How to approach a portrait-Tai-Shan Schierenberg

HOW TO APPROACH A PORTRAIT –
Tai-Shan Schierenberg

Tai-Shan Schierenberg is no stranger to a portrait. His beautiful paintings hang in some of the world’s most prestigious galleries. His approach is as interesting as his work, and we hope you take inspiration from him.

Materials

Small Canvas or canvas board
Oil Paints – Titanium White, Raw Sienna, Vermilion, Cadmium Red, Blue, Burnt Sienna
Selection of brushes
Palette
Solvent
Newspaper (or Rags / Kitchen Roll)

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Preparation

Print your reference image and place it next to your canvas.

You will only need a small canvas for this session.

You will need a limited palette for this session of five colours and a white. These include Titanium White, Raw Sienna, Vermillion, Cadmium Red, a dark blue, Burnt Sienna.

First brushstrokes

For this painting, you will start in one spot and travel across the canvas to the other side.

Begin by mixing a flesh tone and with one stroke, apply a large amount of paint to the model’s forehead. Then add more paint to your brush and block in the rest of the model’s forehead.

Don’t be shy with the amount of paint you use. Feel free to add highlights and change tones as you go.

You are building your forehead out of tones and brushstrokes. The idea is to make a forehead with paint rather than illustrating a forehead.

Top Tip- use the same brush throughout the process but keep cleaning it with a bit of old newspaper.

Add the hairline

With your forehead blocked in, take your brush and mix your model’s hair colour.

Similarly to painting the forehead, block in the model’s hairline, including any facial hair if they have any.

Use decisive brushstrokes and assess tone as you go.

Top Tip- if you add a tone that is too dark, do not worry. You can take a lighter tone and apply it on top to visually mix it directly with the colour you already have on the canvas.

Adding dark tones to the face

Look at your model’s face, where are the darker tones in their face? E.g. one side of their nose, shadow on edge of the skull, eye socket, cheekbone.

Note- Tai’s model is lit from one side, hence the shadows of their face. The shadows may be in a different position on your model.

Apply the darker tones to the correlating areas on the canvas.

Soft and hard transitions

Look at all the paint you have applied to the canvas. It should be a range of tones. Are the transitions between tones too harsh at any point? If so, add more paint to visually blend the tones. Be careful not to soften your brushstrokes too much by over blending.

Paint in the right eye (dark side of the face)

To tackle the eye, begin by painting the shadows around the eye itself. You are making a hollow for the eye and should be using a dark tone for this.

With the hollow in place, mark where the model’s eyelashes are.

Using a lighter tone, mark where the model’s eyelid is.

Paint the rest of the eye and cheekbone on the dark side of the face. Play around with the paint and assess the tones as you go.

Top Tip- work from the top of the eye down. This will help you to avoid smudges.

Block in the model’s nose, cheeks and other eye

Assessing tone as you go, make marks that indicate where the model’s nose is and block in the cheek that sits below the eye you have already painted.

Remember- every brushstroke matters when you are painting on a small canvas. Apply your paint thickly and with intention.

Work across the face and paint in the model’s nose and other eye.

Don’t worry if you make a mistake, one small brushstroke can correct things and send you back on the right path.

When you are happy with your initial marks. Go back over them with more defined marks, if this is required. You do not have to do this if you are happy with your initial marks.

Add in the model’s hair, ear and background to help contain your painting. The background colour can be of a similar tone found in one of your brush marks on the face. This will tie the whole painting together.

Top tip- Is your easel in the right position? If it is not, it might affect your drawing and proportions. Be mindful of this.

The final stage

When you are happy with the top half of your painting, turn your attention to your model’s lip and chin.

Use the same technique as before, assess tones as you go and be decisive with your brushstrokes.

Remember, as well as the anatomy of the mouth, try to get the sense of expression of your model.