Painting Portraits With Watercolor

Painting people with acrylic or watercolor paint is easy, but does take patience and practice. Although every artist is different I generally use several thinned down layers of color to obtain the correct shadows and colors.

The first and in my opinion, the most important step is drawing the subjects features and head shape correctly. It does not matter how you master this, just get the features correct. One method is to use a grid. Place a grid over the photo then draw grid lines on the canvas and simply copy what you see onto the canvas square by square. You may even be talented enough to freehand the drawing. I will let you in on a secret, but you have to keep it to yourself. If you have the photo on your computer, just enlarge it, reverse or mirror image it, then trace with tracing paper. Now just put the tracing paper on the canvas and reproduce the exact image without knowing a thing about drawing!

Now create a skin color and block in the entire skin area. Using white, yellow, reds, and burnt sienna creates most skin color. Obviously adjust the amounts of each color depending on the actual colors and tones. The paint should be very thin like a watercolor. Use some of this color and add burnt sienna to paint in the outline of the eyes, nose and mouth. Make sure that you use a very fine, thin brush so that the lines will be thin.

Add some burnt sienna and crimson or other red to the skin color where you want the shadows to be. Study the photo or model and see where they are. Add more thin layers and blend them into the flesh color until the shadows are distinct.

Add details of the eyes, nostrils, lip color and eyebrows. Final details can be added by using pure white. Such details may be upon the eyelids, on the nose, upper lip or anyplace you want to look moist or where the light is catching it.

Painting people does take practice. Do not get disappointed if do it yourself portraits are not perfect. If you have a desire to paint people you will get it with enough practice.

A Great Portrait Begins With A Great Sketch

How To Draw What You See

How many times have you said, “I wish I could draw”.  Well if you do not practice and learn basic skills, you may find yourself saying that all too often.  A key essential in accurately drawing something is to draw what you see, not what you know is there.  Let me explain.  When you look at the figure of a face in a dimly lit room, your mind fills in the details of the form even though you can not see it.  Learn to train your mind to see what it actually sees, and not what it knows is there.  There are many ways to achieve this, I teach three in my book.  One way is by using a grid.

1. Use a Grid

The grid method is a great way to get a small or dark picture onto a larger area such as a canvas or drawing paper.

2. Don’t ignore the Negative Space

Negative space in a drawing is just as important as the actual drawing.  Negative space is the space between the arm and the body, or the area where the hair flows away from the face. It is the space where nothing is.  Try drawing a tree that is completely filled with leaves and you will understand the importance of leaving those empty spaces. 

3.  Accurate Sizes and Proportions

When drawing objects, be sure to make the size accurate.  Let’s use the tree example again.  Trees in the background will appear smaller most of the time.  If you were to place a tree in the foreground the same size as those in the rear, they would look like saplings or baby trees.   Accurate sizes and proportions are especially important in portrait painting.

4.  Practice

A fun way to practice some of the techniques mentioned is of course to draw over and over.  But, if you practice holding your photo sideways or upside down, while drawing on the paper sideways or upside down, you will know if you are truly drawing what you actually see.   Keep a sketchpad handy and doodle or draw everyday. 

Drawing what you see does take time and practice.  Do not struggle with complex subjects; break them down into manageable sections by incorporating the grid method.  Understand the concepts of negative space, size and proportions.  Most importantly practice, practice and practice.

How to Paint Landscape

Painting landscapes with acrylics is both relaxing and rewarding. Let your personal style come through and you should find this a great hobby.


Acrylic paint is a medium that can look like an oil painting or a watercolor painting when finished. It depends on the artists’ style and how thick they apply the color. Either way, starting out by painting landscapes helps to get your feet wet in the world of painting.


You can learn to paint a landscape on canvas paper, canvas board or stretched canvas. I always suggest practicing your techniques first on an inexpensive canvas or acrylic paper. I am a sort of perfectionist with my art, and tend to become frustrated easily. By practicing first, then applying it to the finished piece I feel more comfortable. You may be satisfied without practicing. Painting is about what makes you feel good!


Keep your supplies handy. Have your spay or mister bottle handy to keep the acrylics moist, keep a water supply handy for the brushes, and always have paper towels handy.


Let’s create a simple landscape painting. Lightly sketch in a horizon line with pencil about ¾ of the way down the canvas. In this case out emphasis will be the sky because only ¼ of the painting is land.


Wet the sky with white gesso. Add some color to the same brush and starting at the top, use criss-cross strokes and blend down to the horizon line. Use any color. Daytime skies can be blues & purple. Nighttime skies can be these colors just darkened with reds and oranges near the horizon. Blend the colors as little or much as you like. Now your sky is done.


Now it’s time to create your land or hills. Chose a medium to light green and with horizontal strokes lay in the distant field or hill. Keep things interesting by sloping it. Change the green slightly by darkening it and add a couple of more layers of fields as you work your way forward. The darkest layer should be in the front of the painting.


That’s it! Anything else you add to your painting is a plus. One or two distant trees would be neat or maybe just a single bird in the sky, low to the horizon.


I hope this little lesson helps inspire you to have fun painting landscapes with acrylics