“Every great artist was once a beginner.” ~ Helen Hayes
The urge to create something wonderful can hit you at any stage of your life. Painting is one of the greatest forms of art that allows your creativity to flourish. If you are a beginner at painting and want to start with portraits, we have just the best ideas and tips!
How to begin?
Before you begin to paint, it is important to form a rough plan of the kind of colors, strokes, paints and canvas you are going to use. Another key thing to do would be to draw a rough sketch of your painting on a paper first so you get the hang of drawing it on the canvas.
Keeping the reference in mind and planning the finishing touches will give you a great output! It is a no brainer that you must select the right kind of inspiration that goes hand in hand with your creative impulse.
What kind of a canvas works?
The most important factor that contributes to the look and feel of your painting is the canvas. As a beginner, it must be confusing to think about the kind of canvas to choose- linen or cotton, big size or small size. We recommend you to buy the cheapest linen one available in the standard size (5×5 inches) as it takes time to master colors and strokes and buying expensive ones would be a costly investment.
Pro-tip: Always wet your canvas before you start painting!
Paints to begin with!
Coming to the kind of paints you should use, there are several options available like oil painting, watercolor painting, etc. but the simplest and easiest ones to use are acrylics because they dry quickly, mix and clean up with water, and are easy to paint out and hide mistakes. It is also recommended that you use student-quality paints because they are cheaper than artist-quality paints.
The best way to paint is to start with dark colors. This will help you to build depth as you work your way up to the lighter tones. It is necessary that you give some kind of a simple background to your portraits so it gives a neat look.
Our Suggested Portrait Painting Ideas:
The most basic portrait painting ideas that we recommend are:
A simple monochrome portrait
Half-face portraits
A minimalistic portrait highlighting simple features
A rough strokes portrait using 2–3 colors
These are just some references you can try. Always remember to start with the eyes and facial features as they require more detail. You can also take a photograph as a reference and make a rough outline and start filling it with your own colors!
Put your heart and soul into your paintings and you’ll see the best outcome! We wish you the best!
Let us know in the comments what kind of portrait ideas you would suggest a beginner!