How to Paint a Female Portrait in Photoshop
A step by step tutorial demonstrating my process in creating a female portrait in Photoshop. The process is similar to traditional painting in oils and acrylics. I rely heavily on solid art fundamentals, especially head drawing. Since drawing is so important, we’ll explore that first.
STEP 1: “Laying-In” the head
A head ‘lay-in’ is the foundation drawing. It is used to describe and lay-in the basic structure of the subject’s head and the placement of the facial features. An accurate and effective lay-in is critical to the success of the portrait.
This particular lay-in drawing is very rough and simplified. At first glance, it looks like a bunch of squiggly, abstract lines. This is only because I have a lot of mileage drawing heads and can lay-in the head and features without a lot of construction lines. There is a lot of great material out there on head drawing, so I won’t go into too much detail here.
For those who want to explore head drawing further in-depth, a good starting point are books by Andrew Loomis. For the purpose of this tutorial, I’ll explain a part of the process in creating a simplified head lay-in.
First, observe the landmarks of the head and face. Once you see and identify the important landmarks, you can then accurately measure their length, width and distance from each other. These measurements gives a portrait it’s likeness and individual character.
The first landmarks I draw are the sides of the cranium and the bottom of the chin. This helps me to measure the width and height of the subject’s head and face.
The next is the centerline. The centerline goes through the center of the head and face at the nose. The centerline is critical for defining the angle of the subjet’s gaze.
Next is the eyebrow ridge. Some artist’s use the center of the eyes, which is fine. It is a matter of preference. I prefer the eyebrow ridge because: 1. the orbital bone is a prominent feature on some faces, especially in profile, 2. it defines the opening of the eye, and 3. casts a shadow over the eye creating a core shadow. Either way, this line defines where the eyes are and more importantly, the tilt of the head.
The establishing oval, centerline (vertical) and eyebrow ridge (horizontal) are the 3 most important marks you will make in a portrait drawing or painting. Take the time to measure here and to place these lines correctly.
Next (Figure 4), is placement of the features, eyes, bottom of nose and center of the mouth. Again, take the time to measure here. These marks are critical for getting a likeness.
Finally, I find the pit of the neck and establish the shoulder line. The shoulder line goes from the points of the shoulder bone through the pit of the neck. These marks anchor your head to the bust (upper torso) when the bust is visible in the piece.
For reference, I’ve created this 5 step diagram of the lay-in process using landmarks as a guide.
Using the lay-in as a guide, we can draw in the features. Because the lay-in was solid, I was able to further define the features and capture a likeness. Now that our drawing is in place we can begin the painting process.
STEP 2: Color
Using big brushes and stepping back away from the canvas (zooming out digitally), I apply big swatches of color. There was a lot of green in the lights and shadows so I made sure to mix in green with the lighter fleshes and put a lot of green in the shadow areas. I try to work very loosely here and with as saturated color as possible. Working this way will maintain a nice color variety throughout the painting process.
STEP 3: Separate light from shadow
Using a dull green and brown mixture, I block in the shadow side. The lighting is high contrast so the core shadows and the border between light and dark is very clear. Personally, I really enjoy this type of high contrast lighting because it creates a lot drama and mood.
STEP 4: Add darkest darks
I take a mixture of dark green and black to define the blacks, or the darkest darks of my value range.
STEP 5: Add lightest lights
I mix a cool green and warm white and paint in the whites or the lightest value of my value range. Because of the high contrast lighting and the angle of the light source, nearly half of her face almost goes to white. I made a conscious decision here to drop the value of the lights. I did this strategically, so that I could still use white to ‘pop out’ the hotspots where I want to draw the viewer’s eye which you will see in later steps.
STEP 6: Redefine the drawing
Since I loosely blocked in the shadow and light side, I go back in to redefine the drawing. For me it’s always a back and forth process. Stepping back, making marks and designing the image; then zooming back in to define where I want the viewer to look. In this case I start to define the eyes, silhouette and redefine some of the structure of the head and face that was lost during the painting. Don’t be afraid to come back and draw over your painting. Drawing is key.
Now that my drawing and value range is established, I can begin the rendering process.
STEP 7: Begin the Render
First, I redraw the eyes and adjust their distance apart. I then finesse the core shadows in the shoulders and bust and start to experiment with the values of the background.
STEP 8: Adjusting the hues
The image was starting to look a liittle too green so I introduce some reds back into the piece. I especially want to ‘warm up’ her flesh tones. I also add browns into the shadow area and continue to experiment with the background.
STEP 9: Modeling the Face
Since the eyes are such a focal point in this piece, I render them first. Next, I finesse the core shadows in her face. Just like in the figure, edgework is critical in making forms turn in space and be believable. However, in portraiture, there is less margin for error.
Not only do I consider the edges of the core shadow, but their color and especially their value. I make the decision to go back to a red cloth on her shoulder. I also continue to add reds to her face, especially in the cheeks and lips which we will render in the next step.
Step 10: Continue to finesse edges
I wanted to create a compositional triangle of interest between the eyes and lips, so the lips had to get special attention. I used a warm red and warm black mixture to define the darks of the lips. To make the lips pop out, I use a mixture of green and white in the highlights, paying attention to their edge and shape. I also clean up the passage of light on the bust and begin to define the light side of the hair.
STEP 11: Final Image
To make the eyes pop, I go back in and add crisp edges on the eyes. and finess the edges on the eyelids. I clean up the edges on her neck and bust. I adjust the value and hues of the greens in the bounce light. I add a green white mixture around her neck to make the silhouette pop. I also add some reds in the upper corner to balance the composition.
A detail of the rendering of final image.
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If you read the last tutorial on How to paint a sexy female figure, you can see my process for creating this piece was exactly the same. The only major difference was the greater attention to head drawing and construction.
If you paint in traditional mediums, you will know that this method is nothing new. It is a synthesis of what was taught to me by my Fine Art teachers and what many painters teach their students. Working this way forces me to not rely so much on the software, but on fundamentals.
If you like the look of this piece, and want to try it yourself, you can download the brush set used in creating this piece. I Hope it inspires you to get out there and paint. Remember, if you get stuck on trying to get the “painted look” in Photoshop, the best thing to do is get away from the computer.
Get familiar with traditional painting mediums first. Don’t spend time trying to mimic the painted look using the computer. Spend time painting WITH traditional mediums and use the computer to mimic the experience.
