Tremendous portrait tutorial Alex, the best I've come across mate, powerful video tying up a lot of loose ends for me. Looking forward to part 3 big respect .
"Maybe I'm a bit thick, ..." I damned well beg to differ! Your explanations are clear, precise, unambiguous, informative. And because of the reflection and effort you put in thinking about what you're saying, worth a hundred demos with spontaneous and superficially-convincing commentary. Thank you so much for these videos!
People are losing interest in oil paintings. Now everyone wants to learn digital art. It saddens me. But that will not stop me from learning oils as a beginner. Thank you for keeping the art of oils alive by making such videos.
I'm not sure I agree. Oil painting from life is enjoying a resurgence. There are probably more people painting from now than any time before in history (seeing as the population is much greater now). There is certainly much more interest today, than there was the latter half of the previous century. I started painting in the early 00's, before fb and instagram. There was only one school in the UK offering traditional training. Now there are quite a few and now thanks to social media we can find other artists all over the world. You may be correct in saying even more people are digital painting? But I reckon digital painting might encourage some artists to try oils? Anyway, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours, it takes time but if you stick with it you will make progress and it will be a very rewarding experience. Thanks to the internet we are now able to access a whole world of other artists and information, both from today and from the past, that we can learn from and to inspire us. Good Luck!
Love your tutorials, the way you go on is like you thoughts process, like thinking out loud which is exactly ehat every artist have with his own mind...very clear, very informative and thank you for the generosity by providing this for free!!!
LOL! Alex, I should comment while I´m watching! Yea! All the efforts that you put into yours explanations - is worth! Cause I understand and take brain notes of every tips and tricks you gave us! Thank you!
Thank you for this video Alex. I learn a lot about the painting potret from your ways in painting. You are really the one of master in painting and teaching. greaaat !!
Thank you for all your hard work in making this master copy and creating a real time tutorial with voice over. It is fantastic, I am enjoying this a lot and learning from your tips.
Alex, thank you so much for your videos! Your paintings are great! I really appreciate your detailed explanations. Thanks God I understand English and can get a lot of useful information. From Russia with love ❤Irina
I also find your commentary extremely clear btw. I don't know anyone else that produces video tutorials of such good painting quality, without rambling endlessly, and actually communicating valuable tips and direction. Thanks again. These are rock solid videos, very helpful and clear.
Thank you Tod. That is exactly what I set out to do. The first time I tried filming one of the demos I did for my students in class, I was rambling endlessly and missed out loads of important information. So I decided to put more thought into the commentaries, to make sure I including the most important information and that I explained everything as clearly as possible. My videos longer to write which is why I don't make more of them, but I reckon my explanations are the main reason that people like my channel.
As a non-native speaker, I can't thank you enough for the efforts and time you put into preparing your commentaries. If not for your detailed, well-prepared explanation, I wouldn't have been able to understand all the concepts and pick up the names of the great artists you mention. You're a lifesaver!
"It appears the effort I've been putting into them (being easy to understand) isn't wasted". I couldn't agree more; your videos are perhaps the most articulate and helpful I've managed to find. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated!
Great tutorial! Full of useful tips and beautifully edited. I can’t imagine the hours of editing that went into this with inset images, palette shots - all cut in nicely. Great free content - thank you so much! Beautiful painting
Thank you so much for this video!! Every video of yours has helped me A LOT! All success to you, and thank you so putting so much work into your commentary!
I found you in my research of understanding how to paint in acrylic. You really make some great quality contents who helped me a lot to desacrate the fear of painting. I used to draw exclusively by digital technics and was scared to change my medium. I've learned a lot from you and I thank you for that. I love your channel (and your paintings)!
Yessir thank you so much for the explanations, I have bought four other videos on portraits and all they do is paint their way little if any explanation! BRAVO MY MAN BRAVO! Thank you!
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting I am a language teacher myself and I know who teaches well. Your teaching is very exellent and your talk is very clear to understand.
Your tutorials are always extremely helpful, clear and informative. Thank you so much for the time, knowledge and expertise you put into these tutorials!
All I can say is: Thank God for people like you Alex, who put everything in to going into great depth about exactly how you paint. I find your instructions extremely easy to follow and lucid. I wonder if you would have advice for someone like me who channels ‘spirit guides’ and draws/paints portraits of them; I have tried to use references but it doesn’t work.. I look at nature wood grain, trees, floors and I see faces everywhere! I paint from these faces that I see and also from what visions I have in my mind’s eye. Your simplifications have really helped. Perhaps you could offer more suggestions? Thank you.
Thank you Anna. Have you heard of "Visionary Art" or Ernst Fuchs of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism? He works with a combination of representational and imaginary subjects and it sounds to me, like the kind of thing you are trying to do? He has influenced many other artists who also work in the same field.
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting Ah thank you so much for this comment. I love how Spirit works! You directed me to a a Jewish artist Ernst Fuchs, who I looked up on Wikipedia and saw that not only was he Jewish, loved the Spiritual in art, his mother baptised him as a Catholic to prevent him from going to a concentration camp! Extraordinary story, extraordinary being.. and the moment I saw his face I knew he was Jewish because he looks like Yeshua (Jesus). In fact I could show you a drawing that I e done recently (not very good because it’s got hands in it which are really hard to draw) but his face is really very similar! So amazing. Thank you so much. 🙏
Kudos to u for painstakingly making such insightful vdos with such well articulated commentary and dedication. Learning a lot from ur channel. V. Grateful. Thank you!!
I learned a lot of your demo, Thank you very much. I am painting also portraits with a great likeness, and I know that it is very difficult to get it write.
I think you are very articular when speaking. I have been listening to videos for years. You are far the best. I learned so much detail about painting portraiture. Detail I have been missing forever. Now I have the complete puzzles of the puzzle. Thank you. Oh, maybe people that teaches portraiture didn’t explain this information because they themselves didn’t understand this knowledge. They should understand the”why” they were doing what they were doing. Now, I hope you can understand what I was trying to explain.
Thank you Terry! Accomplished painters probably all know this stuff, but painting is very hard to explain. Harold Speed said it was was like trying to explain the taste of sugar to someone. I spend a lot of time thinking and writing about the explainations, so I'm very glad you find them more understandable.
One bit of advice I could give is to not only squint at your subject, but to also squint at your drawing or painting. Pick two values on your subject... say the lightest and darkest values. All the other values of your subject are between those two values. To judge how light or dark those values are, gradually close your eyes down and see what values “merge into” the lightest or darkest values. Now look at your drawing or painting. Close your eyes down and see if your values merge like nature’s version. If not, then you know what next to adjust! Thank you for this tutorial... Velasquez is a great example for students to learn from.
Alex your videos are amazing! The way that you explain everything clearly as you go including which brushes you use is SUPER helpful. No one seems to do that really or as well as you. Thank you!! Do you wipe your brushes after each color? That is our of camera range and I am curious how your colors seem to go on so clean. I struggle with this.
Thank you very much Mel! Glad you find my videos helpful. Yes, it's a good idea to wipe your brushes between using them, to keep them as clean as possible. I tend to be quite extravagant and use lots of brushes, grabbing a fresh one whenever I mix a new colour. This can be annoying as you end up with lots of brushes to clean at the end. You definitely don't need lots of brushes, as long as keep cleaning them as you go. I made a couple of videos on brushes where I talk about all of this: th-cam.com/video/hDNinFaPA30/w-d-xo.html And here's a video on brush care: th-cam.com/video/TvnHa4lGAFc/w-d-xo.html
hi alex tzavaras, I was also wondering why painters often start simplifying values, then breaking them down, like starting with the eye socket as a brushtroke, then putting another brushtroke for the eyeball, and then going in and breaking the values down so it looks like an eye
By working from general to specific it is easier to hit the target. If you’re working with straight lines and angles and general values you can establish an accurate framework upon which you can hang the details.
Some artists work from detail to detail and its fine if you're drawing in pencil, but if you're painting in oils it's much easier to to make mistakes that way. Like I say in the video, when you focus on one small area and just compare its value with the shapes next to it without looking at the whole image. The difference in value will appear greater than it is. So, if you work from small shape to small shape without considering the overall value relationships, it's highly likely that you'll get the values wrong. Simplifying your subject into a few large shapes and getting their values correct, before working on the details is a really good way to avoid getting into trouble. It's also a much quicker way of working when you're using oil paint. Working from detail to detail takes ages.
Hey alex! 1. why is it so important to start with the bigger planes before the small ones? 2. and why do painters always think in 3d planes? is it because it helps you t copy the 3 dimensional part as you might not completely captured all the color?
The idea is to work from general to specific. Establishing the broad proportions, and general values. Once those are properly positioned the details can be added and a likeness achieved
Lu, I think he was clear. As he sayd, the small (As known as details) - are subtle shifts within the big ones. When you start with a small number of values (during the blockin in) - you will obtain a value hierarquy (organization) that will help you to stick correct with the values that you paint. This avoid you to mix up the values, so, to don't put too much bright value within the shadows. Remember the part that he paint the "bright" detail up plane of the nastro? He used a warm MID skin tone, rather a bright or hightlight. You can do this thinking as light families. A light family A dark family In the beggining use just two values (of equal jumps) for the lights and two values for the darks... And if you do like so, when you finish the block in or the mass drawing (big shapes and planes), if you have done it correct (checking it all the time and refining) in proportinos, it will be easy to draw and find the smaller ones. It´s far away easy to reshape a big plane and correcting it in the beggining, while reshape a whole bunch of details and big shapes in the end. So, if you commit a mistake with the big shapes, the details will be wrong to. It´s just a matter of doing the drawing smart.
Astonishing work ! I think you are the best art teacher ever met on TH-cam. Your advice is really useful. By the way, I tried to have a go with this copy, but I think I have problem with the surface I use: it seams that the paint doesn’t quite adhere to the canvas; it stays slippery and I can’t work my colours properly. May I ask you what kind of canvas you used, and where to get it ? P.S. I already asked you about the source of your knowledge… thank you !
I used oil primed linen for this. This is the stuff I normally get: www.russellandchapple.co.uk/index.php/artists-canvas/primed-linen/belgian-fine-oil-primed-linen.html There's another brand called Claussens which is just as good, which will probably be easier to get in the EU
Hey alex, your tutorial has me painting pretty dam good portraits after only 2 months, so thankyou for that I was wondering, how often do you use bristle brushes? I use bristle brushes for the block in/big shapes phase, but past that point, i need to use synthetic/horse hair brushes because the bristle brushes drag the paint far too much, leaving tracks and not applying smoothly at all. I only ask because some alla prima teachers recommend using bristle brushes basically all the way through, up to the fine details, and I simply cant do that with my skill. I`m also using windor and newton oil paints, which seem ok. thanks again
Thanks Harry! Glad my videos have been helpful. I tend to work in a similar way to you, using bristles for the earlier stages of the painting, then moving towards sifter brushes for more of the refining and details work as they don't disrupt the paint underneath so much. However it is entirely possible to complete a painting with just bristles on their own. If you see Sargent's or any of those guy's brushes they pretty much used only bristles, maybe one or two round sables for adding really small details. I have a demo by an artists called Max Ginsburg and in it he uses just 3 bristle brushes for the whole painting a size 10 a size 6 and a size 4. When students ask me what brushes to buy I usually recommend that before they go out and buy a load of different fancy Rosemary and Co brushes they start with a few different size good quality filbert bristles and learn how to get the most out of them. The key to not having them scrape of the paint underneath is to make sure you're using enough paint. If the brush is loaded it will leave paint on the canvas rather lifting of what's already there. I reckon this is an important thing to learn before you start using softer brushes. Btw have seen my video on brushes: th-cam.com/video/hDNinFaPA30/w-d-xo.html
Your videos are amazing … two questions … what is the tool you use to mark/Scratch on the oil painting to highlight details and the second - do you do courses in person ? Thanks Johnny
Thank you Johnny. I'm using the back of my brush, but this only works well if you're working on a fairly non absorbent surface. And yes I do teach regular classes in person, in South London. Here are the details, the next term starts in September but the dates may not be up yet? www.dulwichartgroup.co.uk/product/portraiture-with-alex-tzavaras/ I'm also planning to do a short course in the South of England in the Autumn. Details will appear on my website.
With all respect, as with most artists trying to copy this painting, you end up with the sitter's had somehow tilted down, not straight and slightly up as in the original. That's because at the beginning outline of the design you already placed the main middle straight vertical line already somehow tilted to the right. Otherwise, a magnifique copy of a Velazquez. Like and sub.
Excellent excellent. Just one criticism; please don’t use irritating music to fill in the gaps between your comments. It’s just fine to watch without having to listen to that. I almost didn’t make it to the end of the video because of the ‘music’. I didn’t want to mute it in case I missed the valuable commentary. Please…much better with just silence.
Tremendous portrait tutorial Alex, the best I've come across mate, powerful video tying up a lot of loose ends for me. Looking forward to part 3 big respect .
Thank you!
@Calvin Rocco Yea, have been using flixzone for months myself =)
"Maybe I'm a bit thick, ..." I damned well beg to differ! Your explanations are clear, precise, unambiguous, informative. And because of the reflection and effort you put in thinking about what you're saying, worth a hundred demos with spontaneous and superficially-convincing commentary. Thank you so much for these videos!
Thank you very much!
Maravilloso resultado felicitaciones no era la tecnica de velazquez pero muy buen resultado
I really appreciate your measured, deliberate delivery. Thanks for putting so much work into your commentary!
oh my god how does this not have millions of views?! its incredible
Thanks Alex - I really appreciate how much time you put into your commentary.
Learned a lot about planes. Thank you Alex!
Not only you are a great narrator… your way takes me to your world … which means you are at the top of your significant artists
Thank you Alex! Glad you liked it.
You make perfect sense to me.
People are losing interest in oil paintings. Now everyone wants to learn digital art. It saddens me. But that will not stop me from learning oils as a beginner. Thank you for keeping the art of oils alive by making such videos.
I'm not sure I agree. Oil painting from life is enjoying a resurgence. There are probably more people painting from now than any time before in history (seeing as the population is much greater now). There is certainly much more interest today, than there was the latter half of the previous century. I started painting in the early 00's, before fb and instagram. There was only one school in the UK offering traditional training. Now there are quite a few and now thanks to social media we can find other artists all over the world. You may be correct in saying even more people are digital painting? But I reckon digital painting might encourage some artists to try oils? Anyway, I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours, it takes time but if you stick with it you will make progress and it will be a very rewarding experience. Thanks to the internet we are now able to access a whole world of other artists and information, both from today and from the past, that we can learn from and to inspire us. Good Luck!
Love your tutorials, the way you go on is like you thoughts process, like thinking out loud which is exactly ehat every artist have with his own mind...very clear, very informative and thank you for the generosity by providing this for free!!!
Thanks very much!
Thank you my friend, God bless you even more abundantly
Thank you!
LOL! Alex, I should comment while I´m watching! Yea! All the efforts that you put into yours explanations - is worth! Cause I understand and take brain notes of every tips and tricks you gave us!
Thank you!
Thank you for this video Alex. I learn a lot about the painting potret from your ways in painting. You are really the one of master in painting and teaching. greaaat !!
Thank you!
Thank you for all your hard work in making this master copy and creating a real time tutorial with voice over. It is fantastic, I am enjoying this a lot and learning from your tips.
Thank you very much!
Best paint tut i have ever seen!!!
Thank you! Glad you liked it.
Thanks kindly Alex for your very clear and concise teaching, excellent.
Alex, thank you so much for your videos! Your paintings are great! I really appreciate your detailed explanations. Thanks God I understand English and can get a lot of useful information. From Russia with love ❤Irina
Thank you very much for watching! Glad this was helpful.
Thank you so much for these videos, yours are some of the most genuine on here. Seeing the process in real-time with commentary is truly valuable.
Thank you
I also find your commentary extremely clear btw. I don't know anyone else that produces video tutorials of such good painting quality, without rambling endlessly, and actually communicating valuable tips and direction. Thanks again. These are rock solid videos, very helpful and clear.
Thank you Tod. That is exactly what I set out to do. The first time I tried filming one of the demos I did for my students in class, I was rambling endlessly and missed out loads of important information. So I decided to put more thought into the commentaries, to make sure I including the most important information and that I explained everything as clearly as possible. My videos longer to write which is why I don't make more of them, but I reckon my explanations are the main reason that people like my channel.
As a non-native speaker, I can't thank you enough for the efforts and time you put into preparing your commentaries. If not for your detailed, well-prepared explanation, I wouldn't have been able to understand all the concepts and pick up the names of the great artists you mention. You're a lifesaver!
Thank you very much Lily! Glad you've found this video helpful.
"It appears the effort I've been putting into them (being easy to understand) isn't wasted". I couldn't agree more; your videos are perhaps the most articulate and helpful I've managed to find. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated!
Thank you very much Michael. Glad you find my videos helpful.
Great tutorial! Full of useful tips and beautifully edited. I can’t imagine the hours of editing that went into this with inset images, palette shots - all cut in nicely. Great free content - thank you so much! Beautiful painting
Thank you Jon! Glad it was helpful.
I appreciate your honesty. Great lesson
it really helped me go back into painting again c: really love your vids
Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video!! Every video of yours has helped me A LOT! All success to you, and thank you so putting so much work into your commentary!
Thank you!
I'm glad i discovered your channel. Your lessons are so informative.
Thank you! I'm glad you did too.
I found you in my research of understanding how to paint in acrylic. You really make some great quality contents who helped me a lot to desacrate the fear of painting. I used to draw exclusively by digital technics and was scared to change my medium. I've learned a lot from you and I thank you for that. I love your channel (and your paintings)!
Thank you very much!
Amazing to watch! Thank you so much for sharing your mastery and time to teach us new ways to think. Deeply grateful for you!
Yessir thank you so much for the explanations, I have bought four other videos on portraits and all they do is paint their way little if any explanation! BRAVO MY MAN BRAVO! Thank you!
Thank you very much Mark! Glad you found this helpful.
Wonderful tutorial clear and concise. Learnt so much and I've only watched the first episode,
Thank you. Glad it was helpful.
I respect your attitude towards art. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much!
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting I am a language teacher myself and I know who teaches well. Your teaching is very exellent and your talk is very clear to understand.
Brilliant. You explain things really well. Thanks for making the effort
Thank you Danny!
Thank you for all you do!
My pleasure!
I am gonna try this out.
Another amazing portrait painting 🥰
Thank you Susan!
Thank you for posting.
Thanks for taking the time to put together very useful videos and commentary. It’s really helped me a lot with my approach to painting.
Your tutorials are always extremely helpful, clear and informative. Thank you so much for the time, knowledge and expertise you put into these tutorials!
Oh dear.... this is so captivating that I think I'm going to have to have a go at it! 🙏👍🍺
Go for it!
Amazing video
Nice tutorial and great talented.
All I can say is: Thank God for people like you Alex, who put everything in to going into great depth about exactly how you paint. I find your instructions extremely easy to follow and lucid.
I wonder if you would have advice for someone like me who channels ‘spirit guides’ and draws/paints portraits of them; I have tried to use references but it doesn’t work.. I look at nature wood grain, trees, floors and I see faces everywhere! I paint from these faces that I see and also from what visions I have in my mind’s eye. Your simplifications have really helped. Perhaps you could offer more suggestions? Thank you.
Thank you Anna. Have you heard of "Visionary Art" or Ernst Fuchs of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism? He works with a combination of representational and imaginary subjects and it sounds to me, like the kind of thing you are trying to do? He has influenced many other artists who also work in the same field.
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting Ah thank you so much for this comment. I love how Spirit works! You directed me to a a Jewish artist Ernst Fuchs, who I looked up on Wikipedia and saw that not only was he Jewish, loved the Spiritual in art, his mother baptised him as a Catholic to prevent him from going to a concentration camp! Extraordinary story, extraordinary being.. and the moment I saw his face I knew he was Jewish because he looks like Yeshua (Jesus). In fact I could show you a drawing that I e done recently (not very good because it’s got hands in it which are really hard to draw) but his face is really very similar! So amazing. Thank you so much. 🙏
Excellent tuition
Thank you John!
This is really a useful guide
Thanks for taking the time with the commentary !
Amazing tutorial. thanks a lot!!!!!!
Thank you very much! Glad you liked it.
Spieghi benissimo. Grazie mille
Kudos to u for painstakingly making such insightful vdos with such well articulated commentary and dedication. Learning a lot from ur channel. V. Grateful. Thank you!!
Thank you very much!
Nicely rendered head. Solidly built.
Alex thank you
Thanks sir for lesson
I learned a lot of your demo, Thank you very much. I am painting also portraits with a great likeness, and I know that it is very difficult to get it write.
God bless you brother 🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌
I think you are very articular when speaking. I have been listening to videos for years. You are far the best. I learned so much detail about painting portraiture. Detail I have been missing forever. Now I have the complete puzzles of the puzzle. Thank you. Oh, maybe people that teaches portraiture didn’t explain this information because they themselves didn’t understand this knowledge. They should understand the”why” they were doing what they were doing. Now, I hope you can understand what I was trying to explain.
Thank you Terry! Accomplished painters probably all know this stuff, but painting is very hard to explain. Harold Speed said it was was like trying to explain the taste of sugar to someone. I spend a lot of time thinking and writing about the explainations, so I'm very glad you find them more understandable.
One bit of advice I could give is to not only squint at your subject, but to also squint at your drawing or painting. Pick two values on your subject... say the lightest and darkest values. All the other values of your subject are between those two values. To judge how light or dark those values are, gradually close your eyes down and see what values “merge into” the lightest or darkest values. Now look at your drawing or painting. Close your eyes down and see if your values merge like nature’s version. If not, then you know what next to adjust! Thank you for this tutorial... Velasquez is a great example for students to learn from.
Magnificient
Thanks Antonio!
Alex your videos are amazing! The way that you explain everything clearly as you go including which brushes you use is SUPER helpful. No one seems to do that really or as well as you. Thank you!! Do you wipe your brushes after each color? That is our of camera range and I am curious how your colors seem to go on so clean. I struggle with this.
Thank you very much Mel! Glad you find my videos helpful. Yes, it's a good idea to wipe your brushes between using them, to keep them as clean as possible. I tend to be quite extravagant and use lots of brushes, grabbing a fresh one whenever I mix a new colour. This can be annoying as you end up with lots of brushes to clean at the end. You definitely don't need lots of brushes, as long as keep cleaning them as you go. I made a couple of videos on brushes where I talk about all of this:
th-cam.com/video/hDNinFaPA30/w-d-xo.html
And here's a video on brush care:
th-cam.com/video/TvnHa4lGAFc/w-d-xo.html
NOICE. is there part 3 ?
part 3 will hopefully be out in a couple of weeks
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting ok thnx ❤
hi alex tzavaras, I was also wondering why painters often start simplifying values, then breaking them down, like starting with the eye socket as a brushtroke, then putting another brushtroke for the eyeball, and then going in and breaking the values down so it looks like an eye
By working from general to specific it is easier to hit the target. If you’re working with straight lines and angles and general values you can establish an accurate framework upon which you can hang the details.
@@jeffhreid ah thanks, what happens if you start with the details without framework? and just place details using proportion?
Some artists work from detail to detail and its fine if you're drawing in pencil, but if you're painting in oils it's much easier to to make mistakes that way. Like I say in the video, when you focus on one small area and just compare its value with the shapes next to it without looking at the whole image. The difference in value will appear greater than it is. So, if you work from small shape to small shape without considering the overall value relationships, it's highly likely that you'll get the values wrong. Simplifying your subject into a few large shapes and getting their values correct, before working on the details is a really good way to avoid getting into trouble.
It's also a much quicker way of working when you're using oil paint. Working from detail to detail takes ages.
jeffhreid thanks! Does it also apply to 3d thinking in planes and such, start with the biggest planes as a framework to do smaller planes
Je n'ai jamais vu un cours de peinture aussi parfait. Merci pour ce régal. J'aimerais connaître le nom de ce peintre. Merci d'avance. Clita
The painting I'm copying is by Diego Velázquez
Le nom du peintre qui exécute la copie de Vélasquez est Alex Tzavaras.
Hey alex! 1. why is it so important to start with the bigger planes before the small ones? 2. and why do painters always think in 3d planes? is it because it helps you t copy the 3 dimensional part as you might not completely captured all the color?
The idea is to work from general to specific. Establishing the broad proportions, and general values. Once those are properly positioned the details can be added and a likeness achieved
Lu,
I think he was clear.
As he sayd, the small (As known as details) - are subtle shifts within the big ones.
When you start with a small number of values (during the blockin in) - you will obtain a value hierarquy (organization) that will help you to stick correct with the values that you paint.
This avoid you to mix up the values, so, to don't put too much bright value within the shadows.
Remember the part that he paint the "bright" detail up plane of the nastro? He used a warm MID skin tone, rather a bright or hightlight.
You can do this thinking as light families.
A light family
A dark family
In the beggining use just two values (of equal jumps) for the lights and two values for the darks...
And if you do like so, when you finish the block in or the mass drawing (big shapes and planes), if you have done it correct (checking it all the time and refining) in proportinos, it will be easy to draw and find the smaller ones.
It´s far away easy to reshape a big plane and correcting it in the beggining, while reshape a whole bunch of details and big shapes in the end. So, if you commit a mistake with the big shapes, the details will be wrong to.
It´s just a matter of doing the drawing smart.
Astonishing work ! I think you are the best art teacher ever met on TH-cam. Your advice is really useful. By the way, I tried to have a go with this copy, but I think I have problem with the surface I use: it seams that the paint doesn’t quite adhere to the canvas; it stays slippery and I can’t work my colours properly. May I ask you what kind of canvas you used, and where to get it ? P.S. I already asked you about the source of your knowledge… thank you !
I used oil primed linen for this. This is the stuff I normally get:
www.russellandchapple.co.uk/index.php/artists-canvas/primed-linen/belgian-fine-oil-primed-linen.html
There's another brand called Claussens which is just as good, which will probably be easier to get in the EU
I like your video 😊🙏🔔
Hey alex, your tutorial has me painting pretty dam good portraits after only 2 months, so thankyou for that
I was wondering, how often do you use bristle brushes? I use bristle brushes for the block in/big shapes phase, but past that point, i need to use synthetic/horse hair brushes because the bristle brushes drag the paint far too much, leaving tracks and not applying smoothly at all.
I only ask because some alla prima teachers recommend using bristle brushes basically all the way through, up to the fine details, and I simply cant do that with my skill. I`m also using windor and newton oil paints, which seem ok.
thanks again
Thanks Harry! Glad my videos have been helpful. I tend to work in a similar way to you, using bristles for the earlier stages of the painting, then moving towards sifter brushes for more of the refining and details work as they don't disrupt the paint underneath so much. However it is entirely possible to complete a painting with just bristles on their own. If you see Sargent's or any of those guy's brushes they pretty much used only bristles, maybe one or two round sables for adding really small details. I have a demo by an artists called Max Ginsburg and in it he uses just 3 bristle brushes for the whole painting a size 10 a size 6 and a size 4.
When students ask me what brushes to buy I usually recommend that before they go out and buy a load of different fancy Rosemary and Co brushes they start with a few different size good quality filbert bristles and learn how to get the most out of them. The key to not having them scrape of the paint underneath is to make sure you're using enough paint. If the brush is loaded it will leave paint on the canvas rather lifting of what's already there. I reckon this is an important thing to learn before you start using softer brushes. Btw have seen my video on brushes:
th-cam.com/video/hDNinFaPA30/w-d-xo.html
@@SIMPLIFYDrawingandPainting this is so helpful. thanks so much for taking the time to answer me :)
Your videos are amazing … two questions … what is the tool you use to mark/Scratch on the oil painting to highlight details and the second - do you do courses in person ?
Thanks Johnny
Thank you Johnny. I'm using the back of my brush, but this only works well if you're working on a fairly non absorbent surface. And yes I do teach regular classes in person, in South London. Here are the details, the next term starts in September but the dates may not be up yet?
www.dulwichartgroup.co.uk/product/portraiture-with-alex-tzavaras/
I'm also planning to do a short course in the South of England in the Autumn. Details will appear on my website.
amazing tutorial sir. these are acrylics right?
Thanks! No they are not Acrylics, They are oils
oh really? i would like to start oils too, i don't like acrylic very much
With all respect, as with most artists trying to copy this painting, you end up with the sitter's had somehow tilted down, not straight and slightly up as in the original. That's because at the beginning outline of the design you already placed the main middle straight vertical line already somehow tilted to the right.
Otherwise, a magnifique copy of a Velazquez.
Like and sub.
Thanks Linda!
Excellent excellent. Just one criticism; please don’t use irritating music to fill in the gaps between your comments.
It’s just fine to watch without having to listen to that. I almost didn’t make it to the end of the video because of the ‘music’.
I didn’t want to mute it in case I missed the valuable commentary.
Please…much better with just silence.
your portrait is very smart. but show me slowly and step by step