As an oil painter, there will come a time that you will be asked to create a portrait. Or perhaps, you have always wanted to be known as a portraitist. There are many reasons why portraits are painted, most of which pertains to the sitter, the person whose portrait you will paint. The sitter would probably want to establish a public image and you, as the artist, would do well to emphasize the status, looks, and personality.
A portrait is also meant to explore the qualities of the sitter that normally would not show in his or her day to day activities. And a portrait is made to have a souvenir of a loved one, who is either absent or dead.
There is no correct way to do a portrait. And there is no fool-proof technique that will assure the painter to produce a likeness to the sitter. There are, however, several things to keep in mind when painting a portrait.
Most portraitists feel comfortable in putting oil to canvass after they have done several sketches of the sitter. Drawing the sketches will help you understand the things you see and how to translate them into two-dimensional lines.
Sometimes, you will find easy strokes and sometimes you will...