This document provides an overview of portraiture and self-portraiture techniques. It discusses how portraiture freezes a moment in time, and compares it to photography. It then covers the history of portraiture from Paleolithic cave paintings through Egyptian, Renaissance and modern works. The document also discusses techniques for portraiture such as gesture drawings, imagining the head as an egg-shape, using anatomy to understand structure, playing with light and shadow, conveying facial expression, developing contour line skills and blind contour exercises. Student examples are provided to illustrate different techniques and styles.

1. Exploring the Portrait
& Self-Portrait
Glenn Hirsch

2. Portrait Concept

3. “The highest
aim of
portraiture is to
capture a
fleeting
moment of
lifelike
emotion.”
– Rembrandt

4. Portraiture
freezes a
moment in
time forever.
Portrait of Eutyches c. 50 BC.

5. Portraiture
freezes a
moment in
time forever.
John Heisch

6. Pamela Bennett
If portraiture freezes a moment in time forever, why paint? Why not use
photographs? This is a huge black and white painting, not a photograph.
What does the media - and the size - do to our perception of a 'portrait?'

7. For 30,000 years in Paleolithic caves, the face was taboo (there are
no faces in the caves).

8. The earliest
realistic
portraiture.
Portrait of
Queen Nefertiti,
1450 BC
The Egyptian
concept of
“beauty” was
similar to
“glamour”
photography
today – high
cheekbones.

9. How many
artists
have
worked in
the
tradition of
the ‘self-
portrait’?
Anonymous,
1402 (detail
from an
illuminated
manuscript in
the Bibliotheque
Nationale,
Paris)

10. This is a detail
of a larger
painting.
Renaissance
artists often
included their
own portraits
in larger work.
Self-portrait by
Botticelli
(1476).

11. Rembrandt did 80 self-portraits, using them to explore technique
(lighting & texture), as well as theatrical characters.

12. Jan Van Eyck in 1433 –
he asserts his
authorship, his idea and
voice; not a mere
craftsman anymore,
Renaissance artists
made new claims for
their art.

13. 'Self-portrait in a hat'
In this assignment -
hats can give you
costume and a
shadow across your
eyes.
Keiko Randolph

14. 'Personality'
comes from the
Greek word
persona, which
means mask.
James Ensor,
1899

15. Frida Kahlo focused on self-portraits to explore dream, identity, and the
imagination.

16. Each student selects a master to study in pastel and then the student does a
self-portrait in the style of the master just studied. (Joy Stroehmann)

17. 'Self-portrait at
home'
assignment -
you in your
surroundings.
Elliot Glass

18. Self-portrait in a
dream
assignment -
"detail is the life
of dreams.”
Jane Willson

19. Models pose in most
classes.
Here is a portrait of
the model with
imagined
background (the
sea).
In portraiture,
clothes are
important too, they
say a lot about
character.
Minh-son Dang

20. Painting of the
model - posing in
costume.
Peter Demarest

21. Our models
always pose
in costume.
(Vine
charcoal.)
Peter
Demarest

22. Portrait of the model in
pastel.
There are many styles
in art – students are
encouraged to
experiment when a
model poses.
Mike Dewey

23. Oil painting of
the model -
posing in
costume.
Dan
Browneye

24. Acrylic painting of the
model posing in
costume.
In portraiture, clothes
are important, they say
a lot about character.
Stephanie Lowe

25. Final project: portrait of
someone you know.
Angela Pryor

26. Drawing
takes
practice

27. Van Gogh before and after. He started the study of drawing as an
adult, worked hard at it for years. Above we see his progress after
the first 18 months.

28. Gesture
and body
language

29. Gesture drawings - 60 second drawings on newsprint as a warm-up in
which you gain practice quickly finding the orientation of the head in space

30. Gesture
drawings.
Practice
describing the
orientation of the
head in space
quickly.

31. Start the drawing by positioning the head as an oval ("egg") in space.
The tilt of the head and the shoulders are sketched in before detail.

32. Imagine the head
is an 'egg,' which
direction is it
pointing?
Giorgio de Chirico

33. Imagine the head is
an 'egg,' which
direction is it
pointing?
Raphael

34. Imagine the head is
an 'egg,' which
direction is it
pointing?
Renoir

35. Body language
The tilt of the head
gives added
interest to a
portrait.
Auguste Rodin

36. Anatomy

37. Anatomy reveals
structure
we study
anatomy by
drawing it
memorizing the
'landmarks'
which will guide
us when we
draw from life.
study of Vincent
Perez

38. The shape
of the skull

43. The shape changes dramatically
depending on your view
Front? or 3/4?

44. Find the boundary between the side of the face and the front.

45. The skull in 3/4 view
(the view in which you
most often see it in
life).
Directional light from a
single source helps to
define the planes of
the skull.
Otto Dix, 1913

46. The boundary
between the
side of the face
and the front.
Raphael

47. The boundary
between the
side of the face
and the front.

48. The boundary
between the side
of the face and
the front.
Robin Groesbeck

49. Light and
shadow on
the eyes,
nose and
mouth

50. -Eyes are in
shadow;
- The upper lip
is in shadow;
-There’s a 'ball'
at the end of
the nose;
-The chin is
rounded.
Lucien Freud

57. Facial
expression

60. Renee Kelley

62. Contour
Line

63. Variety of line = "beauty"
'Searching line' - draw and
redraw until you find what
you want - this is what the
masters did.
In this Leonardo drawing,
the baby's legs are drawn
several times.
Leonardo

65. Variety of line = "beauty"
fast/slow
thick/thin
light/dark
Leonardo

66. Variety of line = "beauty"
fast/slow
thick/thin
light/dark
What does the line say about
character in this self-portrait?
Complexity and strength!
Jerry Giefer

71. blind contour
exercise

72. Blind contour drawing is drawing without looking at the paper, an
exercise to build sensitivity to pressure and speed, creating more
variety of line (and beauty).