Have you ever looked at a portrait and thought it didn't look realistic? In the art world, realism is highly valued. If you're new to painting portraits or just want some tips to level up your game, this blog article will give you five of the most common mistakes that artists make when painting realistic portraits.

Mistake #1: Your work surface isn’t properly primed

Ensuring that your surface is properly primed is essential when creating realistic portraits or any painting for that matter of fact. This is due to the fact that surfaces such as canvas are highly absorbent and will soak up the paint like a vacuum. When you prime your surface well, you avoid the paint being sucked up (and having to reapply layers to which can be costly) because priming “helps seal in stains, creates a smoother, even finish, and ensures superior adhesion between the top coat and the surface you're painting”. It also helps protect your brushes’ bristles from the canvas as well as the fibers of the canvas which gives an archival feel to the surface.

If you prefer being fully engaged in every step of your painting and therefore want to prime your own surfaces, Craftsy has an easy-to-follow step by step guide that help you understand the gesso priming process.

You can also buy pre-primed surfaces as opposed to doing it yourself - it’s all dependent on your personal preference. If you are interested in purchasing pre-primed canvas, look no further than Blick Super Value Canvas Packs from Blick Art Materials. Not only are they easy on your pocket, they also come in a variety of sizes. Their canvases are pre-primed with three coats of acid-free acrylic gesso and perfectly prepped for your next masterpiece whether you work in oils or acrylics.

Now it’s time to answer some important questions - How do you know if your surface is properly primed and what materials do you use for priming? 

How do you know if your surface is properly primed?

The best indicators are that you won’t see bare, uneven areas or spots and you shouldn’t see drips or blotches. Another technique is to examine both the front and back of the canvas. The back of your canvas will be unprimed so the colour should be cream or off-white whereas after priming the front side, it should look white.

What materials do you need when priming? 

You’ll need gesso, a small container or palette to hold your gesso, your canvas and your paintbrush and/or sponges. When it comes to gesso in particular, there’s an extensive variety available ranging from the traditional white to clear, black and even tinted and textured. Craftsy advises that “while experimenting with different tints and types can be fun, be sure to use the proper type of gesso for the type of painting you’ll be doing. For instance, an acrylic gesso is best suited for acrylic paint. If you go to your local art supply store, an employee should be able to help you find the best gesso suited to your needs.” It’s important to use gesso and not white paint because the textures differ - gesso is specifically designed for making your surface archival.

Mistake #2: Your lighting choice is poor

Why is proper lighting so important you might ask? It’s extremely difficult to see the an accurate representation and match without adequate lighting. Draw Paint Academy explains that if you’re painting in poor lighting “you may notice over time that your paintings all seem to be too cool, warm, bright or dull, as a result of you trying to compensate for poor lighting.” But then you don’t want to reach the other extreme of too much lighting because that’s just as detrimental to your paintings as light scarcity is.

Artist Shelley Hannah describes that “poor lighting really slowed my progress down dramatically and every time I walked into my kitchen [where she works] knowing I couldn’t work on the portrait was torture. I could see all the areas I needed to work on, but I knew it would be useless to try and put paint down because it would most likely be wrong and I’d have to fix it later.” Her fix to a poorly light area are studio lights and a ring light. She further suggests that you “check around on YouTube for lighting setups. Some people have been able to make fantastic studio lights using inexpensive lighting from hardware stores.”

But wait, don’t buy new lights just yet. Maybe all you need to do is simply adjust your current set up. That’s why when creating an ideal and harmonious balance between the two lighting extremes (ie. too much light and too little light) you should first examine your current lighting set up.  It’s also good to have artificial light in your studio because it’s more reliable and consistent than natural light and it additionally allows you to paint at any o’clock without having to worry about the weather.

Artist Dan Scott has created a great tried and tested checklist for properly lighting your art studio. After he examines his current lighting set up, he considers the angle of the light in relation to his painting. “Ideally, the main light source will be behind you at a 45 degree angle to the painting. This will help:

• Spread the light evenly over your painting. You do not want half to be clearly lit, and the other half to be poorly lit. This would be a struggle to paint under.

• Make sure there is enough light on the painting.

• Avoid any glare on your painting (which is just light bouncing back at you). Below is an example of the glare you want to avoid whilst painting.”

He notes that the light source should also be at a reasonable distance (ie. not too far away as not enough light would reach the painting and not too close as the light would be uneven on the painting. His handy tip is that “if you are not able to move the light source, then move your easel. You can even tilt your easel downward if needed.” 

Next, he checks the intensity of the light. He explains that light intensity is determined mainly by two things which should both be considered when selecting the best lighting: 

• The actual intensity of the light source.

• The distance of the light source from the painting. The greater the distance from the painting, the weaker the light will be on the painting.

“When purchasing lights, there are five things you need to look for. The type of the light, watts, lumens, color temperature and color rendering index.

Here are some of the different types of lights:

• Incandescent

• Halogen

• LED

• Fluorescent

• Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL)

By definition, Watts refers to the measurement used to indicate how much power a light source uses, as opposed to a light source’s brightness. Meanwhile, Lumens is the measurement of how much light is produced. So, it’s important to track the lumens and not the watts when “comparing the intensity of two different types of bulbs. Watts is useful for comparing bulbs of the same type.”

He recommends that “you stick with reasonably high wattage LED, fluorescent or CFL bulbs. The actual wattage and how many lights you need will vary depending on how far the lights are from your painting. Just make a judgment call and adjust as needed.”

The next step on his checklist is reviewing the temperature of the light. “Different light sources have different temperatures. Your colors will look different under the warm light of a sunset compared to the cool light of an overcast day.

The Kelvin Scale is used to measure colour temperature. He suggests that you use “anything from 5,000 to 6,000K. This is a fairly balanced color temperature to paint under. Anything outside of this range may be too blue (too cold) or too orange (too warm).”

Finally, in terms of the colour rendering index (CRI) which measures how well a light source is able to accurately reveal and convey colors, natural daylight has a CRI rating of 100. He states that “as artists, our aim is to replicate natural light in our studios.” That’s why “when you are buying your lights, you should look for a CRI rating over 80 (the higher the better).” 

Mistake #3: The white of the eyes are too white in your paintings

The keyword in realistic portraiture is realistic! It’s not an accurate representation to paint the white of the subject’s eyes pearly white because in reality, people’s eyes are composed of different colours, shadows, highlights, reflections and more. Additionally, ironically the whites of the eyes aren’t actually white due to the spherical nature of the eye which determines where the light falls resulting in which parts have highlights and shadows. You can experiment with values on an achromatic scale such as 7 for the highlights in the eye and 4 for the shadows but avoid 9 and 10 as these are closest to pure white and unrealistic for the eye whites. It’s also interesting to consider that “The sclera’s (the white of the eye) colour depends on age. Younger people will have a more bluish sclera while older people have a more reddish sclera.” 

When it comes to technique, Shelley Hannah’s own is a nice one to experiment with -  “I always start out with the eye in a darker grey color and then add the form to the eye with lighter colors. The only time I use anything close to white is for a reflected highlight in the eye. And even then, it usually isn’t pure white.” In one of her painting, she describes that she actually used medium blue-grey tones to roughly paint the whites of the eye. Her process entails squinting which helps her to see the values as accurately as possible - “I also move my eyes back and forth from the reference to the painting while I’m squinting. This helps me to see the differences.” She notes that eyes normally have a shadow that forms under the lid. That’s why she ensures that “the top part of the eye is darker than the bottom part.” Hannah continues by “painting the pupil dark and use the same dark color around the outer edge of the iris. You only need a couple of brushstrokes using a lighter hue to create the color of the iris. In this portrait, it was a blue-grey and I allowed that colour to blend with the darker colors. A couple of highlights after the basic components of the eye are painted in can give you a pretty realistic portrait effect.”

Mistake #4: Incorporating too much detail

The Realistic Acrylic Portrait School said it best - “We observe a feature, a characteristic on someone’s face. overdo it. Like a caricature, we unintentionally make it too prominent. And that detracts from realism.” Remember that a realistic portrait is not a HD image that highlights every crevice. You’re trying to capture what is seen by the natural eye, therefore, keeping it simple is best. According to artist Ben Lustenhouwer who specializes in portraiture, “remember that the likeness does not depend on an accumulation of details.”

Mistake #5: Overblending

Overblending occurs when you end up mixing your paints too much on your support. This can lead to muddy colours and a flattened piece which can cause your painting to lose its desired strong hue. 

Now we’re not saying no to blending; we love blending. It creates smooth, gradual and seamless transitions between colours and can emphasize the realistic quality of a painting. If you want to blend without having to add more paint to your canvas, the Spruce Crafts has a tip for you - “put aside the brush you have been working with. Instead, use a dry, clean, soft brush to go over the paint before it's completely dry. Don't press too hard, it's more like a rapid flick across the surface.” Another technique, (one of the most known ones) is to blend while applying the paint. They state that “for this technique, you will apply a small swatch of each color to the painting, then use your brush to create the desired gradation. It's a great way to create a very subtle transition.” Or why not try the double-loading technique “in which you will load a flat brush with two separate colors of paint at the same time. The effect blends as each brushstroke is made and you can further refine it with the dry brush technique mentioned above.”

In conclusion

Painting realistic portraits is a challenging art form, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. It takes patience and dedication to master this time-tested technique. Now you can elevate your portrait painting game by avoiding these five mistakes and don’t forget to tag us in your work. We love seeing what our community is working on!