P is for Portraiture

Portraiture is the art of creating portraits. Portraits can be done in Oil, Acrylic, Pencil, pastels, Charcoals etc.

I also create portraits. I do it mainly using pencil and Charcoal.

Portraits were commissioned by only the elite centuries back.  Later on middle classes also warmed up to the idea of having the portraits of their loved ones done. However, with the advent of photography, the mad craze for creating oil portraits have come down. Still art lovers cherish being the proud owners of their own portraits.

There are many methods to create portraits like live portraiture where the subject models for the artist the entire time he sketches. This was the method used in olden times. Now artists mainly work using a clear photo of the client, which helps them create a realistic portrait.

I work from photographs. I started it by gifting friends on their birthdays and recently started doing commissioned portraits when the demands increased.

If you are interested in learning portraiture, there are detailed courses online. Youtube has a number of tutorials that teach portraiture in detail.

Sharing one such video. Go to the side links and you can find many more.

Sharing a few of the portraits of my creation.

Pencil Portait

Charcoal portrait

Pencil Portrait

Charcoal portrait

This post is a part of Blogging from A-Z April Challenge.

The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge was first held in 2010. The challenge is that we have to post every day of April, except on the four Sundays. April 1st is a theme with letter A, 2nd with letter B and so on till April 30th which will be Z themed. My theme is #Learning Everyday, I post about new random things every day.