Self Portrait -- Step 1

Painting

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Self Portrait: Step 1

An illustrated, step-by-step demonstration of a self-portrait painting.

Related Self Portrait Resources

• Self Portrait Demonstration
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 1
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 2
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 3
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 4
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 5
• Self Portrait Demo: Step 6
• Why Artists Should Paint Self Portraits
• Figure Painting Class: Face Proportions

I used a very limited palette of colours for this painting: Prussian blue, unbleached titanium, raw umber, and gold ochre. I'm very partial to Prussian blue, which when used thickly is very dark and when used thinly is a lovely moody blue. Unbleached titanium is a mixture of titanium dioxide, raw sienna, and raw umber, and is a great colour for pale skin tones.

I used Prussian blue for the background, blocking this in, initially leaving the area where the face was to appear as the white of the canvas board. I did, however, make the area where the neck would be as dark as the background, as I knew the neck in the final portrait would be in shadow.

Once the background was done, I used the Prussian blue left on my brush to roughly mark where the eyes, eyebrows, and nose would go. I then used raw umber to block in the hair.