This portrait in oils was taken from a photograph my friend took of himself. I painted it life size onto board in oils. The painting is done in a loose impressionist style capturing the essence of the sitter. To make a good portrait from a photo it’s best to have a natural looking photograph to begin with, and the better the quality of shot the better. Good lighting and interesting clothing also make a big difference, as does the background. Paintings can be done with complicated backgrounds as in some of the other paintings on this website – they can be suggested or painted more fully. To do a portrait from life the sitter must be able to maintain a pose for at least half an hour at a time, and be prepared to sit for a number of hours at various times, it is therefore a lot easier to paint from a photo for the sitter! Bearing that in mind, a more natural looking portrait from a photo would require the sitter to imagine they are preparing to sit for half and hour at least! Paintings can of course be done from holiday snaps, if good quality, but laughing faces and sunny lighting will look just like a painting from a photograph – and nowadays they are many printers that produce, very cheaply , prints of your photo onto canvas.
Below is the photo my friend took of himself, if you would like him to take the photo for your portrait painting and live around London area this can be arranged – to see more of his work you can visit his website: www.kayvanmichael.com
