how to take photos for pencil drawing photos for oil painting

Click on any of the below images for a high resolution version
Caution they are 300 dpi. Not recommended for dial up

The first photo is a scan of the original proof sheet. 2X2 negatives black
and white film. Now days just use a good digital SLR camera. Try with
or with out a tripod and no flash. The problem is flashes with not show all
the mid tones. Your drawing will appear to be flat. You must have good
reference material to work from. Better the photo the better the
portrait. It is just that simple, so don't try to fool yourself. You will not be
able to "wing it" or try add something you can't see.

How could you possibly draw a bad portrait with a baby
this cute. (my son brett 1992)

Click here for high resolution

This is just the proof sheet to choose which pose to have the
8X10 photos developed from. Once the pose is selected I was
taught to get a light, medium and dark value of the portrait you
are going to draw. Also get a light, medium and dark value
of the face enlarged. Further down are scans of the photos I
used on my first full color oil portrait. You get the idea.

Normal value

Light value to peer into darks

Darker value to check out highlights

Finished Portrait

Please keep in mind these are scans of the original photos. The original photos
have a lot more detail. Just thought if you seen an example of one teaching
method it might help

C lick to see Schoolastic Award

The main purpose of this web site is to display and show case student art. The different types of art you will see
displayed are pencil drawings,oil paintings,Bob Ross style oil landscapes, chalk pastels, graphite portraits,
student lessons, drawing lessons, and awards. I sell nothing here so just enjoy the site.

Another purpose of this web site is to show case how art can be used working with youth at risk as a therapy
tool. Some of the student art work is from physically and mentally handicapped youth. It's quite amazing the
results I get using the wet on wet oil painting technique.

Bob Ross (you know that PBS happy little tree guy) really was quite a master oil landscape painter. He would
complete an oil painting in 30 minutes or less. Which is quite amazing all in itself. I have used this technique to
teach students as young as 3 years old. All most all the oil landscapes were completed by these students in
about 2 hours. All most all the student art was their very first oil landscape. I have fine tuned my approach in
teaching this technique over the years with great success.
I also wanted to say that drawing pencil or graphite portraits for 99.9% of artist that do this know it is a learned
thing. To get really good at it you have to practice, listen, take lessons, etc... Just the brand of pencil and
especially the paper can make a portrait great or completely ruin it. Even the brand of fixative spray can ruin it at
the very end. So do your research, take some lessons and have fun, For simply the best book on drawing go to
JD Hillberry's web site and buy his book like I did (I renamed it the "The Holy Grail of Drawing"). Below are some
links to great web sites for drawing and painting tutorials......................Dave Bj
p.s.I include these miss spellings of the word portrait for all the people like me that can't spell well and typed the wrong
spelling while searching. portrat portrate portrates, portriat

Pencil drawings by J. D. Hillberry. Galleries of
original graphite pencil and charcoal artwork plus fine
art prints of western, still-life, trompe l'Oeil and others."

Brian Duey Pencil Drawings

Kevin Bentley Pastel Portraits

Karin Well Portrait tutorials

Karin Well s Portrait tips

commands up to $80,000
per portrait

Karin Wells Tutorial