idea behind the image, the actual cotent of the image, how you execute the actual brushstrokes, your color choices, and the selective detailing you do as you paint. Likeness is a lot more mechanical than most people realize. You have to be dead on accurate in your ability to judge accurate shape/angle/size/length..etc.

[dbclemons]

It's much easier to understand the uniqueness of an individual's features by viewing their face in conversation as they speak and react. If you can't interview them in person, instead of concentrating on a still photograph, get a video record of them talking and view their head from different angles and lighting. It's easier to spot those features when you see them move in real life. I often don't recognize people right away when I meet them, or they can suddenly look different when they react a certain way.

Some features are very noticeable, but in others their face is very close to an ideal or seems very common somehow, and it makes them hard to distinguish. Nonetheless, try to find what is it about their face that makes them unique, or for that matter, a feature they may have that reminds you of someone else. If they have a relative you know, what features are common amoung them? Same eyes, same shape of the mouth...

Isolate a part of their face, and see if you can recognize why that feature looks familiar. Could you identify Robert De Niro by just the eyes or nose alone?

Shading the form of the face is very important, as much as accurate measure, if not more so, and pin-point detail is not essential. You've got to get the values right. I think of the Sargent portraits, for example, that are painted very loosely, and although I'm not able to validate their accuracy, I can easily imagine if one of them stood next to their portrait it would look very truthful.

[Salubri3i]

Thanks for the very helpful replies guys. I will certainly keep these in mind as I work on portraits in the future. If anyone else has tips do post. :thumbsup:

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