Portrait Painting Tip #3: The fall of light

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James Gurney has an excellent article on the color zones of the face with examples and I will refer you to it
http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/color-zones-of-face.html

To recap his article:

• The forehead is the lightest/brightest part of the face
• The middle portion of the face from ear to ear including cheeks and nose is the reddest(warmer) part of the head.
• The lower section of the face below the nose is the grayer and cooler than the other 2 sections.

In his article he mentions capillaries and veins being the reasons for the local color zones of the face.

Apart from the local color of the zones of the face, I want to talk about the fall of light. Consider a head lit from above. If you think of a head as being shaped like an egg, the forehead is the top of the egg and it receives maximum light. As we move away from the top, the light gets weaker and weaker until it meets the core shadow(the point beyond there is no direct light on the egg). You can see this effect in the photo of the egg. By this consideration, you can see why the forehead is the brightest and chin is grayer and less bright as it recedes away from the light. This is known as the fall of light and it is a thing of beauty. You can observe it on any surface. As you get further away from the light source, the light effect gets weaker and duller.

Here is a beautiful example of this by Za Vue. You can clearly see the 3 color zones of the face with the forehead being the bright and golden, the middle section is red from ear to ear and the lower section below the nose is cool and grey. As always, these color zones relate to each other, meaning the cheeks are redder than the forehead, the chin is grey compared to forehead and cheeks. Please note that despite these observations the whole lit side of the face belongs to the light value family(See Portrait painting Tip #2 for more)





Also See Portrait Painting Tip #1, Tip #2, Tip#4

Portrait Painting Tip #2 Break it down into 3 distinct values

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A 9-step value scale divided into 3 value families

The key to designing a good painting is to break it down into 3 value families -light, medium and dark (not including highlights and dark accents). A painting designed with 3 values in mind looks organized and pleasant. So, how do you do that? Look at your scene and break-it down into 3 value families. Don't copy things exactly as you see them, look at the whole and decide which value family  each part of the painting belongs to. Ideally you want an unequal distribution of light, medium and dark values in your painting. You want one value to be the dominant mass, the second value to be sub-dominant and third one to be minimal in terms of canvas acreage. When the light value is dominant, it is called high-key painting. When the mid value is dominant, it is called mid-key and when the dark is dominant, it is called low-key painting.

There's a lot to be said about designing your paintings with 3 values but a picture is worth thousand words, so here are some examples. In the groupings below, the first image is the original painting. The second image is the original painting without color and third image is my simplification of the value masses in the painting.

The first example is a painting by Fechin. Please note that when you squint your eyes, the whole face falls into one value family.  When you start your painting, you need to think in terms of broad value masses like my simplification below. Once the value masses are clearly established, you can add half-tones that maintain the value masses. Details and accents come in last. Don't be distracted by features; things like eyeballs or lip color are accents on the face. In case of the Fechin's painting, the hair, dark part of the  shirt and left background belong to the dark family. There is a little bit of light on the front of the shirt. Notice that the face never crosses into the light family (except maybe the highlights)

In the example below by contemporary painter Suchitra Bhosle, the skin-tones belong to mid-tone value family, the shadow side of the face is a darker midtone but never gets as dark as the hair which belongs to the dark family. The light is in the background.

In this painting by Sorolla, the skin-tones and background are mid-tone. The light value mass belongs to the shirt, scarf and skirt. . There is a tiny amount of dark in this painting, only in the hair. The shadow below the neck is a dark accent as well as the eyes.

Below is a painting by Za Vue. She has a beautiful dominant light family of values running from the face down into the shirt. The shadow side of the face (like the cast shadow in her neck) belongs to the mid-tone. She has subdued the darks in the face so that it stays in the mid-tone family. The hair is mid-tone and there is little bit of dark around the face and in the background. 

I hope this makes sense. This is a packed blog post and it seems simple enough to understand but it is much harder to implement, especially when we get caught up in the details. Always remember to step back and look at the whole. This concept applies to all kinds of subject matter (not just portrait painting).

Also See Portrait Painting Tip #1, Tip #3, Tip#4

Portait Painting Tip #1: Know your light source.

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Know your light source. The first step is to identify the temperature of your light source. In model sessions we typically use either warm or cool spot lights. This step is important because the intensity and temperature of light influences the colors of the skin tones, surroundings and overall harmony of the painting. Don't get caught up with the local colors, try to observe the effect of light on the colors.

Cool light has warm shadows but remember, color temperature is always relative. What this means is that the shadow is warmer relative only to the colors of the skin tone in the light, so the overall harmony of the whole picture could still be cool. Also the shadow is affected by reflected light which could be warm or cool depending on the surrounding colors. 

Few examples of cool light paintings by Sargent and Fechin. Notice the overall cool color harmony of these paintings. 

    

Few examples of warm light paintings by Sargent and Sorolla. Notice the warm harmony of these paintings, the warm light affects the surroundings as well.

An example of cool and warm Max Ginsburg paintings side by side. Compare and contrast the skin tones of these two paintings.

  

Also See Portrait Painting Tip #2, Tip #3, Tip#4