How to Trace for an Accurate Portrait Sketch

Did you know that tracing doesn’t always result in a high-quality portrait? And it won’t even guarantee an excellent sketch?

I’ll show you how to do it. Many artists trace for their portraits and paintings. It’s just the way it is. Although I spent years doing freehand sketching and got pretty good at it, As a professional artist, illustrator, and instructor, I am going to be very open with you about my methods. I DO use a projector to trace from time to time, to save time.

However… Did you know that tracing will not guarantee a great portrait? Did you know that it won’t even guarantee a great sketch? In this video, I’ll show you HOW to trace effectively. When you’re done tracing, you still have more work to do, if you want an accurate, detailed sketch that will serve you well as an excellent foundation to paint upon.

But tracing the right way will help. Let me show you how in this video. I’m using a 16″ x 20″ commissioned book cover illustration of Paul the Apostle praying as an example. I’d like to demonstrate how to trace with your acrylic portrait, so we’ll be using an overhead projector with a transparency.

It’s not cheating to trace and I have a video on that if you’re more curious about my thoughts on tracing just to say, I’ve done freehand sketching for many years, but sometimes, I just like to trace, because I want to get into the painting process without spending so much time freehand sketching or even gridding.

Watch my tutorial to learn more about how to trace for an accurate portrait sketch.

LEARN MORE

• Adding highlights to your acrylic painting
• 5 Excellent Reasons to Use Aluminum Foil
• Paint Realistic Wrinkles in Acrylic
• Painting Clothing in an Acrylic Portrait
• Paint a Cloudy Sky Acrylic  
•  How to add Semi-Opaque Highlights
• How to Enhance the Contrast in Your Acrylic
• How to Add Glaze to Your Acrylic Painting
• Paint Realistic Reflections on Eyeglasses in an Acrylic Portrait
• Build Up Depth on Your Acrylic Portrait Backgrounds
• How Do You Do Layers With the Glazing Technique?
• Learn How to Paint Wrinkles in Acrylic

Read more about how to paint a portrait that you can surely be proud of!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this video. Please share it with your friends and family. Let me know if you have any further questions. I’ll greatly help you.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to read this tutorial and watch the video. That means a lot to me.  I hope you find it very helpful in your portrait painting.  

Yours for Better Portraits,

P.S. Did you find this post helpful or encouraging? If so, send it on ahead! Let others know with the share buttons below. I’d love to hear your comments. Thank you so much! Also, do you have a question on acrylic portrait painting you’d like answered? Let me know, and I’d be happy to help!