SELF PORTRAITURE – Tom Croft
Reference Image
Materials
Canvas or prepared surface
Oil paints
Selection of brushes (synthetic and hog hair)
Palette (glass with neutral background preferred)
Mirror or reference photo
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Setting Up Your Palette & Reference
Start by laying out your paints on your palette. It’s a good trick to lay them out the same way every time so your hand can reach for colours instinctively. It’s also good to place warm colours on one side and cool colours on the other.
As a reference use a mirror or a well-lit reference photo.
Top Tip: If using a mirror, be mindful of expression fatigue. Working from a photo also allows more flexibility in pose and lighting.
Planning Your Self-Portrait
Before you start painting consider what defines you physically and emotionally and choose a composition that reflects this. Experiment with canvas shape and pose to emphasize unique traits (e.g., a tall, thin canvas for height). Consider how your gaze and posture convey feeling e.g. the gaze could say a lot about whether you’re feeling brave or scared etc. Think beyond a direct likeness—self-portraits can reflect mood, character, and identity.
Top Tip: A self-portrait doesn’t have to be your whole face. It could be a reflection, a close-up, or a symbolic representation.
Blocking in Shapes & Tones
Once you’re happy with the composition, start by sketching in a loose outline of your features. Work tonally starting with darks, before introducing mid-tones.
It could be good to start with the hair as it’s very forgiving so can ease you into a painting. You can use bold, textured brush strokes.
Top Tip: Light defines form. Establish your brightest highlight early as a reference point for the rest of your tones.
Expressing Mood & Emotion
To get a sense of mood and emotion you can experiment with colour exaggeration—your painting doesn’t have to match the reference exactly. Your colour choices could say something about the mood of a painting. Loosen your approach and allow expressive strokes to emerge naturally.
Top Tip: Your brushwork reflects your personality. Whether bold or delicate, embrace it as part of your unique artistic style.
Refining Features
Throughout, try and work from general to specific—avoid getting caught up in details too soon. It’s nice to use a combination of soft and sharp edges to create focus and depth.
When working on the eyes and mouth observe their subtle shifts in tone and structure as this will make them feel like you. But don’t think about them as ‘eyes’ or ‘mouths’. It might be helpful to squint to avoid this.
If you have big swathes of grey e.g. beard or hair, use leftover paint mixed together to avoid wastage
Top Tip: Try and be honest when painting a self-portrait. You are describing the real human condition. It will make for a better painting.
Other elements
You could include props in the background to say something about yourself e.g. certain books on a book case. It doesn’t have to just be you.
Top Tip: A self-portrait is a personal exploration—there’s no wrong way to do it. Be brave, experiment, and enjoy the process!