Portraits and good information

Brian Paul Smith

There are lots of keys to good portraiture. They include
- good lighting, which describes the face well and gives lots of information.
- being brave; use lots of values from rich mixtures to almost whites and everything in between. Hugging the tonal middle ground makes portraits flat and boring.
- develop towards the "main" features (eyes, nose, mouth), integrating them into the painting, don't superimpose them as a separate layer at the end, especially where you are painting to a large scale.

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