Transcripts
1. Introduction: [MUSIC] Painting
realistic portraits can seem extremely intimidating. That's why I'd like to
start this class with the biggest secret to learn and achieve realism with
watercolor portrait. Get past the fear and
just get started. Hi, my name is Francoise. I started drawing
portraits when I was a little girl with
basic supplies, and no less than 30 years
and four kids later, I decided to go back to art
and make it my career with a lot of practicing and learning to colorize my work
with watercolor. [MUSIC] Since then, I've been teaching art
here on Skillshare and on YouTube and I even
got to partner up with art brands to
teach live classes. Over time, I have
grown a following of art lovers and
licensed some work, all that from my
dining room table, which has proved the
best time to start is right now no matter
the circumstances. What I love about watercolor
is that you can paint in different styles and
achieve so many effects, from smooth, life-like
textures to intricate detail. [MUSIC] No matter how
intimidating a topic looks like, anyone can learn it by
taking the first step. This is why, in this class, we're going to focus on
painting a realistic eye in order to get you started
into watercolor portrait. First, we will go through
the supplies I use. Then I'll have you practice painting a
smooth-looking skin with a simple sphere exercise so
you get comfortable with the realism fundamentals for
a medium like watercolor. Later, we will start our
project with a simple sketch, color mixing, and together, we'll build up shape and detail
to paint a beautiful eye using only two colors so you can fully focus
on the process. This class is best suited to intermediate learners who have practiced with
watercolor before. If you're a complete
beginner with this medium, I will suggest to take my galaxy class as it will
be extremely valuable and helpful when it
comes to mastering water control and layering
watercolor paints. With this class, I'd like to
show you that you too can learn to paint gorgeous
watercolor portraits. Don't wait any longer,
grab your supplies, and let's meet next to talk
about the class project. [MUSIC]
2. Class Project: The class project is a realistic watercolor eye
painting in monochrome. Today, we'll be
focusing on creating smooth layers of paint to
depict the human skin. We will also paint fine detail to finish
our beautiful eye. Make the most out of the class, I strongly recommend to practice the sphere exercise before
getting into the project. With it, you will gather the
knowledge and confidence to paint skin with
watercolor and again, better focus on
the eye later on. To make it easier, feel free to pause anytime
or to watch a lesson throughout so you know what to expect before you get
started painting. You may also download my supplies list,
reference photos, and photos of the
finished artwork from the resources section
of the class. Please reach out down here in the discussion section if
you need any help and feel free to post your project in the project section to share
with me and other students. We are ready to
start, so maybe next to learn about the supplies
we're going to need. [MUSIC]
3. Supplies: [MUSIC] In this lesson, I'll go over the
basic supplies I use to paint realistic
watercolor portraits. We will need two sheets
of about 6 by 8 inches. A bit less or more is fine. I cut mine out of a large
watercolor paper pad. We'll use these sheets for the exercise and class project. For best results with
your realistic portraits and smooth washes of paint, look for 100 percent
cotton papers. This one is a bit grainy in texture since it
is cold pressed. It is thick and sturdy
with a weight of 300 GSM. It is paper from
the brand Arches, a high-quality watercolor paper that absorbs water very well. You can download my entire supplies list
for this class in the Resources section
and find alternatives to Arches that I have
used and recommend. Next, having some
masking tape will make your life easier
while painting. This is plain construction tape, but you can use
scrapbooking tape too. Taping paper to whatever
surface you're working on, really helps with the
painting process. Your hands will be
free and you'll be able to better focus
on the techniques. We'll use a pencil, ruler, and eraser
to draw a sketch. Anything basic will
work just fine. To paint portraits, I recommend natural hair round paint
brushes like these two, they are great to paint the first layers and
make them smooth. I also like to use
these detailing, round and pointing
paint brushes. Paper form very nicely for fine details such as
hair and eyelashes, and they help create
clean and precise shapes. Here are the iris and pupil
of the eye, for instance. We'll be using
only two colors of paint today: brown and black. Mine are Art
Philosophy tubes and colors are burnt umber
and ivory black. You'll walk in to
substitute burnt umber for any other brownish
color you have, and it really doesn't
matter which brand you use. I like to pour my paints into small half
pans like these for convenience and I also like to use those walls
to mix colors, but any palette you
already have will do. A few sheets of paper
towels will come handy to soak extra water off
your paint brushes. Two jars of water are helpful
to wet our paint brushes, but also rinse them after use. All you have to do is change the water when it
gets too dirty. This one is optional, I'll be using some
drawing gum or a masking fluid in our exercise. Around the sphere
we will paint next, to keep the round
shape it needs. I'll use this color
shaper to apply the fluid but an old
paint brush will do. We will need some white gouache, any kind you have, for the highlights
of our portrait. Finally, a heat gun
or a hairdryer to speed up the drying time unless you prefer
to wait it out. We are now ready to
get started with a simple exercise so meet
me in the next lesson. [MUSIC]
4. Realism Exercise : Foundational Layer: [MUSIC] Let's practice painting a realistic shape that
looks smooth like skin. To do this, I'm going to use
the sphere as reference. You can start taping one of your watercolor sheets
with masking tape. The goal here is to
experience how layering the paint and playing with tone is going to
shape the sphere. I'm going to guide you
through this step-by-step in the next two lessons so don't worry and focus on the process. Have fun painting
this 3D sphere. The next step is to
sketch a circle. [MUSIC] In the lesson about supplies you
need for the class, I mentioned that if you like, you can use some masking
fluid in the exercise. I'm applying it right
now with my color shaper all around the circle
because I want to make sure the shape of my
circle is preserved and I don't want to have to be careful about the edges when I paint it. I find it more fun and
agreeable this way. If you prefer, you can
pass on masking fluid and just paint within the lines
with careful strokes. Before we start painting, make sure your masking
fluid is completely dry to avoid damaging
your paint brushes. We will be using our brown
and black colors through out the exercise and start with
brown in this first part. To paint watercolor portraits
that look realistic, we want to keep this
skin looking smooth. To achieve this effect, I find it better to
paint in layers. That's why I always apply at very light base layer of the main color first here brown, and I go darker little
by little by adding more brown and using
something darker like black. [MUSIC] Let's look at our reference
photo for the sphere. The light parts in
the sphere towards the right are what will
remain a light brown for us. This is what we're
about to paint. The darkest part of the sphere are located on the left side. We will take care
of them much later. There is a strong
highlight on the right. We'll paint layer as well. You can see I segment the
painting into stages, light to mid tones first, then shadows and the
strong highlights. There will be the same
for a realistic portrait. To make this brown
color look light, we needed to add a lot
of water to the paint. You really want the
mix to be watery in this first step of realistic
portrait painting. The advantages are
there won't be any mistake you cannot fix when you start
light like that. Once there's color on paper, it will also seem much
easier to add to it. The most difficult is to
start with a blank page. Let's grab one of
our paint brushes. Wet it well and cover
the sphere in water. I use this technique
of wetting the paper first because I know my
paint will blend better, the paper being wet, we will avoid any harsh
lines and it will be easier to create
a smooth effect. [MUSIC] I take a smaller paint
brush for more precision. You can keep the one
you have if you prefer. Let's wet this paint brush, pick up some paint
and right now, all we need to do is
apply it all around. [MUSIC] Notice I avoid the area that looks
lighter in our reference. To build a very light
brown color there, my technique is to clean
my paint brush a bit, dub it quickly on
my paper towel so it's not adding
puddles to the paper. I pull the paint we've
just applied towards the light areas to build
a flawless gradient. This is a great foundation. Now we have a better
sense of where the light and dark
parts should be. I'm able to keep working since I wet the paper and it
is still very wet. I'm going to keep building
up those light and darker tones a bit to make
our base layer complete. This is getting more precise but because my paper
is still very wet, I want to refine this
base layer even better. If your paper starts drying, you would be able to tell when the paints don't blend as well or if there are any marks
or harsh lines forming. In this case, it's better
to stop right away, let it dry completely. Then we wet the whole sphere and pick up where you left off. We can start adding some
pigment to the water. It makes a brown paint. This will make it darker. Since the sphere is wet, this darker shade of brown will melt into the rest nicely. Again, I apply this all around. [MUSIC] Because here I see the gradient between this darker part and
the lighter one, it seems a bit strong. I ease it by cleaning
my paint brush a bit, and pulling the paint. This technique is a
good way to improve how colors blend
directly on paper. If you don't like how the
transition is looking between dark and light tones or even between two different colors. [MUSIC] This is enough for
our base layer. You can already
notice how we have a nice 3D effect coming through already and how
smooth the paint is. To recap, remember to observe the reference first the
spot light and shadow. Then start light and increase color intensity
little by little. Wet your paper first to help the paint blend better
and avoid harsh lines. Use a clean paintbrush to ease the gradient between the
light and dark tones. Stop whenever your
paper is drying, let it dry, rewet, and pick up where you left off. I will meet you in the next
lesson to finish painting this beautiful sphere with
some shadows and highlights. [MUSIC]
5. Realism Exercise : Volume Build-up with Final Layers: [MUSIC] In this part
2 of our exercise, we're going to build
up shadows and place the final highlights on
our sphere painting. To build up shadow,
I use a technique that is popular
for realistic art. Whether we're talking about
dry mediums like pencil or wet mediums like watercolor,
is called layering. To layer on top of what
we already created, I use two different methods. I'm going to show
you both of them. The first method is
to layer on wet, which means we need to
rewet the sphere and then add the paint exactly like we
did in the previous lesson, except before we only
have paper, no base. We can keep increasing the
amount of pigment in our mix using this method and
slowly build up shadow. [MUSIC] This method is great for smooth transitions as
we noticed earlier, because we have a possibility
to pull the dark paint into the lighter ones with
a pin paintbrush without getting invisible lines. Let's try this
completely before moving on to our second
layering method. Notice how much nicer it looks, but also how slow going this is. To speed the painting
time up and avoid rewetting all of the
sheets again and again, I use another method, and it is to layer
on dry this time. This means we're
painting directly on paper without wetting it. To do this, I like to start working with my
detailing paint brushes, but you can keep working with a plane around
paintbrush if you like. I just wet the brush then depending to my
last mix of paint. You can add a little bit
of black now to make sure our brown gets
noticeably darker. For this step, you want to
have another paintbrush handy. It should be clean
and slightly wet. We're going to start gently by darkening just the
sides with our paint. Then before it gets
a chance to dry, we're going to fade
that first dark paint into our previous
and now dry layers. [MUSIC] I quickly wet the rest of
the sphere to keep adding, but it's very superficial. This is almost like working on the wet except less water means more control over
where the paint goes and how intense
it's going to look. You can repeat this until you're satisfied
with the shadows. [MUSIC] I find this method works very well when dry paint is already
there since it's easier to avoid strong edges
and transitions on the base. I have tried to use it
right from the start, and it's a lot harder to create a smooth look when you don't watch your paper
first and foremost. That's why I prefer to
wet my paper when I begin painting something like
realistic skin or a sky, anything that should
appear smooth, and then layer some more
on the foundation I created to add
shadows or details. [MUSIC] Make sure this is
completely dry. [MUSIC] We're ready to add a little bit of shine
with white gouache. Once more, we're
layering by adding white gouache on top of the
previous code of paint. Let's dilute it to some water. We want it to look subtle, so slightly creamy
consistency will be great. My technique to add
subtle gouache highlights is to wet the chosen area
first with a clean paintbrush, deposit the gouache, so there are no strong edges between whitewash
and brown paint. [MUSIC] To help the transition we'll use a technique
I showed you earlier. With another paintbrush,
clean and damp, we're pulling the white gouache into the rest of the sphere. Now we're ready to dry this. [MUSIC] Notice how subtle
our highlight is looking. Don't forget to remove
the masking fluid. You can use a paper
towel and rub it off in circular motions to
avoid tearing the paper. [MUSIC] We have a beautiful 3D sphere, smooth like skin. Remember that there are
several ways to add shadows when you have
a base down on paper. You can layer on wet paper, or you can layer on dry paper. I suggest to work on
wet paper to create the base for your
painting and then to add paint directly on dry paper and fading into the rest
with a clean paintbrush. Our final step is to create a highlight
with white gouache. Now we have learned to paint smooth-looking skin
with brown and black. We're ready to paint an eye. Please share the sphere
in the project section of the class and reach
out when you need help. See you in the next lesson. [MUSIC]
6. Eye Part 1 : Sketching & Color Mixing: [MUSIC] In this lesson, we're going to draw an eye
and mix our brown color. First, let's tape the sheet
down with masking tape. This way both hands are
free to draw and paint. When drawing or
painting portraits, having the reference photo at
hand is an excellent idea. What I do when I
sketch is look at it frequently to check I have
the right proportions. [NOISE] [MUSIC] I determine the sclera, also known as the
white of the eye, starts here and at this level and according to the reference
it ends around here. You can clearly
tell from the photo the bottom line for the
sclera is going upwards. This is why my line
is going up a bit. It's a good idea not to press too hard with a
pencil on sketching, this way you'll be able to erase as many times as necessary. Now we have the bottom line. Let's trace the top
of this sclera. If it looks accurate
enough, you can move on. It doesn't need to be
absolutely perfect, we're not trying to get a
likeness for the character, we're just practicing
painting one eye today. [MUSIC] In eye drawings the corner shouldn't be
pointy like they are here. But since they appear
to be in the reference, I decided to leave
them this way. Now I'm going to sketch the
eyelid and skin folds more as a landmark than anything
else since the start of the painting will be
the pupil and the iris. [MUSIC] Next I'll place the eyebrow, then the edge of the face. Finally the iris and pupil. [MUSIC] Since there is a lot of
detail around the pupil, it's wise to sketch it now. Again, it doesn't need it
to be completely accurate. Looking closely
at the reference, notice that we can see
the person who was taking the photo being
reflected in the pupil. [MUSIC] We're done with the sketch, so let's mix our
brown color now. We will need a lot of
it to paint the skin. I will reactivate
the dry paint from our exercise and add more paint. [MUSIC] You can see I add a lot of
water just like we did in the exercise and I mix
a large part of it. It's something I recommend
to do so you can focus on the painting process and
worry less about mixing. [MUSIC] Remember to observe your reference photo
frequently while sketching. Locate the edges
and placement of the eye before drawing details. Have a large enough mix of paint for the skin
painting process. Great job on completing the sketch and
preparing the paint. In the next lesson,
we're going to paint our base layer for the skin
as well as the sclera. See you there. [MUSIC]
7. Eye Part 2 : Skin First Layer : [MUSIC] We're all set
to start painting, starting with a skin and sclera. The reason why we're treating the pupil and iris
separately in this class is because they are much darker
than the rest and will require a different technique and a different mix of paint. Let's start by wetting the paper first with our large
round paintbrush. Just like we did
in the exercise, we want to wet it
very well to give the water some time to
seep into the fibers. Make sure to avoid the
sclera pupil and iris. In all my portrait paintings, I have tried several
things and found this is the best way to go to preserve this area from
[inaudible] paint. This clear up being a much
lighter than the rest. [MUSIC] Wetting this six by eight
sheet took me about a minute. By adding water little by little and going back and forth, I know the insides are wet as
well as the surface of it, which is great for the
paint to flow and for us to have plenty of time to work
before this starts to dry. Since we avoided the eyes, I suggest to start there in
order to define our contour. With a detailing paintbrush, I go on around. [MUSIC] The skin being quite dark and surrounded by shadows
in this reference, there is no strong highlights, so we can go ahead and cover the whole sheet in paint
except for the eye. I keep using my large
round paintbrush. Whatever feels convenient for you to use will be just fine. [MUSIC] You can start adding pigment to
your mix to make it a tab thicker and
darker on paper. The goal here is
to add pigment or the skin appears darker
on the reference and leave out those areas that seem lighter in order to start
creating a sense of shape. [MUSIC] Congratulations for
painting the base for skin. I know first stages are pretty intimidating
with portraits. Let's make sure it is completely dry before painting
this clearer. Now let's focus on the sclera, the white part of the eye. Since it's more of a
grayish tone there, I suggest to start with black. [MUSIC] I'm working with my
detailing paint brushes now. I use one of them to apply the paint with his
sclera seems darkest. The other is a
clean and wet one I used to fade the
paint into the paper. [MUSIC] While it's still wet, I add more paint where
the sclera looks darker. [MUSIC] Lastly, if you feel like you have lost the whites from the paper, you'll walk in to use
the lifting technique to remove it with a clean
and just damp paintbrush. To make sure the
brush is not too wet, dab it on your paper
towel after cleaning it. [MUSIC] Remember to let it
dry before moving on. The main takeaways from
this lesson are to avoid the eye in that
initial stage of wetting the paper and to use the
lifting technique to get the whites back when too
much paint got in the way. This technique is valid for
the eye and skin alike. I'll see you next to start
painting the eye itself, pupil and iris. [MUSIC]
8. Eye Part 3 : Eye First Layer : [MUSIC] In this lesson, we're focusing on the eye. Notice in the reference
how dark and opaque it looks compared to the rest
of the elements of the face. This indicates we should be
adding a lot of black to our brown color and little water to achieve that dark
and opaque effect. This is not how it is going
to be for all eye paintings. Some of them bear
very light parts. Because all the elements
in this one that are also very specific shape, I suggest to take the
opposite approach from the skin and start
very dark right away, thick paint that we are able to control easily with
a paint brush. For the lighter areas, we'll just need to use a little bit of water
to pull some paint. [MUSIC] I start painting from the edge of the iris. [MUSIC] I try to capture most details
from the reference photo. The short lines I'm painting
here are the eyelashes. It's coming to see them
reflect in the subject's eye. [MUSIC] When I need a lighter part, I thin the paint
directly on paper by adding a little bit of
water to the paintbrush. [MUSIC] We're done with this first
coat of paint for the eye. It is looking odd for now
and this is actually normal. Make sure it has dried
completely before the next step. Remember to use more pigment
and less water whenever painting a specific shape
that requires control. Painting small details
like the reflection of eyelashes contributes
to realism. Meet me in the next lesson to add another
layer to the skin. [MUSIC]
9. Eye Part 4 : Skin Second Layer : [MUSIC] In this lesson, we're going to apply a second
layer to the skin as clear. We proceed in the same way
we did for the first layer. Our goal here will be to
keep darkening certain areas of the skin so the lighter
parts pop out more. This will create
the volume we're looking for in a
realistic portrait. I wet the sheet in the same way than before avoiding the eye. This time, however, it only
takes about 30 seconds. This is because we filled the tissue paper
with paint already. The paper isn't as
thirsty as it was, which makes the
wetting much faster. I thicken the paint
slightly with more pigment. Remember to take care of the
eye contour rapidly [MUSIC] You can already see how the
lighter layer underneath comes out when we add
a darker mix of paint. We want to take advantage
of this to shape the skin around the eye as we see
it on the reference. We do that by using our first and light
layer as the highlights. [MUSIC] Don't be afraid to
add more pigment to your mix and keep
building shadows. [MUSIC] A second layer like this one is a good opportunity to
place the eyebrow, it's not going to look
defined and that's okay. We need this darker paint in that spot to make the
hair we'll paint later, look like they belong more. [MUSIC] I also start darkening the
right side of the painting, it's not looking accurate
at all right now, as we have a little control over how the paint is flowing,
and that's fine. [NOISE] I'm going to show you a powerful technique
I like to use to make shapes more like I want them
when paint flow too much. I wet a paintbrush, then I dab it on a paper towel
so it's just damp. Now we're going to clean
up those bleeding parts and pull paints where
we want them to be, it really helps get a little more control
over the process. We have something else to fix. Some of the paint has started
bleeding into the sclera. Let's use a little piece of
paper towel to clean and dry this area of the sclera so no more paint
can bleed in there. Because with watercolor,
the paint only spread into wet or damp areas. If it's dry, the paint
will stop spreading. My paper is still wet, so I'm going to keep working. At this stage, start adding
black to the brown mix. We want to start
intensifying shadows. Now we have a good
sense of where light and dark parts
are located at. Your paper is also
probably drying a bit, even if you can't see it yet. Adding thicker paint to it
will be a good match to the lower levels of
humidity we have there now. Let's focus on the eyebrows, falls around the eye, nose, and the hair,
and background. [MUSIC] Make sure to dry this well. We're going to now
intensify shadows in the sclera like we did before,
using two paintbrushes. [MUSIC] Remember paper does not require as much wetting for
a second layer. We need strong shadows to
create a realistic eye, don't be afraid to
darken your paints. Use a clean and
damp paintbrush to correct the shape when the
paint is out of control. The more you progress
on wet paper, the thicker the paint
should become in order to match the
paper's humidity. This painting is coming
to life little by little. Let's try this and meet
in the next lesson for another layer
on the eye [MUSIC]
10. Eye Part 5 : Eye Second Layer : In this lesson, we're going
to define the iris and pupil even better with
another layer of paint. But first, a nice
trick I have learned through hours of painting when transitions between the
different elements is too harsh so like it's the case here with the eye contour
being so defined. A nice way to add realism
is to blend it all together very briefly with
an extra code of water. This will work nicely unless your paints are very easy
to lift off the page, even when they're dry, in which case I wouldn't
recommend that. Let's try it now. Let's mix more black
and brown with even less water than before so it's very thick and opaque. [MUSIC] Now we'll repeat the
exact same process we did in the first
layer for this eye. Remember to fill
the paint a bit in places as in this eye. They are very dark brown
parts, very light ones. But also if you
mid-tones of brown [MUSIC]. This eye is taking shape. Let's add a bit more definition to the sclera and the contour. With this sclera with all my
paintings, it's the same. The sclera is
shaped like a bulb, and even though it looks
white and never really is. The part in each corner of
the eye recede inwards, which is why they will
always be a bit darker than those parts located on
either side of the iris. [MUSIC] I'm happy with how
this is looking. Let's try this completely [MUSIC]. Remember it's possible to
make a portrait even more realistic with one single code of water to soften the lines. The farther along into the painting and the
thicker the paint. This sclera isn't white, it needs strong shadows, particularly in the
corners of the eye. Meet me next for
our final layer on the skin before we
finish with detail. [MUSIC]
11. Eye Part 6 : Skin Third Layer : [MUSIC] Before getting
into more detail, let's refine the
volume a bit more around the eye with a
third layer of paint. [MUSIC] Let's mix more paint. Don't forget to add more and
more black to the mix each time since we want to emphasize the shadows
with each new layer. [MUSIC] Notice how much creamier this is looking now compared to
when we first started. I also mixed much
less of it since we don't need to increase
the shadows everywhere. On the opposite, it's better to preserve
lighter parts from the previous layers
and really focus on the darkest parts from
our reference photo now. Let's wet the paper briefly
and avoid the eye once more. [MUSIC] Now, let's intensify our darkest areas nose and forehead on the left
side of the painting. Hair and background
on the right side. Some parts of the
cheek and around the eye and finally the eyebrow. [MUSIC] When I feel my paper
is drying a bit fast, it's, okay to rewet
it in places. I will not do this
with the first layer but now because there are so many layers of paint and a smooth look was already
created with the first ones, it's going to be
easier to work on sections without creating marks like blooms and
other drying lines or stains that are
going to show a lot. In my opinion with watercolor, the initial layers are the always the toughest ones whether you paint
loose or realistic. After that, we can take
our time a bit more and fix little things without
messing up the whole painting. You can see I start adding strong shadows all
around the eye. [MUSIC] Let's use a clean
and damp paintbrush to smooth out the lines
that keep spreading out. [MUSIC] Don't be afraid to create
strong shadows now. This will help us move forward
and finish the painting. [MUSIC] At this stage, I enjoy using the
lifting technique on the skin to balance shadows with some stronger but natural-looking highlights. Make sure you're using a
clean and damp paintbrush, we don't want it to
be dripping wet. The brush needs to
be a little bit thirsty to absorb excess
paint from the paper. [MUSIC] It's taking shape now, it's the power of layering. My paper is still wet, so I keep darkening
the right side and fixing the edges of the
face, so it looks good. [MUSIC] Finally, let's add a
little more paint in the eyebrow area to
define it better. [MUSIC] Remember to use a pencil anytime you start
losing your sketch. Don't be afraid to get the
shadows to look really dark at this stage and keep in mind watercolor always
dries a bit lighter. Keep refining the portrait
while the paper is still wet. Don't forget to let this dry completely before the next step. Congratulations to building
up shape in this face, your welcome to share your progress in the project
section of the class. In the next lesson, we're
going to refine shadows. See you there. [MUSIC]
12. Eye Part 7 : Refine the Shadows: In this lesson, we're going to refine
the shadows on dry as seen in the exercise. This is going to give us
more control over the paint, and we'll be able to
work on sections, which is easier now that
we have a solid base. You will see me use my round and pointed detailing
brushes a lot more now. We will still need to have
another paint brush at hand. It doesn't matter which. It's a clean and damp
paintbrush we will use to fade our fresh dark paint strokes
into the previous layers. Let's mix more black and brown. Notice how those mixes are getting thicker
with each lesson. If you're right-handed,
I suggest to move from left to right
and top to bottom, to increase shadows in specific areas without smudging
everything on the paper. We want to deposit fresh
paint where that shadow needs more work and then quickly fade its edges with
a clean paintbrush. Otherwise, the
paint will dry and the portrait won't
look smooth anymore. The eyelid falls are an important part of
this eye painting. This is our chance
to make them come through and complete
the looks of our eye. In my painting, the cheek
lacks a bit of shape. I want to accentuate the
curve and adding shadows in the right place and later highlights will help me do that. Remember to always check the
reference when in doubt. This area of the eye is naturally hollow
with all portraits, and I know I need to
add shadows there to increase that impression
that it's hollow. Let's not forget about
the edge of the face. Fading the paint with
a damp paintbrush really helps create a soft, almost blurry transition
between what might be in a hair on
background and the cheek. It's tempting to keep adding detail and refining the shape. To design on this top, I suggest to take
a break and come look at your portrait
with a fresh mind. You'll be able to spot any areas that might need a bit more work. If it looks good, make
sure this is dry. Remember to work with two paint brushes when painting
the skin on dry paper. Check the reference or use a
black and white version of it to better spot
light and shadow. Take a step back
from your work and decide whether or not
it needs more work. Meet me next as we will be adding some hair and eyelashes.
13. Eye Part 8 : Paint the Hair: [MUSIC] Congratulations
for reaching the most exciting stages
in our eye painting. It's time to add final detail, the eyebrows and eyelashes. Using a paintbrush with the thinnest tip will
be very useful here. First, let's mix more paint. The mix is thick enough to
look really dark and opaque. Add just enough water so you
can paint with it easily. [MUSIC] I noticed the sclera might need a bit
more definition, so I'm going to increase
shadows in the corners. [MUSIC] On the reference photo, we can see some
of the eyelashes. It's hard to
distinguish them all because the skin
and photo are dark. It's a good thing as you get
to practice eyelashes hair. If you're not entirely accurate, it won't affect the painting much as it would on light skin. The most important thing when painting eyelashes is to use the tip of your paintbrush
to keep the lines fine. Then make sure to make
them all a bit different. Some will be curvier than
others, some longer. [MUSIC] The eyebrow is going to be similar except there
is more hair there. We want to keep them
short and facing the same direction depending on what section of
the eyebrow it is, but it's absolutely okay to include some hair
that looks a bit different to make the whole
eyebrow look more natural. [MUSIC] To add a little
bit of texture to the skin to make it
look more interesting, I decided to splatter a little bit of paint
with a wet paintbrush. [MUSIC] I find the hair on
the eyebrows look too obvious like they don't belong to the skin
as much as I'd like, so I'm going to use this little trick of wetting
the whole sheet once and briefly to
blend every part of the portrait with each
other in a subtle way. [MUSIC] Remember to use the tip of
a paintbrush to paint hair, to vary the length and
shape of the eyelashes, and when all of it is dry, we wet the whole
painting to blend all parts into each
other a bit more. Make sure this is
completely dry, and meet me in the next lesson
to paint the highlights. [MUSIC]
14. Eye Part 9 : Highlights: One of the most rewarding
parts of creating realistic art is I find to
add the final highlights. To do that, I love using white gouache because
we can use it pure for very strong highlights or I dilute it for a more
subtle highlights. Again, here we will
use two paint brushes. I grabbed the one with the
finest tip, more precision, as well as another
one and I'll just wet so it's easy to fade the white
gouache into the painting. Just like we proceeded
in the previous lesson, let's identify places
where highlights are missing and start
working on sections. Let's add some water to
part of the white gouache. The diluted part will help
us create subtle highlights, while the thick and pure parts that came out straight from the tube will be for the very small but
very crisp highlights. For all subtle white highlights, I prefer to wet the area
first and then deposit the paint because unlike the dark paint we
were using before, white gouache tends
to be very light and translucent when
it's mixed with water. I fixed the edges with
a clean paintbrush to make sure this looks
natural on the skin. [MUSIC] Let's add a few tiny dots
in the corner of the eye. If you'd like, you can also emphasize parts of the sclera, especially the ones
located on either side of the iris because that's
where they are the widest. [MUSIC] I keep adding highlights
on the falls to contrast with a very dark
lines we created earlier. Those dark lines suggest
hallow parts in the skin, while highlighted parts to show protruding parts on the skin. [MUSIC] In portrait, you'll
notice there's almost always a very
noticeable highlight in that part of the eye, right beneath the outer
corner of the eyebrow. That's because again, this is a curvy area of the bone
underneath the skin. [MUSIC] Let's use pure
paint now to create stronger highlights in
the iris and pupil. We don't want strong
highlights everywhere. Attach is far more
efficient and will balance with mid tones and
dark tones really well. [MUSIC] Let's plot our a bit of paint
to finish this painting. Make sure to add some water, otherwise it will be
difficult to spatter. [MUSIC] With this step back
on the painting, I want to intensify the
highlights and places even more. [MUSIC] Remember to work with pure
and diluted white gouache. The strongest
highlights are usually tiny and made using pure paint. The lightest highlights
are located on the protruding parts of the face and made using paint and water. Congratulations for finishing this
realistic eye painting. Please share it with us in the project section
of the class. See you one last time
for some final thoughts. [MUSIC]
15. Final Thoughts: [MUSIC] Congratulations
for taking the first step and
completing your project. Please post your project
to the project gallery. I would love to see
what you've achieved and feel free to reach
out if you need any help. I'd love for you to let me know what you thought
of the class with a review and if you'd like to see more project
classes from me. To keep in touch, you
can follow me here on Skillshare and also find me on YouTube and Instagram for
tips and process videos. To connect there and
share your work, you can use the
#createwithfrancoise. Thank you so much for
taking this class with me today and see you
in the next one. [MUSIC]
Francoise Blayac, Professional Artist
