2025 Winter Acrylic Painting Challenge, BONUS Video:Adjusting Colors and Details

/ Uncategorized
/ By Matt Philleo

Mastering realism: Adjusting colors and details for a lifelike portrait

Refining Your Portrait: Adjusting Colors and Details for Realism

In this bonus lesson of the 2025 Winter Acrylic Painting Challenge, we continue enhancing the portrait by refining colors, deepening shadows, and adding crucial details. Adjusting colors and details at this stage helps bring depth, contrast, and balance to your artwork. Using acrylic glazing techniques, subtle refinements create a more lifelike and polished finish.

Step-by-Step Process for Adjusting Colors and Details

1. Darkening the Mid-tones for Depth

Before highlights can be applied, the mid-tones must be deepened. A translucent glaze of raw umber dark and raw Sienna is layered over the jacket and gloves, enriching their tones without obscuring underlying details.

Apply a soft glaze over the entire jacket using a size 3/8 flat brush.
Increase the depth of darker values by layering additional thin washes.
Allow drying between layers to maintain smoothness.

This gradual build-up ensures that the midtones support the final highlights without overpowering them.

2. Enhancing Contrast in the Background

A portrait isn’t just about the subject it’s also about how it interacts with its surroundings. The reeds and landscape are adjusted to create a better sense of atmospheric depth.

A mix of raw umber dark and ultramarine blue is used to deepen certain areas in the background.
A smaller brush is used to chisel in negative space, refining individual reed details.
The horse’s mane is subtly darkened to help separate it from the background.

3. Adjusting Facial Features for Realism

Facial details are key to a lifelike portrait. Adjustments are made by cooling down some skin tones and warming up others, depending on the light source.

The left side of the face is slightly darkened using a glaze of raw umber dark and matte medium.
The nose and cheek highlights are reinforced with titanium white mixed with Indian yellow to reflect light.
Shadows are softened with alizarine crimson and burnt sienna to avoid harsh contrasts.

Each layer is blended carefully, ensuring smooth transitions that enhance realism.

4. Refining the Hat and Vest Details

The rider’s hat and vest receive special attention in this lesson, ensuring the textures and shading are accurate.

A mixture of phthalo blue, raw umber dark, and matte medium is applied to the hat for a cooler tone.
The vest is given a deeper, richer shade by incorporating ultramarine blue into the glaze.
Shadows and highlights are adjusted around buttons and folds, ensuring they stand out properly.

The layering process ensures each detail is well-integrated without overpowering the rest of the painting.

Tips & Techniques for Adjusting Colors and Details

✅ Work in Layers – Gradual adjustments create smoother transitions and prevent over correction.
✅ Balance Warm & Cool Tones – Mix warm and cool glazes to avoid flat-looking colors.
✅ Use Negative Space – Define background details by adjusting the surrounding colors.
✅ Refine Textures – Use small brushes for details and larger brushes for smooth blending.
✅ Step Back & Assess – Regularly check your painting from a distance to spot needed refinements.

Adjusting colors and details is an essential step in achieving a realistic and visually appealing portrait. By carefully refining tones, deepening shadows, and enhancing highlights, you bring out the depth and character in your painting.

👉 Stay tuned for the next lesson, where we’ll focus on applying final highlights to complete the portrait! Visit our Facebook group here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: How do I know when my mid-tones are dark enough?

A: Mid-tones should be noticeably darker than your highlights but not as deep as your shadows. Comparing values with your reference photo helps maintain balance.