We had the family Christmas Party at the beginning of December last year, and I took some casual portraits of family members while everyone was together. A few turned out really well, so I decided to turn a couple of them into painted portraits. This is Ava, and she is my nephew’s daughter. Her mother is holding her in her arms, but I love how she is just looking off into the light with an angelic look on her face. Couldn’t have asked for anything better!
The Details: The one to the left is the original photo that was taken at the family Christmas Party back in December. Lighting was an off camera flash shot through an umbrella to camera left. A white reflector was on the right side pushing just a bit of light into the scene from camera right.
The image on the right, is the final painted version using Painter X. Mostly pastel brushes were used, with a camel’s hair brush for the hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc. It was output to a 17×22 piece of Hahnnemuhle Fine Art Watercolor paper and printed on an Epson 4800 printer.
The distracting detail from around Ava was removed so that all of the focus was on her, and then once all that was finished, I worked on painting in the details.
One of the things that I think is key to a good painted portrait is a descent image that you start with. Then, working on that image until it becomes a REALLY good portrait, and THEN finally working on the painted portion.
Landscape and portrait photographer, David E. Warner captures the breath-taking beauty of the Mohawk Valley and Southern Adirondacks region and its people with his mastery of color, composition & light.
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