Other Artistic Techniques, Painting Techniques

How to Paint Living Portraits

Name: How to Paint Living Portraits
Author: Roberta Carter Clark
ISBN: 9781581801798

by Roberta Carter Clark

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Overview

Award-winning artist Roberta Carter Clark has created a loyal following among painters with her timeless instruction. Her popular workshops have brought the joys of creating vivid portraits in oil and watercolor to countless artists. This is a classic compendium of her in-depth approach to portraiture. Clark takes artists through a series of 24 step-by-step exercises in drawing the face. She demonstrates how her detailed drawing exercises--accurately indicating features, highlights and shadows--offer the most practical approach to creating a lively, successful portrait. Dozens of additional techniques and exercises show how to work in different mediums, avoid common errors and capture a subject's unique likeness. Roberta Carter Clark's portraits are in the private collections of hundreds of families throughout the United States and in England. She is the author of Painting Vibrant Children's Portraits. She lives in Little Silver, New Jersey.

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Editorials

Library Journal

Both these books approach one of the most difficult of artistic challenges--the accurate depiction of the human form. Bodyworks is a compact manual for seeing and drawing the figure. Its strong point is that it does not treat each muscle or limb in isolation but in clear relationship to the entire figure. Well illustrated but with limited text, the book concentrates on form, omitting the consideration of color. Still, despite its assets, Bodyworks is not an essential purchase, particularly for libraries owning George B. Bridgman's classic series on figure drawing (Dover Publications, 1932-1974). How To Paint Living Portraits is an innovative approach to the subject. The emphasis here is not merely on the realistic portrayal of the figure but on the finer problem of creating portraits that look like their models. Step-by-step demonstrations consider the proportions of the head; such individual features as eyes, nose, mouth, etc.; the body; and the clothing and lighting of the figure. More comprehensive than similar books, this one covers working in charcoal, oil, and watercolors, with an especially good treatment of color. Appropriate for all levels of expertise, How To Paint Living Portraits is highly recommended.-- Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Inc., Amherst, Mass.