If you dream of learning how to paint a portrait in watercolor, then put aside all fears and doubts and, using this step by step lesson drawing for beginners, boldly take the first steps towards the realization of this dream. Available recommendations from step by step photos will help you easily learn the basics of drawing a portrait of a girl with watercolors.

Tools and materials

To paint a portrait in watercolor, you will need the following materials:

• watercolor paper;
• pencil;
• eraser;
• watercolor;
• brushes with a thickness from one to four (it is advisable to exclude the use of synthetic materials and give preference to natural ones: squirrel, pony);
• a glass of water;
• palette

How to Paint a Portrait in Watercolor: A Step by Step Guide

1. First you need to build a face with a pencil on paper. For convenience, it is best to take a photo from which to paint a portrait. In order to correctly perform the construction, it is necessary to measure the angle of inclination of the head, the height and width of the head, the ratio of the parts of the face in relation to each other.

When building, it is necessary to monitor the pressure of the pencil - the lines should be light, non-greasy. After the portrait is completed with a pencil, you should erase all the auxiliary lines that were used to build the face, leaving only the main lines - the outline of the eyes, nose, lips, hair, face oval.

2. The next stage of work will be the watercolor application of the initial "framework" of the color component of the portrait. First of all, it is necessary to register the darkest, as well as prominent places in the portrait to obtain volume, but you should not get carried away with any particular area of ​​​​the face, you need to register the entire portrait with a thin layer of watercolor.

Advice! To apply large-scale shadows, you can use brushes numbered 2 and 3, for drawing small details (eyes, lips) it is better to take thin brushes - numbers 1 and 2.

At this stage of the development of the drawing, it is good to use the technique of applying spots, to register the entire portrait with local colors. To better see which shade you need to apply to a particular area of ​​​​the face, you can slightly squint your eyes.

In this process of work, you can not blur the contours of the shadows, but you need to be careful not to darken the bright parts of the portrait. The first layer of watercolor should be thin. Watercolor must be well diluted with water.

3. After the first layer dries, you can do a more detailed drawing: apply a light layer of the background (brush number 4 is suitable for this) and fill in watercolor all the white places in the picture (hair, clothes).

Important! The final detailing is still far away, however, at this stage of work, watercolor should be applied more accurately and jewelryly than at the beginning of work.

Prescribing dark places, it is necessary to slightly blur the edges between the color spots with a damp brush, forming them into a single soft shade. This procedure is necessary to achieve realistic image. For this study, a brush number 2 is suitable.

On a note! It is worth knowing an important rule that you should not prescribe dark places with pure black.

It may seem that black dominates in the darkest place, but you should not use this color in its pure form without first mixing it with another.

To understand what color you need to mix black with, you need to look at the photo, squinting your eyes. Also, so that this color is not too active, you can prescribe it in a thin layer, and cover it with another color on top.

4. The technique of writing in watercolor is a technique for gradually darkening a drawing by superimposing layers on top of each other. But it is worth remembering that a watercolor portrait should first of all be “airy”, so the main thing is not to get carried away in overlaying layers. The final detailing (drawing the eyes, mouth, hair) must be done at the end of the workflow.

Before the final detailing, for the effect of realism, you can slightly blur the edges of the contours of the face (eyebrows, lips) with a wet brush. The same technique is good to use for drawing hair, so that they look more realistic. The background can also be worked out at the final stage of writing a portrait.

Advice! In order for the background to turn out with a smooth transition (from dark to light), you should make a tonal stretch. To do this, you need to dilute the paint well with water.

Artist Victoria Lemtyugova shared artistic secrets on how to paint a portrait in watercolor with the readers of the Wings of Inspiration project.

If you want to start with a simpler option, then by all means take a look. Here you will also find many different characters of popular cartoons.

Don't be afraid to draw! It's not that hard to make this dream come true!

An interesting alternative to high-end oil paintings is a custom acrylic portrait made by our artists. Acrylic paints are used in different styles visual arts. Thanks to this, it is easy to choose an interesting and unique plot for the picture in accordance with your taste and wishes. We are writing acrylic paints on canvas and paper. Each order - from the pencil sketch to the last strokes - is made entirely by hand!

How much does an acrylic portrait on canvas and paper cost?

Prices for a portrait made with acrylic paints are based on 1-2 people.

Each additional person + 10% of the cost.

Acrylic (canvas)

Acrylic (canvas)

Acrylic

How to order an acrylic portrait from a photo?

Each of our orders begins with a discussion of the composition of your future painting. You can tell us about your idea or send any image as an example. If you do not have any of your wishes, then our artists will prepare interesting and creative layouts. As a result, you will receive an exclusive acrylic portrait, in which all your ideas and wishes will be embodied.

We offer acrylic works two options:

Portrait on paper:

• preparation of a visual layout of the future picture before writing,
• You order a portrait completely handmade,
• the finished work can be corrected if you have any wishes and additions,
• the maximum similarity
• image realism.

Acrylic portrait on canvas:

(in addition to the above)

• more time is spent, due to which details are more carefully prescribed,
• the possibility of applying a 3D effect (visible paint structure),
• the possibility of covering the sides of the canvas with paint,
• the possibility of using a canvas on a flat basis.

What to choose: acrylic or oil portrait

In addition to acrylic work, we also Classic oil paintings are visually similar to acrylic, however, they have some pros and cons that distinguish them in appearance and price.

The advantage of works painted in acrylic is less pronounced than oil paintings in the classical technique. Acrylic paints are thinned with water, which allows them to dry very quickly, almost instantly. Due to this, the artist will complete the order in a very short time which meets the requirements of most customers. After all, often about choosing a gift for an anniversary, New Year or on any other occasion, we think just before the holiday. In addition, the cost of an acrylic painting is much lower than that of an oil painting.

If your expectations are very high and the deadlines are limited, then acrylic paint portraits on canvas are what you need. We offer the speed of creating a picture, rich colors, interesting visual effects, durability and guarantee the photographic similarity of the face.

The portrait depicts a girl in an autumn coat and a beret with a scarf tied around her neck. Head in frontal position, shoulders in 3/4 foreshortening. The background is dark. The color palette is based on the ratio of cold and warm tones. The light is soft and diffused.

We determine the proportions of the height and width of the neck, placing the main masses of the portrait in the sheet format. We linearly sketch the front part, beret, scarf, shoulders. We draw the middle axis and determine the ratio of the parts of the face along the vertical. We outline the incision of the mouth, the base of the nose, the lines of the eyes and the armor.

We continue to work with a graphite pencil on constructive construction details of the face, reveal the volume of the scarf, form the hairstyle.

Clarify pencil drawing. We are working on similarity with the model. We work out the facial features in detail, take the folds of the scarf, outline the strands of hair.

Let's move on to painting. We lay the front part and coat with a transparent fill. We make a warm lining on a scarf, take your hair.

With a rich tone, paint the background with a large flat brush. And then, when it barely starts to dry out, with a clean wet brush we create a texture on it.

Taking into account the nature of the lighting, we begin to reveal the shape on the front part with light halftones layer by layer of glazing.

We are actively working with color and tone. We write the beret, hair, coat and scarf, revealing their texture. We put the emphasis on the collar of the sweater. Let each coat of paint dry.

We work out the face in detail, focusing on the eyes.

Finishing up the portrait. We generalize the face with transparent halftones, with a wet brush we emphasize the structure of the beret and the protruding foreground fold the scarf, finalize the hair, glaze the background.

Instruction

Make a sketch. If you are going to paint a portrait in watercolor, acrylic or gouache, you can draw a sketch with a simple pencil. Before working in color, the pencil lines will need to be made lighter with an eraser. If you prefer tempera or oil paints, you will have to start the painting with an underpainting. Make a sketch on a separate sheet, calculate the proportions of a person. Transfer these calculations to paper or canvas.

Make the underpainting for a tempera portrait with a shade of tempera, which is in all elements of the picture. The shade should be light, so that later it can be strengthened or covered. For underpainting it will be more convenient to do with acrylic paints. Mark the main shapes of the figure and apply a drop shadow.

The way you work in color depends on the paint you have chosen. If it is watercolor, diluted acrylic or gouache, you need to paint over the drawing with wide fills. Start with areas of the body that are not covered by clothing. Determine the lightest shade that is visible on the skin. Mix the same in the palette. Try to immediately mix in enough paint so that it is enough for the drawing and you do not have to re-select the combination of colors.

Then create a shade of shadows on the skin. With a wide brush, spread the first color over the pattern. When it dries a little, apply shadow patches. Pour the person's clothes in the same way. After that, paint the face using smaller brushes. Do not draw the face to the end, just apply the main shade and penumbra on the cheeks, temples, chin, next to the bridge of the nose.

Take thin brushes and draw all the penumbra and your own shadows on the torso and head of a person. At the same time, it is important not only to convey the shape of the body, but also to take into account the change in shades of both clothing and skin. They affect the coloring of each other, so on a red shirt, for example, the blue of the trousers will be noticeable in the shadows. And on the face there will be a warm reddish reflex from the shirt.

To make the drawing come alive, do not forget about the glare. They do not always appear on the skin, but on the hair and eyes it is imperative to leave an unpainted area of ​​white paper.

When working with tempera, you will not have to create large fills, but work “from a piece”. That is, with small strokes, completely draw one area and only after that move on to the next. If you are drawing a person oil paints, pay attention to the degree of transparency of the shades that you are going to mix. This information is on the packaging of the paint. This is especially important when choosing a skin color - if you mix a transparent paint with a opaque, the color will turn out to be heavy, unnatural.

If you dream of learning how to paint a portrait in watercolor, but are afraid that you will not succeed, first put aside your fears and start reading this article. Here are simple and clear guidelines that will help you pick up your brushes and paints and start creating.

What materials will be needed

Before you start painting a portrait in watercolor, you will need to prepare the necessary materials for this:

preliminary work

2. Now we begin to paint a portrait in watercolor. And the first thing to do is put it on paper paints light, transparent underpainting. For the face, we dilute cadmium orange or ocher with water (the paint should be very watery, pale). We paint over the face with wide strokes, in place of the glare, the paper should remain untouched. Then we select other colors and brush through the hair and clothes, also leaving the lightest places untouched.

3. Now you need to do the eyes and lips. What eye color does your model have? Pick up desired paint, dilute it with water to a pale state and paint over the iris of the eyes in the portrait. Do the same with the drawing of the lips.

4. We apply shadows on the face. To do this, we add a little burnt sienna to our diluted pale cadmium or ocher. Shadows at this stage should also be applied very lightly, not at full strength. In fact, they should only slightly differ in tone from the first paint layer. Please note that therefore you need to monitor the shades that are reflected on the skin of the model's face. For example, on the one hand, warm light from red curtains can fall on the face, glare from clothes of cold tones can be reflected on the chin, etc. This must be taken into account and try to display in the portrait using additional colors.

5. Next, we begin to understand the shadows more carefully. We are looking for the darkest places on the cheekbones, on the lips, on the sides and wings of the nose, near the hair, etc. It is with the help of shadows that the face is modeled, volume is given to it. Main principle in watercolor: always move from a lighter tone to a darker one.

6. We are looking for the lightest intermediate tones between shadow and light. On the face, where the light falls on it, there are also darker and lighter places. We follow the play of light and try to repeat it on paper.

7. We work with hair and clothes on the same principle as with the face.

8. At the final stage of work on the portrait, you need to take the thinnest brush and use it to finish small details and lines: individual strands of hair, eyelashes, lip line. Always remember that when working with watercolor, even in the darkest places, the paint should remain transparent.

9. Work on the background is best done in parallel with the entire portrait, but you can leave this for later. The main thing is that the background should not be worked out more than the face, but negligence is also inappropriate here.

Conclusion

We hope you are in in general terms learned how to paint a portrait in watercolor. Well, now it's up to practice, because only direct work with will give you self-confidence, as well as the necessary experience and skill. creative success to you!