Selecting Photographs and Canvas for Portraits

Video Transcript

"Before you can start painting its important to have your subject matter in mind. I highly recommend using a photograph. What we're going to do is we're take this photograph and we're going to start painting it, but then we're going to throw in different elements, change things around, make the alternative version from this. But as you find your photograph you also have to keep in mind the size of your painting. Is this the actual size of your painting that you want to have? Or would you rather have a much bigger version, much bigger painting that you're going to create today. So in this case I'm looking at creating a bigger painting so what I've done is I've blown up the original photograph and made a copy of it. I'm going to be including this near my easel here, kind of for reference. So that I can basically keep in mind kind of the original shapes, sizes and tones of the original portrait. Because while I'm going to change things some of the same, you know, shapes and sizes are still gonna come through. Some of the same lines, spaces of the eyes, those types of things. And you also have to keep in mind the blown up picture and the size of the canvas you want to use today. You want to make sure that your canvas size is not going to crowd the picture. That you have plenty of room to express your creativity and not to crunch things. "