What makes a good portrait picture? I can’t repeat this enough – it all depends on the photo you give the artist. If you give the artist thumbnails of your ID pic, don’t expect it to look like an Amorsolo painting. If you give them a pic that’s been blurred and beautified by an app – do expect to see another blurred and beautified painting of you.
One of the reasons I liked doing this subject, is that he is not afraid to show emotions on photos. He is so into character! Am not saying that every photo is a cosplay moment for him. He doesn’t do the standard fake smile. He looks into the camera and let the camera speak. His eyes would reflect emotions and he doesn’t give back. He doesn’t just pose. It’s like he and the camera are having a conversation and you’re just there, watching and clicking.
No, he’s not fake. It takes a lot of nerve and open honesty to do what he does and be who he is right now. What you see is who he is inside and out.
There was raw energy captured in the photo. Something that I wanted to reproduce in this painting. Which is why I didn’t want it to be a ‘typical’ nice rendition. The brush strokes were fluid and sometimes even shot off the panel. That’s how the photo was. That’s how he is. That’s what I hope this painting illustrated.
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- Everything begins with a sketch.
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- After putting in the basic thin yellow tint for the skin [Schmincke’s Lemon Yellow is the best!], I start laying in the midtones.
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- The first layer of paint over the basic yellow.
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- It takes several hours to lay on the midtones because I usually let things dry in between layers.
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- After putting in the midtones, I start layering in the shadows as well.
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- After 56 layers of paint, I wanted the image to look like there was a shaft of light gently touching his head. So I took a clean, big, flat brush and did the effect.
