What Constitutes a Portrait?
A portrait is a representation of an individual person. Traditionally, a portrait records the subject's features in an attempt to capture some likeness of the sitter - something of who they are. For many people, the ideal portrait will resemble the subject's physical appearance and capture the essence of that person.
Contemporary portraits have much freedom. Although often nodding to the rules of the traditional genre from which they originate, they have license to challenge the rules. A portrait does not have to be realistic; it does necessarily have to depict one’s face or physical form. A portrait could be a recording of one’s hands or feet. It could take the form of an object or space that tells us something meaningful about the subject. It could even take the form of a more abstract piece that gives us an emotion or feeling about that person.
If you are considering a portrait then here are some points that we may discuss:
Who is the subject(s)? (Who is the portrait of?)
How do you want to portray them? (Consider personality, mood, facial expression, body language, pose.)
What do you want to say about them? (Do you want to tell the viewer anything personal about the person(s) i.e. culture, career, interests, achievements, loves, life experiences etc.)
How could you portray this information? (Think about personal space / outside environment, inanimate objects. Are there any clues that could be visually depicted in the painting?)
How much of the subject you want to include in the composition? (Whole figure, part figure, face, alternative parts of body.)
Where will the subject be placed within the composition? (Centre, left, right, top, bottom.)
Consider foreground / background. (What is the ratio between foreground and background space? You could zoom in on the subject and have no background. Alternatively you could depict the subject within a large background space.)
Please approach me with any initial thoughts / ideas and together we can work out a creative solution.
A portrait is a representation of an individual person. Traditionally, a portrait records the subject's features in an attempt to capture some likeness of the sitter - something of who they are. For many people, the ideal portrait will resemble the subject's physical appearance and capture the essence of that person.
Contemporary portraits have much freedom. Although often nodding to the rules of the traditional genre from which they originate, they have license to challenge the rules. A portrait does not have to be realistic; it does necessarily have to depict one’s face or physical form. A portrait could be a recording of one’s hands or feet. It could take the form of an object or space that tells us something meaningful about the subject. It could even take the form of a more abstract piece that gives us an emotion or feeling about that person.
If you are considering a portrait then here are some points that we may discuss:
Who is the subject(s)? (Who is the portrait of?)
How do you want to portray them? (Consider personality, mood, facial expression, body language, pose.)
What do you want to say about them? (Do you want to tell the viewer anything personal about the person(s) i.e. culture, career, interests, achievements, loves, life experiences etc.)
How could you portray this information? (Think about personal space / outside environment, inanimate objects. Are there any clues that could be visually depicted in the painting?)
How much of the subject you want to include in the composition? (Whole figure, part figure, face, alternative parts of body.)
Where will the subject be placed within the composition? (Centre, left, right, top, bottom.)
Consider foreground / background. (What is the ratio between foreground and background space? You could zoom in on the subject and have no background. Alternatively you could depict the subject within a large background space.)
Please approach me with any initial thoughts / ideas and together we can work out a creative solution.