Category Archives for Portrait Painting Challenge
Critique 3 Acrylic Portraits in Painting Challenge!
I critique three artists’ paintings from the acrylic portrait painting challenge.
In this video, I show what is working well aesthetically, and what could use improvement. I also show the artists how to make those improvements. These critiques are what I normally do for my Realistic Acrylic All-Access Members all the time. It helps them “get unstuck,” figure out the next steps in their portrait and take it to a higher level of realism. This way, artists can feel confident and paint a portrait they can be proud of!
Watch the video tutorial below to learn more about how I give my students a 3 Acrylic Portrait in Painting Challenge!
- Adding highlights to your acrylic painting
- 5 Excellent Reasons to Use Aluminum Foil
- How Photoshop alter your Photo
- 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
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. It’ll greatly help you.
If you’d like to learn more, sign up for my free email tips and video class today.
Learn How to Paint Acrylic Portraits With My Free Mini-Video Course!
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!
How to Paint Earrings in Your Acrylic Portrait
Earrings are an often neglected detail on an acrylic portrait.
In this video, I’ll show you how to paint earrings, especially the highlights.
Watch my free tutorial to learn more on how to paint earrings in your acrylic portrait.
- 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 about this video. Please share it with your friends and family. Let me know if you have any further questions. I’ll greatly help you.
If you’d like to learn more, sign up for my free email tips and video class today.
Learn How to Paint Acrylic Portraits With My Free Mini-Video Course!
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!
How to Paint Realistic Reflections on Eyes in Your Acrylic Portrait
Eyes are the most important feature of an acrylic portrait. When you paint the eyes correctly, everything else seems to fall into place so much easier.
In this video, I’ll show you how to paint realistic reflections, using two complementary colors in addition to white, and getting the shape of the reflection just right. This originally was a BONUS video in the Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge Master Class, now available in the All-Access Membership at Realistic Acrylic Portrait School.
Even though it is technically over, you can take the Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge (it’s FREE!) and paint along with us! 8 master class lessons are posted to help you paint a portrait you can be proud of!
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter! After you join, I’ll send you the supplies list and reference photos to paint from.
Register for the Challenge!WATCH NOW…
Lesson #8: How to Paint Realistic Reflections on Eyes in Acrylic
Paint realistic reflections on eyes in your acrylic portrait
Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to teaching you more!
—Matt
Questions? Suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know, below in the comments. Please share your sketches in our Facebook group and share this post with your friends!
Spring 2021 Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge: Finishing Your Portrait With Confidence
Let’s help you finish your painting!
In this lesson, we will be wrapping up the Masterclass series for the challenge! I’ll show you how to add some more nuances and details to the portrait of “Cora.” First, we’ll add a glaze to her hair to enrich the overall color. Next, we will enhance some nuances on her eyebrows, dial in the color of the eyes, and paint in the reflections. Finally, we’ll add in the skin tone for her arm in the lower corner and follow up with some work on her lace.
But even though we are nearly done with this portrait painting, it’s not too late to join in the fun!
YOU, too, can paint a portrait!
Take the Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge (it’s FREE!) and paint along with us!
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter! After you join, I’ll send you the supplies list and reference photos to paint from.
Register for the Challenge!WATCH NOW…
Lesson #8: Finishing Your Portrait Confidently
Professional artist and instructor Matt Philleo will teach you how to paint an acrylic portrait you can be proud of with this Portrait Painting Challenge!
Would like to paint this portrait with me and hundreds of other artists?
Take the 2021 Spring Portrait Painting Challenge!
You can register below and get started. It is completely FREE to join the challenge and participate. When you join, I’ll send you the “Welcome Kit” which includes:
- The Supplies List (so you know what you need to paint with us, your shopping list. 🙂 )
- The Reference Photo with and without the grid, high resolution, that you can download ready to print out or display on your tablet. You’ll be able to create an accurate portrait this way.
- The Palette Layout Guide showing you how to arrange your colors so they don’t get muddy on your palette
- The Master Class Lesson Schedule
- the Lessons emailed to you
- A private Facebook group to cheer you and help answer your questions
- And a few “bonuses” like opportunities to win my paid online classes
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter!
Register for the Challenge!Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to teaching you more!
—Matt
Questions? Suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know, below in the comments. Please share your sketches in our Facebook group and share this post with your friends!
Spring 2021 Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge: Painting Delicate Details and Nuances
After building the foundation with several layers of value, form, and color, we can then start to “dial in” the detail and nuances.
In this master class lesson (7 of 8), I’ll demonstrate how to add specific detail shapes to “Cora’s” hair. I’ll also add some additional shading to her forehead with a very translucent glaze. Next, I darken the left side of her face while smoothing out some of the rough application of previous glazes with a semi-opaque layer that’s cooler in tone. Finally, I add nuances to her eyes, lips and chin.
But even though we are well along in this portrait painting, it’s not too late to join in the fun!
YOU, too, can paint a portrait!
Take the Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge (it’s FREE!) and paint along with us!
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter! After you join, I’ll send you the supplies list and reference photos to paint from.
Register for the Challenge!WATCH NOW…
Lesson #7: Painting Delicate Details and Nuances
Learn how to do smooth shading, skin tones, details, and nuances in this FREE online portrait painting class by Matt Philleo at Realistic Acrylic Portrait School
Would like to paint this portrait with me and hundreds of other artists?
Take the 2021 Spring Portrait Painting Challenge!
You can register below and get started. It is completely FREE to join the challenge and participate. When you join, I’ll send you the “Welcome Kit” which includes:
- The Supplies List (so you know what you need to paint with us, your shopping list. 🙂 )
- The Reference Photo with and without the grid, high resolution, that you can download ready to print out or display on your tablet. You’ll be able to create an accurate portrait this way.
- The Palette Layout Guide showing you how to arrange your colors so they don’t get muddy on your palette
- The Master Class Lesson Schedule
- the Lessons emailed to you
- A private Facebook group to cheer you and help answer your questions
- And a few “bonuses” like opportunities to win my paid online classes
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter!
Register for the Challenge!Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to teaching you more!
—Matt
Questions? Suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know, below in the comments. Please share your sketches in our Facebook group and share this post with your friends!
Spring 2021 Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge: Building Up Richness, Depth and Luminosity
Acrylic is a fantastic medium for portrait painting, but it can be so challenging to use! That is why I am teaching you the glazing technique to open a lot of possibilities and ease your frustration.
Historically, the Old Masters used small amounts of pigment dispersed in larger amounts of linseed oil or mineral spirits to create a sense of volume and depth in their paintings. Light shines through and you can see a bit of each layer beneath the ones on top.
We can use that technique to our advantage with acrylic. By applying several translucent layers, there is an increased sense of depth, shading, contrast and color saturation and luminosity.
In this particular lesson, I’ll demonstrate how to add richness to the mid-tones of the girl’s face and hair. We will also add more contrast to the image with a couple of layers to the background, and turn the form of her figure with a precisely placed glaze on her clothing.
But even though we are well along in this portrait painting, it’s not too late to join in the fun!
Take the Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge (it’s FREE!) and paint along with us!
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter! After you join, I’ll send you the supplies list and reference photos to paint from.
Register for the Challenge!WATCH NOW…
Lesson #6: Building Up Richness, Depth, and Luminosity
Learn how to create a vibrant acrylic portrait where the colors are not flat or muddy. In this FREE step by step master class, I’ll show you how!
Would like to paint this portrait with me and hundreds of other artists?
Take the 2021 Spring Portrait Painting Challenge!
You can register below and get started. It is completely FREE to join the challenge and participate. When you join, I’ll send you the “Welcome Kit” which includes:
- The Supplies List (so you know what you need to paint with us, your shopping list. 🙂 )
- The Reference Photo with and without the grid, high resolution, that you can download ready to print out or display on your tablet. You’ll be able to create an accurate portrait this way.
- The Palette Layout Guide showing you how to arrange your colors so they don’t get muddy on your palette
- The Master Class Lesson Schedule
- the Lessons emailed to you
- A private Facebook group to cheer you and help answer your questions
- And a few “bonuses” like opportunities to win my paid online classes
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter!
Register for the Challenge!Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to teaching you more!
—Matt
Questions? Suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know, below in the comments. Please share your sketches in our Facebook group and share this post with your friends!
Spring 2021 Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge: Sculpting Shading and Skin Tones in Your Acrylic Portrait
Acrylic portrait painting, in many ways, is like creating a sculpture. We want to truly make our faces look realistic and three-dimensional. In this master class video lesson, I show you how to do exactly that.
We’re breaking a fine art portrait painting down into bite-size steps that YOU can do.
Specifically, in this video lesson, I demonstrate how darkening your background can really make the face stand out in a lifelike way.
What colors should we use for the shadows? I’ll show you how to mix them, what brushes to use to apply them, and HOW to do it. Get the shadows right, and 80% of the battle is won, so to speak in your portrait.
What colors for the skin tones?
In this video, you’ll learn the correct color to mix, how to create glazes with matte medium and apply it to the face smoothly.
This is still very much the beginning. More lessons to come.
Take the Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge (it’s FREE!) and paint along with us!
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter! After you join, I’ll send you the supplies list and reference photos to paint from.
Register for the Challenge!
WATCH NOW…
Lesson #5: Sculpting Shading and Skin Tones in Your Acrylic Portrait
Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge Lesson #5: Sculpting Shading and Skin Tones in Your Acrylic Portrait
Would like to paint this portrait with me and hundreds of other artists?
Take the 2021 Spring Portrait Painting Challenge!
You can register below and get started. It is completely FREE to join the challenge and participate. When you join, I’ll send you the “Welcome Kit” which includes:
- The Supplies List (so you know what you need to paint with us, your shopping list. 🙂 )
- The Reference Photo with and without the grid, high resolution, that you can download ready to print out or display on your tablet. You’ll be able to create an accurate portrait this way.
- The Palette Layout Guide showing you how to arrange your colors so they don’t get muddy on your palette
- The Master Class Lesson Schedule
- the Lessons emailed to you
- A private Facebook group to cheer you and help answer your questions
- And a few “bonuses” like opportunities to win my paid online classes
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter!
Register for the Challenge!What’s coming up in the next lesson? More shading, more skin tones, and the start of some detail work. Follow the lessons and you will be able to create a portrait you can be proud of…even if you’re a complete beginner!
Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to teaching you more!
—Matt
Questions? Suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know, below in the comments. Please share your sketches in our Facebook group and share this post with your friends!
Spring 2021 Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge: The Slow and Steady Way to Paint an Acrylic Portrait
If you remember the childhood story, “The Tortoise and the Hare,” you recall that the hare started out really fast and put the tortoise to shame. But then the rabbit took a nap, while the slow, while the turtle, with his slow methodical steps, passed him up and won the race!
Sometimes slow is better for painting an acrylic portrait.
Likewise, in an acrylic portrait, we often want to see quick results. But if we take our time, and just add one layer on top of another, even though it looks like hardly anything is happening, eventually, we will end up with a great painting!
I’d like to show you how to slow down a bit, take your time, and paint your acrylic portrait layer by layer, using the acrylic glazing technique.
Take the Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge (it’s FREE!) and paint along with us!
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter! After you join, I’ll send you the supplies list and reference photos to paint from.
Register for the Challenge!
WATCH NOW…
Lesson #4: The Slow and Steady Way to Paint an Acrylic Portrait
In this master class lesson #4, I demonstrate how to continue darkening your darkest values on the face and background, and then work in some warmer glazes to set up the skin tones on her face. We’re going very light, using a large amount of matte medium (95%) to a small amount of paint (5%)
Watch how to do it here…
Learn how to paint an acrylic portrait slowly and correctly, step-by-step in this FREE master class lesson by Matt Philleo at Realistic Acrylic Portrait School!
Would like to paint this portrait with me and hundreds of other artists?
Take the 2021 Spring Portrait Painting Challenge!
You can register below and get started. It is completely FREE to join the challenge and participate. When you join, I’ll send you the “Welcome Kit” which includes:
- The Supplies List (so you know what you need to paint with us, your shopping list. 🙂 )
- The Reference Photo with and without the grid, high resolution, that you can download ready to print out or display on your tablet. You’ll be able to create an accurate portrait this way.
- The Palette Layout Guide showing you how to arrange your colors so they don’t get muddy on your palette
- The Master Class Lesson Schedule
- the Lessons emailed to you
- A private Facebook group to cheer you and help answer your questions
- And a few “bonuses” like opportunities to win my paid online classes
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter!
Register for the Challenge!Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to teaching you more!
—Matt
Questions? Suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know, below in the comments. Please share your sketches in our Facebook group and share this post with your friends!
Spring 2021 Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge: Applying Your First Glazes
Think of the acrylic glazing technique as a Polaroid camera print.
Remember those? You would load up the small film sheets, snap a picture and out popped the print. Back in those days (yes, I’m old enough to remember them) this was amazing. You wouldn’t have to drop off your film and wait 3 days (or even an hour!) for it to process.
But even then, it wasn’t immediate. The image would slowly fade in, and you’d watch a vague outline of your scene start to materialize. Finally, after a minute, you’d have a beautiful print!
In the same way, instead of painting our portrait one section at a time, with thick, opaque applications of paint, we slowly fade it in, covering the entire canvas at once, in stages. We use the classical acrylic glazing technique, just like Da Vinci, Titian and Vermeer used during the Renaissance to achieve smooth, subtle nuances of color and value, vibrant colors, and incredible depth.
I’ll show you how to do it!
But first, make sure you’re registered for the challenge!
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter! After you join, I’ll send you the supplies list and reference photos to paint from.
Register for the Challenge!
WATCH NOW…
Applying the First Glazes to Your Acrylic Portrait, Part 1
Before we can begin the painting, first we must seal in the sketch, so it doesn’t smear or muddy up our paint. Next, we need to white-out the grid lines so they don’t distract from our final painting presentation. Lastly, we mute the sketch and tone the canvas in one step, so that we don’t have a white canvas staring us in the face, and so that the sketch is softened—easier to convert to a painting.
Watch how to do it here…
Learn to paint a realistic acrylic portrait using the classical glazing technique in this free online class. Lesson 3: Beginning the painting process–sealing in the sketch, whiting
Applying the First Glazes to Your Acrylic Portrait, Part 2
Let’s begin the actual painting process! I’ll show you what colors we are using, how to block in the value structure simply with just two colors and matte medium. We’re going to go light and leave room to correct any mistakes. This will be the foundation we’ll build off of from here on out…
Learn to paint a realistic acrylic portrait using the classical glazing technique in this free online class. Lesson 3: Beginning the painting process
Would like to paint this portrait with me and hundreds of other artists?
Take the 2021 Spring Portrait Painting Challenge!
You can register below and get started. It is completely FREE to join the challenge and participate. When you join, I’ll send you the “Welcome Kit” which includes:
- The Supplies List (so you know what you need to paint with us, your shopping list. 🙂 )
- The Reference Photo with and without the grid, high resolution, that you can download ready to print out or display on your tablet. You’ll be able to create an accurate portrait this way.
- The Palette Layout Guide showing you how to arrange your colors so they don’t get muddy on your palette
- The Master Class Lesson Schedule
- the Lessons emailed to you
- A private Facebook group to cheer you and help answer your questions
- And a few “bonuses” like opportunities to win my paid online classes
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter!
Register for the Challenge!Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to teaching you more!
—Matt
Questions? Suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know, below in the comments. Please share your sketches in our Facebook group and share this post with your friends!
Spring 2021 Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge: Sketching Your Portrait with Accuracy
Just like a contractor would never dream of building a home without a sure foundation, we shouldn’t try to paint an acrylic portrait without the same.
A sketch serves as an excellent foundation to build upon. I will show you in this series of Master Class Lessons how to sketch your portrait accurately.
With an accurate sketch, you are already halfway there to a beautiful painting.
I’ll show you how to do it, step-by-step, using the grid method.
With the grid method, even a beginner can create a realistic sketch. With that in place, I can help you build on top, layer by layer using the glazing technique to create smooth transitions of value and lifelike skin tones. You can do this. I’ll be here to help.
Ready? Let’s get started!
I’ll show you exactly how to do it in the lessons below. But first, make sure you’re registered for the challenge!
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter! After you join, I’ll send you the supplies list and reference photos to paint from.
Register for the Challenge!
WATCH NOW…
Sketching Your Portrait With Accuracy, Part 1
Let’s begin the sketch! Get out your colored pencil and start making some simple marks. Look at the squares and see where the lines fall. All we need to do at this stage is loosely capture the outline of the subject—the girl—and later on, we will fill in the details. “What if I make a mistake?” No problem. That’s what erasers are for!
Learn how to sketch a portrait accurately with Realistic Acrylic Portrait School’s FREE Challenge Master Class Lessons!
Sketching Your Portrait With Accuracy, Part 2
Learn how to paint a realistic acrylic portrait by creating a solid sketch. In this in-depth video lesson, I’ll show you how to refine the facial features on your portrait drawing. After watching, you’ll be able to capture a better likeness and also plot out where your shadows and highlights will be.
Learn how to sketch a portrait accurately with Realistic Acrylic Portrait School’s FREE Challenge Master Class Lessons!
Sketching Your Portrait With Accuracy, Part 3
We’re going further in this sketch for the Acrylic Portrait Painting Challenge! I show you how to add detail to the girl’s hair. It’s important to break down the complex shapes into something simple, and then add the complexity back in again, to make it realistic. I’ll show you how to do it.
Learn how to sketch a portrait accurately with Realistic Acrylic Portrait School’s FREE Challenge Master Class Lessons!
Sketching Your Portrait With Accuracy, Part 4
In this Master Class Lesson, I will be teaching you how to sketch the lace for the girl’s dress top. It is an extremely detailed portion of the photo, but again, we will follow the method of breaking the complex into simple. That way, we don’t spend all day sketching this portrait and it will be easier to block in during the painting process.
Learn to paint a realistic acrylic portrait successfully by first doing an accurate sketch, as taught by professional artist and instructor, Matt Philleo of Realistic Acrylic Portrait School
Sketching Your Portrait With Accuracy, Part 5
Let’s finish this sketch up! In this lesson, I’ll show you how to add the final touches to the lace, the girl’s face, and some additional details to make this drawing as realistic as possible. Then, we can dive into the painting process with confidence!
Learn to paint a realistic acrylic portrait successfully by first doing an accurate sketch, as taught by professional artist and instructor, Matt Philleo of Realistic Acrylic Portrait School
Would like to paint this portrait with me and hundreds of other artists?
Take the 2021 Spring Portrait Painting Challenge!
You can register below and get started. It is completely FREE to join the challenge and participate. When you join, I’ll send you the “Welcome Kit” which includes:
- The Supplies List (so you know what you need to paint with us, your shopping list. 🙂 )
- The Reference Photo with and without the grid, high resolution, that you can download ready to print out or display on your tablet. You’ll be able to create an accurate portrait this way.
- The Palette Layout Guide showing you how to arrange your colors so they don’t get muddy on your palette
- The Master Class Lesson Schedule
- the Lessons emailed to you
- A private Facebook group to cheer you and help answer your questions
- And a few “bonuses” like opportunities to win my paid online classes
REGISTER TODAY. The challenge is ongoing, something you can do at your own pace. It’s not too late to enter!
Register for the Challenge!Let me know if you have any questions and I look forward to teaching you more!
—Matt
Questions? Suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know, below in the comments. Please share your sketches in our Facebook group and share this post with your friends!