Some portrait painters are constantly making studies of heads in color merely for the facility they thus acquire in overcoming technical difficulties when painting a portrait. Before starting on the actual work of portraiture, therefore, the following suggestions are made for the painting of a simple head:
Place the subject in an effective position for light and shade, and begin by drawing it in with charcoal. Look first for the character of the mass. Observe if it be oblong or square, round or oval. This should be the first fact to strike you in regard to its drawing; for at present you have nothing to do with features or character—only with bulk. When this is determined the features come next in importance. Do they fill the mass of the face, or are they contracted, placed near together, leaving considerable area of cheek, forehead, and chin? Fix this impression well before attempting to define the forms of these features. This already will stamp the head with a certain personal character, that the definition of each feature, as you proceed, will only emphasize more strongly.
After drawing with care the eyes, nose, and mouth, in their respective spaces, already indicated, you are ready to begin to paint.
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