As an onlooker, you may have often marveled at the stunning portraits or oil paintings, without really thinking too much about what goes into creating one. As all would agree, painting is an art, but quite a demanding one at that! It's not just about putting right colors in the right places; it also involves a good deal of techniques and strategies, integral to a great painting. An artist would of course know, and an aspiring artist would be interested in knowing the tricks of the trade. Let's sweep through some of the essentials of portrait painting.

The Basic Starters:

To start off with your painting, you would need the following equipment. So keep them handy.

• Brushes of all size and types (synthetic or natural bristles)


• Basic painting colors (at least one full set)


• A color palette to mix the paints/colors


• A drawing board or canvas


• Painting mediums like linseed oil or turps

Remember that watercolor brushes do not work well in oil paintings. Big brushes are best for oil paints. So choose your brushes and your paint carefully to come up with the finest quality painting which would find its place in an art gallery.

Follow Examples:

If you thought you cannot follow the footsteps of famed artists, you're wrong. On the contrary, it's a good practice to start copying the masterpieces and then move on to creating your own. But copying just the 2D painting isn't as much a help as trying to recreate the same painting by choosing the same 3D subject.

Sequence Your Painting:

Be it a pet portraits, a person or a landscape, in portrait painting, it's very important to know where to start from. Old wisdom says ?start from the eyes?. So be it. It's best to draw the eyes first and then move on to develop the other features on the face in the correct ratio. But focus on one section at a time, before jumping on to the next.

The Golden Rules:

Most painters forget to spend sufficient time looking at the subject. It's a golden rule to spend 60% of the time looking at it, 20% time looking at your canvas and the rest 20% looking at what you're actually painting. Look deep and analyze your subject to bring out the best on your painting.

Another golden rule is to be confident. Think well and believe in your subject. An artist should never be deterred by the feeling that he/she would not be able to do justice to the subject.

So even if you are attempting a dog portraits, just enjoy doing it as you'd enjoy being with your dog. That makes the job much easier. Analyze its features, work your way outwards from the eyes, believe in yourself and bring the painting to life.