Painting a Watercolor Portrait of a Boy
Watercolor portrait painting demonstration

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Brushes and Colors

Brushes:
Number 14 round sable
Number 6 round sable
1/2-inch flat sable
1.5-inch flat sable

Watercolor paint : red, blue, yellow, burnt umber, burnt sienna

Paper: Arches Cold Press 140 lb

 

Drawing and first wash

A child is innocent, tender and sweet. Here is a demonstration of my method of painting a watercolor portrait of a child.

For a portrait painting, I usually start with a good pencil drawing. This is the step where I plan the composition; sort out the perspective, relationships, proportion and balance, size and distance. A good drawing is a good base for a painting; it can give you more confidence, so take as much time as you need to in this step.

I used a number 14 round brush to start the wash from the top of the forehead and moved down. This base wash help me created a soft, blended base of colors for this painting. Notice that I left some spots untouched. They were for the eyes and teeth. Then I introduced the second layer of color to define the shadow of the face with a wash of brunt umber.

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