Learn the fundamentals of painting realistic portraits from industry-leading artist Daniel Walsh. Utilizing the advanced techniques learned throughout his career, Daniel will show you his process for crafting eye-catching portraits for characters. By starting off with the very basics of sketching and deconstructing an image using the Bargue Method, you’ll learn everything necessary to create beautiful final paintings to add your portfolio.
Lesson 1
Drawing Made Simple
This lesson is about breaking down art to its barest essentials. Daniel will go through the Bargue method of drawing, which can train you to make exact recreations of what you see. This can supercharge the skills of any beginner, but even experienced artists will find the technique helps to break bad habits. This first lesson will focus most specifically on eyes and mouths, two of the most important aspects when making any portrait.
Lesson 2
Human Anatomy
In this lesson you’ll learn the rest of the fundamentals necessary to paint a realistic portrait. Daniel will start by showing you a few of his shading techniques. Then you’ll study male and female facial structures, creating your own sketches along the way. After that, you’ll explore your artistic capabilities with a few different drawing styles. Finally, you’ll use photo reference to create a detailed black and white portrait.
Lesson 3
Portrait Drawing
Now that you’re able to accurately draw what you see, you can begin creating your own original character portrait. You’ll begin by coming up with a concept and gathering references. You’ll then use this inspiration to thumbnail, build out, and add value to the image. After this, Daniel will help you to add details to your black and white drawing, before getting everything ready for color in the next lesson.
Lesson 4
Portrait Painting
Now you will take the image you created in the previous lesson and add color. You’ll start small by applying a simple wash to inspire the color palette. Then you’ll add custom-painted sections one by one, taking your time to ensure the highest quality standard. Once you have all the final details in place, Daniel will guide you through post-processing your painting. At the end of this lesson, you will have a finished piece, ready to be shown in your portfolio.
