creating a stylised male portrait

8/14/2019 Creating a stylised male portrait

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Computer ArtsSeptember 2008 www.computerarts.co.uk

ART153 tut_portrait 84ART153.tut_portrait 84 5/8/08 10:47:095/8/08 10:47:09


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www.computerarts.co.uk Computer Arts September 2008

Technique 85

02 Decide on a colour schemeand the direction of the light. Thecolours must be in harmony and expressa mood. I wanted to create a dramatic,nervous effect, so I chose dark red andblue. Paint the main shadows in severalshades, using soft, rounded brushes.

01 Make a rough sketch of theperson you want to paint. Set the mainfeatures and proportions, leaving thedetails until later. Try to stylise theimage decide what you want toaccentuate and emphasise uniquefacial characteristics.

03 Put down the half-tones andpaint over the lit areas using the maincolours. This style doesnt call formaximum realism in fact, you shouldmake the flat areas of the face lookmore chopped-up and angular. Use thesame brushes as in Step 2.

Illustration portraiture

Creatinga stylisedmale portrait

Illustrator EvgenyParfenovexplains how topaint a digital portraitusing techniques basedon geometrical rules

I create a diverse range of illustrations, but I enjoy

portraits the most. As an illustrator, Im attracted to Expressionism,particularly the work of Egon Schiele and Wassily Kandinsky. Thisstyle has certain features that appeal to me a great deal. Picturesare extremely stylised, with deliberate deformation, and theres atendency to render objects in flat areas and employ sharp,dissonant colours. This is the approach I try to use in my own work. In this tutorial Ive outlined my approach to creatingstylised portraits. The image Ive used as my example was producedfor my online project called tss Magazine. Every month I create acover or two, illustrated with events or people I find especiallyinteresting. I hope that you find my techniques useful

Evgeny ParfenovBased in Moscow,

Russian artistEvgeny has beenworking as afreelance illustratorsince 2002 forclients includingRolling Stonemagazine. Previously

Time needed2-3 hours

Skills Composition Sketching Applying

Expressioniststyling

05 Add contrast to give yourdrawing more life. With a small brush,paint darker strokes onto the shadedareas and lighter strokes onto thehighlighted sections.

04 Blur the colour strokes witha medium-sized brush, making sure youonly blur the areas youve defined, anduse a minimal gradient.

he worked in variouscreative agencies asa web designer andart director. To findout more see http://evgeny-parfenov.blogspot.com.



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12 Add thin strokes to outline locks of the hair. Always remember where thelight is coming from. Add more details to the forehead; I suggest one strong verticalwrinkle and a few horizontal ones to create a more dramatic expression.

10 Add contrast to the dark areas. Try to make them equally saturated forexample, if you deepen the shadows on the hair, make the same changes in othershadowed areas, such as the chin. Paint in the locks of hair and use a similar colourfor folds in clothes.

08 Add more details (wrinklesand small lines), correcting the balanceof light and shadow too. Try to achievethe most harmonious combination.

07 Carefully blur the brushstrokes and work on the details, payingparticular attention to the eyes, nose,lips and other features.

09 When youve finished the face, paint the main tonesof the hair. Next start working on the background it must notsteal the show, so paint it with one of the main colours andmark some bold folds with dark strokes.

11 Accentuate the features further carefully paint theeyes, the angles of the nose and the wrinkles. With this kind ofstyle every detail must have bold shapes.

Computer ArtsSeptember 2008 www.computerarts.co.uk

06 Staying within the main colour scheme, add morecontrast I used shades of warmer reds and colder blues.Dont use a simple black when working on dark areas, becauseit will make the shadows too flat.



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13 Focus on the secondary details. With a small brush add blur to the light strokes of the hair and

make the shapes of the forehead wrinkles si milar to the curves of the locks of hair.

14 Add smaller details around the eyes todraw the viewer towards the face. Despite thestylisation, every feature must look natural, ratherthan over-transformed or out of proportion.

15 Work on the background and the clothes.Take care not to go into too much detail the facehas to remain in the spotlight.

www.computerarts.co.uk Computer Arts September 2008

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16 To make the background folds lessprominent, reduce the saturation and contrast.The aim is to make the colours less bright.

17 Finish the background by carefully blurringthe folds Try to make them look like an ornamentalframe for the portrait.

EvgenyParfenovThe Russian illustratorshares some of hisfavourite portraits

VisualCVInpictures:agu

ideto

thecareerandworkof

ourTechniquewriters

Solaris 2007 The above was drawn for a

calendar in which various illustrators made

artworks based on their favourite movies.

Jores Alferov 2008Commissioned by

Sobaka, a Russian magazine based in

Saint Petersburg.

Fruteland

Jackson 2006

Drawn forAfisha,

one of the biggest

Russian

entertainment

magazines.

REM 2008

One of my moreabstract pieces,

this illustration

was created for

Rolling Stone

(Russian edition).

Cristiano

Ronaldo 2008

Created for my

tssMagazine

project, just

before Euro 2008.

ART153 tut portrait 87 5/8/08 10:47:27

creating a stylised male portrait

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