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to any painting - portrait or otherwise and should not be overlooked. The key to every successful portrait is to map out all of the significant landmarks ahead of time right on the canvas.
3. Learn when and where to simplify. Beginning artists have a tendency to want to simplify that which is challenging to them and pass it off as artistic license.' Hands are the biggest. If you completing a full-body portrait, don't just simplify at random. Know when and where it is appropriate.

4. Understanding light. One mistake that is often seen in the amateur portrait is the use of hard lines to determine a person's features: too many sharp edges delineating the nose, hairline, jaw etc. This stems from a person drawing what they know and not how they are seeing the light on these features. An easy description would be drawing each individual tooth in a person's smile. If you are tempted to paint every eyelash and every strand of hair, don't.
5. With light comes shadow. Understanding the differences of shadow can make or break your painting and should not just be painted simply as flesh tones with black added.'
6. Understanding color. Every color has hue (name of the color: i.e. red), value (lightness or darkness) and intensity (strength or saturation). Before you start adding color into your paintings you should understand these and use them accordingly. Once you understand these, you can use any hue as long as the values are correct.
7. Know when to stop. This is probably the hardest stage in any painting. The moment you feel that you have captured your subject, stop. Unless you have adopted a realist style where every button and bead needs to be painted then it's okay to stop at suggesting them from time to time and walk away from the painting when you feel it's finished.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Brinkle.
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