How To Paint A Realistic Portrait – Avoid These 11 Mistakes!

Realistic portrait painting has always been my favorite thing to do. However, getting a likeness can be a huge challenge due to simple mistakes. I’ll share with you a couple of the mistakes I made painting this portrait. I will also go over other common mistakes and helpful tips. This will help you to avoid some of the pain of painting portraits.

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I’ve drawn and painted portraits of people and pets for as long as I can remember. Fortunately, I’ve been able to capture a likeness with most of my subjects.

The only time I have trouble with a likeness is when I make some basic mistakes. With this realistic portrait of Dr. Claude Pressnell, I started out the painting with an inaccurate drawing. That was my first mistake. I also had

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How To Paint A Digital Portrait – Step-By-Step With Pictures

When I got my iPad, painting a realistic digital portrait was the first thing I wanted to try. As a traditional oil painter, I don’t want my digital portraits to look like digital paintings. I wanted them to look like real oil paintings. In this article, I’ll show you how I do it.

Digital portrait painting title card

Procreate was the first program I tried, but I didn’t get the results I wanted. After giving ArtRage a try, I found that painting a realistic digital portrait was much easier for me to achieve. It’s a program that just seemed to work for me. I know many artists that use Procreate and other painting programs with great success.

NOTE: If you don’t have a digital program to paint in, you can still follow along using whatever types of paint you have. The basics are still the same.

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Is Digital Painting Real Art? Thoughts From An Oil Painter.

Graphic title slide showing a hand holding a stylus and a painting in vibrant colors of a portrait of a woman. Text reads Is Digital Art Real Art?

Digital painting – is real art or not? I’ve struggled with this question ever since I picked up a tablet and started painting digitally. Through the years, I’ve created art by making real, tangible pieces with paint on canvas that I can hold in my hands. Real art could only be made with real art supplies – not pixels, right?

After having done both traditional and digital painting, I think the answer is that as far as talent and creating a work of art in today’s world, digital painting is “real” art. If you are only measuring digital art based on it taking on a form that is handcrafted with a variety of materials, then no, it doesn’t qualify as “real” art. But is that second sentence true or is it just a perception? To find out, I’ll explore the definition of fine art, the biases in art, art-shaming and

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Can I Make A Digital Painting Look Traditional On The iPad?

Ever since I picked up an iPad and started painting, my number one goal was to make my digital painting look like a traditional oil painting. I wasn’t convinced it was possible and, of course, I can still tell the difference. However, a lot of people that view my work can’t tell the difference between my digital and traditional paintings.

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Yes, it is possible to make a digital painting look like a traditional oil painting. Use the same process that traditional painters and a program that gives a natural application of paint. This will give you a good result. Throughout the rest of this article, I will show you a practice painting I did using

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10 Tips For Painting A Dog Portrait Featuring A Japanese Chin

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In today’s tutorial, I will go over 10 tips for painting a dog portrait. The images in this post came from screencasts of a painting I started on the iPad with ArtRage and then finished on the desktop with ArtRage 6. I use the same approach to digital painting as traditional painting, so whether you paint on a canvas or a tablet, the steps below will apply.

Title graphic 10 tips

If you’d like to watch the speed painting I created from the screencasts, click the

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How I Paint On The iPad – A Step-By-Step Portrait in ArtRage

Today I will show you how I paint on the iPad, creating a step-by-step portrait in ArtRage. This program is an inexpensive drawing and painting app for the iPad that allows you to create realistic oil paintings that feels intuitive and natural. Plus, it’s a blast to play with.

Paint on the iPad step-by-step portrait in ArtRage

The final painting was inspired by a photo I found on the Sktchy app. Sktchy is a great resource for artists looking for

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30 Faces 30 Days Portrait Painting Challenge

I have no idea why I signed up for the Sktchy #30faces30days portrait painting challenge. Well, I sort of know. I had been working on a formal portrait and felt like I was painting too “tight”. The best way for me to loosen up is to paint fast – really fast. The only problem is that I’m a super slowpoke painter.

Portrait Painting Challenge Collage

9 of the paintings from the 30 faces 30 days portrait painting challenge.

I’ve completed fourteen of the thirty faces in the painting challenge so far. For this article I’ll only be reviewing nine of the paintings. I’ll review other works in future posts. You can find the original photos at the bottom of this post.

Day 1 Of The Portrait Painting Challenge

The first day was definitely a challenge for me. I’ve never painted a partially shaved head before or a Mohawk. After I signed up for the Sktchy painting challenge, the deal was that they’d send a photo every morning to paint. When I opened the email for this one I

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