Economy

In this new series, HASHIM AKIB sets out four different techniques for creating stylish, modern portraits. He begins by showing how to create a likeness with minimal strokes.

Most artists agree that portraiture is the most difficult genre to conquer when drawing or painting. Achieving a large percentage of a likeness can be dragged down by minor inaccuracies. The first and most important strategy for painting portraits is don’t show what you don’t need to – in fact, this is my general rule for any artwork. The more information you convey, the more ammunition for an overly critical viewer. Obviously, you may need more accuracy with features, but you’ll be surprised what details can be left out.

Do you really need to show all the eyelashes, wrinkles, blemishes and moles? In fact, your sitter might thank you for underplaying them or leaving them out completely. You may even just concentrate on getting one eye right and blur the other, this way your focal point will be more potent. The more accurate the information you try to convey, the greater the likelihood that your concentration levels will drop – you’ll often lose interest or simply obsess about minor details until you can’t make any objective judgements.

This is the greatest gift experience has to offer: knowing what to leave out. Amateurs and technically-gifted professionals like showcasing technique and how well the mechanics of a painting work. This may include smooth transitions, accuracy throughout, naturalist flesh tints or very few exposed brush marks. Traditionally, before cameras, this is how you measured the gold standard of portraits. Unfortunately, someone invented the camera and they are everywhere nowadays, so painted portraits need to be elevated by the artist’s creative interpretations.