Obrigado Este projeto existe graças ao apoio e incentivo dos meus alunos e seguidores. Sua curiosidade e paixão pela pintura me fazem continuar criando e ensinando.
Espero que este livro se torne parte da sua prática diária.
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
Learning to “see in planes” takes practice, but it’s one of the most rewarding skills you can develop as a portrait artist. During the time I practiced drawing the Asaro head, I think I never got one perfect. But my teacher encouraged me to just keep drawing. The goal wasn’t to get perfect angles on the face — the real practice was training our eyes and brain to see the planes naturally. And as a result, we started to clearly recognize the light, midtones, and shadows on any face we looked at.
Here are some simple exercises you can try to strengthen that skill:
1. Squint and Simplify
One of the easiest ways to start is by squinting at your reference or model. Squinting blurs the small details and helps you focus on the big masses of light and shadow. Ask yourself: Where does the light hit directly? Where does it turn away? Try dividing the face into three tones — light, midtone, and shadow. This limited range forces you to simplify and think structurally, just like sculptors do before refining.
2. Draw the Head with Flat Planes
Instead of drawing curves, use straight lines to describe the head’s angles. Imagine you’re carving the face out of a block of wood. Each straight line represents a plane change — the side of the nose, the slope of the forehead, the turn of the cheek. Start with a simple cube or wedge to understand how light falls on angular forms, then move on to a simplified head (like the Asaro Planes of the Head model). You can even paint over a photo digitally, tracing the major planes to see how light breaks across the surface.
3. Paint in Three Values
Choose one of your portrait references and paint it using only three values: light, middle, and dark. Forget about color — work in grayscale or with a very limited palette. The goal is to model the head using value relationships only. You’ll be surprised how much form and expression you can achieve with just three tones. This exercise helps you understand that planes are what create the illusion of light, not fine details.
Painters throughout history have studied sculptures to understand structure. A plaster cast or a photo of a classical bust can be a great model for learning planes. Since sculptures already emphasize form and light, they make it easier to spot where the head turns. Try sketching them quickly, noting the large shapes and where light breaks across them.
5. Turn the Head
When working from life or a reference, look at the head from different angles — front, three-quarter, and profile. Notice how the planes shift with the light. This habit helps you understand that every portrait is a balance of structure and perspective. The more you draw from multiple angles, the more confidently you’ll be able to invent or correct forms later.
6. Translate Planes into Soft Transitions
Once you can see the planes clearly, start softening them. Real faces aren’t made of hard edges, but understanding where those edges would be helps you create natural transitions. Good portrait painting is all about knowing when to soften and when to keep a subtle edge — and that control begins with a solid sense of planes.
Final Thought
Seeing in planes transforms the way you paint. You stop copying what you see and start building your portraits as if you’re sculpting them with light. Over time, this understanding gives your paintings strength, clarity, and a sense of life that viewers can feel immediately.
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
We talk a lot about the power of art. It’s not just decoration—it’s an environment. Colors speak to us in a silent language, shaping our emotions and even the atmosphere of a space.
As painters, one of the most powerful tools we have is color temperature. Warm and cool colors can completely change the mood of a painting, and learning to use them with intention can make your work come alive.
Warm Colors: Energy, Comfort, and Passion
Think: reds, oranges, yellows, and earthy tones.
These are the colors of fire and sunlight. They feel close, lively, and full of energy.
Reds bring passion and excitement, but too much can feel heavy or aggressive.
Oranges feel warm, friendly, and creative.
Yellows carry light and optimism but can be overwhelming if used too strongly.
In a painting: A portrait with warm golden tones feels approachable and alive. A landscape with a sunset instantly makes us feel nostalgic and peaceful.
Cool Colors: Calm, Serenity, and Distance
Think: blues, greens, purples.
These are the colors of water, sky, and nature. They tend to recede, giving calm and space to a painting.
Blues are peaceful, clear, and trustworthy.
Greens connect us to balance, harmony, and nature.
Purples bring mystery, luxury, or spirituality, depending on how you use them.
In a painting: A seascape in cool blues doesn’t just show the ocean—it makes you feel its vastness and tranquility.
Neutral Colors: Balance, Subtlety, and Rest
Think: grays, browns, muted tones, or desaturated versions of any color.
Neutrals may not get as much attention as bright warms or cools, but they’re essential. They act as the “quiet” spaces in your painting, allowing brighter colors to stand out. Without neutrals, everything would compete for attention and the painting would feel overwhelming.
Grays create calm, sophistication, or atmosphere.
Browns add earthiness and stability.
Muted versions of any color (for example, a soft gray-blue or a dusty rose) can suggest subtle emotion while still harmonizing with the rest of the painting.
In a painting: Neutrals are what make saturated colors sing. Place a bright red next to a muted gray background, and suddenly that red feels more powerful. Think of neutrals as the stage that lets the main colors perform.
The Secret: Balancing Warm, Cool, and Neutral
The strongest paintings aren’t purely warm or cool. The magic happens in the balance—and neutrals are what tie everything together.
A warm subject against a cool, muted background pops with energy.
A neutral gray shadow makes a warm highlight glow even brighter.
A touch of saturated color surrounded by neutrals instantly becomes the focus.
This interplay is what makes a piece feel alive and emotionally resonant.
Try It in Your Work
Next time you paint, experiment:
Mix a gray or muted tone to use alongside your warm or cool colors.
Try balancing a neutral background with a single bright accent.
Notice how neutrals give your eye a place to rest, while color accents create impact.
You’ll see that neutrals aren’t boring—they’re the quiet strength of a painting.
Recently, a student on Patreon asked me: “Why do I always get muddy colors?”
My answer was this: all the colors we use are muddy to some degree. The only “clean” colors are the pure ones straight from the palette—yellow, orange, red, green, blue etc. As soon as we start mixing, they begin to desaturate and shift toward gray. The more colors we add, the stronger this effect becomes.
And it doesn’t stop at the palette. Once we put paint on the canvas and start moving the brushstroke around to “find the right spot,” the paint keeps mixing. If we keep adding more strokes and then blend to smooth transitions, the mixture continues to dull little by little until it looks muddy.
With experience, you start to anticipate what will happen with your colors. Sometimes, for example, I’ll drop in a touch of pure orange on the skin and blend just slightly—I end up with a fresh, clean tone because I balanced the mixture with a primary color. The trick is in the pressure of the brush and how much of that pure color you add. Too much, and it changes the mixture completely.
Another approach is to place your color down and resist the urge to move it too much. Beginners often expect colors to stay the same on the canvas as they looked on the palette, but in practice, brushwork and blending change everything.
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
The best way to fix it without saturating the skin color too much : “Adding a few touches of saturated colors to create simultaneous contrast can make the portrait look more colorful and vibrant.”
Common Causes of Muddy Colors
1. Too Many Colors Mixed Together
When you keep adding more and more pigments, you’re really mixing all three primaries together (red, yellow, and blue). The result is a neutral, grayish-brown tone.
Tip: Limit your palette when mixing. Often two colors—and sometimes just a touch of a third—are all you need. Try to keep your mixtures clean and direct.
2. Using Opaque Paint in the Wrong Place
Some paints are naturally opaque, and when layered carelessly, they can kill the brightness of the color underneath.
Tip: For glazing or subtle layering, choose transparent colors. Save your opaque paints for highlights or solid passages.
3. Not Cleaning the Brush Enough
If your brush still has leftover paint from a previous stroke, it contaminates your mixture before you even realize it.
Tip: Wipe or wash your brush between different mixtures, especially when switching between warm and cool colors.
4. Confusing Warm and Cool Colors
Mixing a warm version of a color with its opposite temperature can quickly dull the mixture.
Tip: If you want bright mixes, combine warm with warm or cool with cool. Use temperature shifts carefully.
5. Painting Over Wet Layers Without a Plan
In oil painting especially, working wet-into-wet without control can easily muddy colors. Too much brushing makes everything blend into a flat tone.
Tip: Place your strokes and leave them alone. Think of it like cooking—too much stirring spoils the soup.
Final Thoughts
Muddy colors happen to everyone, even experienced painters. The key is awareness. Keep your palette simple, clean your brush often, and think about the temperature and transparency of the paints you’re using. With practice, you’ll start to predict how your colors will behave and learn when to let a brushstroke sit on its own.
When you get this balance right, your colors will look fresher, brighter, and more alive—and painting will feel a lot more rewarding.
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
Glazing in Oil Painting
Glazing is a thin, transparent layer of oil paint applied over an underpainting. It’s one of the most powerful tools in oil painting because it lets you change the mood, adjust colors, and create a glowing depth that flat paint cannot achieve.
You can glaze with pure transparent colors or with mixes that include white (more opaque). Transparent layers let light shine through, while opaque ones cover more of what’s underneath. Both are useful—what matters is knowing when and how to use them.
A Short History of Glazing
Glazing has been around for centuries. Renaissance and Baroque painters like Jan van Eyck, Titian, and Rembrandt perfected the technique. They often painted a detailed grayscale underpainting (sometimes called a “grisaille”) and then added color through glazes.
Some of these artists built their works with 40–60 layers of glazes. The results were luminous paintings where colors seemed to glow from within. Light would travel through the transparent layers, bounce off the underpainting, and return to the viewer’s eye—creating an effect that mixed paint on the palette simply can’t match.
Glazing also allowed them to adjust colors without starting over. Too bright? A thin dark glaze could tone it down. Too dull? A warm or cool glaze could bring it to life. That flexibility is one reason glazing became such a key part of oil painting tradition.
How to Glaze in Oil Painting
Step 1: Prepare Your Surface
Make sure your underpainting is completely dry before you start glazing. If it’s still wet, the glaze will mix with the paint below instead of sitting transparently on top.
Step 2: Mix Your Medium
The traditional medium for glazing is a 50/50 mix of turpentine and linseed oil. (lately I am using just linseed oil) This makes the paint thinner, smoother, and more transparent. Today, many artists also use modern glazing mediums that dry faster and are less toxic—use what works best for you.
Step 3: Choose Your Brushes
Keep two brushes handy:
Soft synthetic or sable brush → to apply the glaze smoothly.
Stiff brush → to blend, soften, or “fade” the glaze into the underpainting because sometimes to glaze does not stick to the paint if that happens to you add more paint than medium and press harder with the brush.
Step 4: Apply the Glaze
Load a small amount of thinned paint on the soft brush.
Spread it evenly over the area you want to glaze.
Use the stiffer brush to feather the edges so it blends naturally.
Step 5: Decide the Purpose
Glazing can be used in two simple but powerful ways:
Tone down a color → e.g., a cool glaze over a too-bright red to calm it.
Enhance a color → e.g., a warm glaze over a dull blue to make it glow.
Why Try Glazing?
Even if you don’t use dozens of layers like the Old Masters, a few glazes can transform your painting. They give depth, atmosphere, and subtle color shifts that are impossible to get with just direct paint.
It’s also a technique that connects us to centuries of painting tradition. When you glaze, you’re painting in the footsteps of Rembrandt, Titian, and countless others who discovered the magic of light shining through paint.
So, whether you’re adjusting a single passage or layering for a glowing effect, glazing is a tool worth practicing—it can truly bring your paintings to life.
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
This has always been difficult for me—mastering color harmonies, especially in portraits. I practiced more with still lifes and landscapes at first, but I remember seeing most of my paintings turn out kind of monochromatic. Some friends had really colorful work, while others, like me, stayed stuck in monochrome.
Trying to master color harmonies can be tough. A good way to start is by making small sketches, maybe 6 x 6 inches. Don’t focus on details—just use big brushstrokes and explore as many color harmonies as possible. It’s not about the final result of each sketch; it’s about the practice.
When you paint portraits, you’re not just recording a likeness—you’re also shaping mood, atmosphere, and story. One of the most powerful tools for this is your choice of color scheme. Color can heighten drama, create harmony, or suggest a personality that words can’t fully capture.
In this post, I’ll go through some of the most popular approaches to color in portrait painting, along with examples of how each scheme works.
1. Complementary Color Schemes
Complementary colors are pairs that sit opposite on the color wheel—like blue and orange, red and green, or purple and yellow.
Why it works:
The high contrast between complements makes portraits feel vibrant.
Skin tones often carry natural warmth, so pairing them with a cooler background or clothing can create balance.
Example: In this case I pair red and green on this portrait, I like the balance I got, look all different color variations, is not just about pure green and red.
2. Analogous Color Schemes
Analogous colors are neighbors on the wheel—such as blue, blue-green, and green.
Why it works:
These schemes give a calm, cohesive effect.
Perfect for portraits that need to feel serene, intimate, or unified.
Example: Think of a child’s portrait painted mostly with violets, pinks, and reds. Everything feels connected, soft, and tender without the distraction of clashing hues.
3. The Temperature Palette (A Limited Scheme)
The Temperature Palette uses just three colors: White, Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine blue
Why it works:
It simplifies decisions and keeps the focus on value and temperature.
Even with so few paints, you can suggest a full range of natural skin tones.
Example: A portrait made with the Temperature Palette can feel timeless. Subtle grays and muted tones give the figure weight and depth, while the warm reds bring life to cheeks and lips.
4. Split-Complementary Schemes
This is a twist on complements. Instead of using one opposite color, you use the two hues flanking it. For example: yellow paired with purple and violet.
Why it works:
It offers contrast without the harshness of direct complements.
Portraits painted this way often look lively and dynamic.
Example: The left of the face is warm yellow the rigth side there are violets and purples creating a more dramatic effect.
5. Expressive and Unconventional Schemes
Not every portrait aims for realism. Some of the most memorable works push color into unexpected places: purple shadows, green underpaintings, or neon backgrounds.
Why it works:
It captures mood and personality rather than just physical likeness.
It allows the artist’s voice to come forward strongly.
Example: Van Gogh often used high-key, unnatural color in his portraits. A face might be tinged with yellows or greens, yet the overall image feels more “true” to the person’s spirit than a literal skin tone ever could.
6. Personal Favorites Evolve Over Time
When artists talk about their “favorite” color schemes, it’s rarely a fixed answer (even when i say a have a favorite one). Early in your journey, you might gravitate toward the drama of complementary contrasts. Later, you may become fascinated with the subtle beauty of analogous harmonies.
Color choices often mirror life experience and mood. A phase of exploring bright, saturated hues might give way to years of muted, earthy palettes. The important part is noticing what excites you at the easel right now.
Closing Thoughts
Portrait painting is as much about color choices as it is about anatomy or proportion. Color schemes help you set the tone—whether you want drama, calm, intimacy, or bold expression.
The real question isn’t just what are the best schemes, but: Which ones speak to you right now? Your favorite color harmony will shape not only your portraits, but the story you tell through them.
Portrait painting is fun but also very challenging. Beginners usually run into the same problems, and that can slow down progress. The good thing is, once you know the issues, it’s much easier to fix them.
From my own experience, and from seeing what many new painters struggle with, here are the most common mistakes in portrait painting and some tips to avoid them.
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
1. Weak Foundation Drawing / Underpainting
Issue: Starting with a vague or inaccurate sketch creates proportion mistakes that get worse as you build layers. Fix: ✔ Begin with a simple block-in using clear shapes. ✔ Check proportions often (sight-size and Loomis proportions can help). ✔ Correct errors in the drawing before painting.
2. Poor Reference Photos
Issue: Low-contrast, blurry, or heavily filtered images distort features and colors, making accuracy impossible. Fix: ✔ Work from sharp, well-lit photos (higher contrast works best). ✔ Avoid strong filters. ✔ From life? Make sure your subject is well lit.
3. Skipping Canvas Preparation
Issue: Painting on cheap or unprimed surfaces causes paint to sink in, colors to dull, and blending to suffer. Fix: ✔ Use a properly primed canvas or panel. ✔ Add an extra layer of gesso. ✔ Tone the surface with a neutral wash (like burnt umber) to reduce glare from white.
4. Over-Detailing Too Early
Issue: Jumping into eyelashes or highlights before establishing big shapes creates a patchy, disjointed portrait. Fix: ✔ Squint to simplify values into large planes. ✔ Lay in main light and shadow areas before details. ✔ Think of the head as big structural planes, not lines.
5. Shadows Too Weak
Issue: Fear of darks makes shadows look flat or gray, leaving the portrait without depth. Fix: ✔ Push shadows darker and richer than you expect. ✔ Transparent pigments (burnt umber, alizarin crimson) add depth. ✔ Beginners should avoid pure black—advanced painters can use any black but you can mix a chromatic black (ultramarine + alizarin or black + color).
6. Flesh Tones Too Pale
Issue: Overusing white results in chalky, lifeless skin. Fix: ✔ Begin with middle values—earth tones mixed with reds/greens. ✔ Never use pure white in shadows. ✔ Observe real skin—it contains subtle shifts of reds, greens, and violets.
7. Too Many Harsh Edges
Issue: Crisp lines everywhere make features look cut out and artificial. Fix: ✔ Blur edges where the form turns away from the light. ✔ Reserve sharp edges for accents in focal points (like the eyes or mouth corners). ✔ Use dry brushing or feathering for gentle transitions.
8. Disorganized Palette
Issue: A messy palette leads to muddy color mixtures and wrong values. Fix: ✔ Arrange paints in a consistent order (warm/cool, light/dark). ✔ Wipe mixing areas regularly. ✔ Begin with a limited palette to learn values.
Final Thoughts
Every artist makes these mistakes at first—the key is recognizing and correcting them. By focusing on strong fundamentals (drawing, values, edges, and color mixing), your portraits will improve dramatically.
Which of these mistakes do you struggle with the most? Let me know—I’d love to help with more detailed tips!
(Bonus tip: Study master portraits—Rembrandt, Sargent, and Zorn are great for learning brushwork and color harmony!)
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
A portrait’s background is more than a backdrop — it’s part of the mood, story, and focus. The right choice can make the subject sing, whisper, or even tell a completely different tale.
Here are 10 ways you can play with backgrounds:
1️⃣ Color Contrast Opposite colors (complementaries) can make the subject pop — warm skin against cool blues, or dark hair against a pale wall.
2️⃣ Temperature Contrast Warm backgrounds bring energy and life; cool backgrounds create calm and distance. Mixing them can create tension or harmony.
3️⃣ Busy vs. Minimal Patterns, scenery, or objects add story. A blank or blurred background gives full attention to the subject.
4️⃣ Texture vs. Smooth Thick brushstrokes or rough texture add depth and richness; a smooth surface brings stillness and simplicity.
5️⃣ Light vs. Dark High-value contrast can make the subject dramatic; low contrast creates a softer, dreamier feel.
6️⃣ Sharp vs. Soft Focus A sharply detailed background keeps everything in the same “visual world.” A blurred or abstract background pushes the subject forward.
7️⃣ Realistic vs. Stylized A lifelike setting grounds the portrait in reality. A stylized or abstract background adds artistry and symbolism.
8️⃣ Close vs. Distant Space A close background feels intimate. A distant or open space suggests freedom, loneliness, or grandeur.
9️⃣ Single Color vs. Gradation A flat color background is graphic and bold; a gradient background can subtly lead the eye and add atmosphere.
🔟 Symbolic Elements Objects, shapes, or colors that have personal or cultural meaning can transform the portrait into a deeper story.
💬 Which type of background do you love most for portraits — bold and complex, or quiet and simple?
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
When you paint from a reference photo, it’s tempting to replicate it exactly — every color, every shadow, every detail. After all, the photo is “real,” right? But painting gives us a creative power that photography doesn’t: the ability to transform the scene into something more personal, emotional, and atmospheric.
In this comparison, the image on the left is the original photo — calm, natural, and grounded in reality. The one on the right is my painting — the same subject, but with a completely different emotional temperature.
Why Not Copy the Colors Exactly?
Because colors tell the story. A photo might capture the surface reality, but color choices in a painting can amplify emotion, create tension, or invite mystery.
Cooler shadows can evoke melancholy or introspection.
Warmer highlights can suggest hope, vitality, or even drama.
Unexpected hues — such as hints of green in skin tones or magenta in shadows — can make a portrait more alive than a literal copy.
Step-by-Step Process
1️⃣ Choosing the Reference
I selected a photo that already had strong mood and lighting — the slightly downward gaze and hand gesture added an emotional weight that I could build on.
2️⃣ Deciding on the Mood
Before touching the canvas, I asked: What do I want the viewer to feel? For this painting, I wanted more intensity than the photo gave me, so I planned to boost contrasts and use bolder colors.
3️⃣ Adjusting the Palette
In the shadows: I cooled them down with purples and deep greens.
In the highlights: I pushed warm yellows and reds to create a glow.
In transitions: I blended in unexpected colors (teal, magenta) to give life to skin tones.
4️⃣ Brushwork and Edges
Rather than perfectly smooth blending, I left some strokes visible. This makes the painting feel more alive and lets the colors vibrate against each other.
5️⃣ Stepping Back
Halfway through, I always step back several feet from the canvas. This is when I ask myself, Does this version tell a stronger story than the photo? If not, I make bolder changes.
Tips for Artists Wanting to Try This
Don’t fight your instincts. If a color feels right, use it — even if it’s not in the photo.
Experiment with temperature shifts. Try making shadows cooler and highlights warmer (or vice versa) to see how it changes the mood.
Use color to guide the eye. Strategic contrast can pull focus to the most important part of your composition.
Think story, not accuracy. Ask: What do I want this image to say? rather than How do I match it exactly?
The Takeaway
The freedom to reinterpret color is one of painting’s greatest joys. It’s not about matching the photo pixel by pixel — it’s about expressing something the camera can’t.
Now I’m curious — which one speaks to you more? The calm realism of the photo, or the emotive colors of my painting?
Struggling with your portraits? You might find my E-book helpful. Click here
In every painting, there’s a moment where your eye stops—where it lands and lingers. That’s the focal point. Whether you’re working on a still life with a bunch of grapes and a vase, or a quiet landscape at dusk, the focal point is what holds the viewer’s attention and gives structure to the entire composition.
Let’s break it down with examples from my classes.
What is a Focal Point?
The focal point is the area of a painting that draws the viewer in first. It’s where the visual weight is centered. That doesn’t mean the rest of the painting isn’t important, but the focal point is your main “story moment.”
Think of it like a stage play: you might have several characters on stage, but only one is delivering the key line. Everything else supports that moment.
In many of my still life classes, we use objects like fruit, vases, or folded fabric. The challenge is always the same: which object tells the story?
Let’s say we have a lemon, a glass bottle, and a crumpled napkin. If the lemon is your focal point, you might:
Place it off-center using the Rule of Thirds
Make it the most saturated color in the scene
Sharpen the edges and contrast around it
Simplify the surroundings to avoid distraction
In class, we painted a composition where the light hit a lemon just perfectly, and we built the rest of the scene to support that lemon—softening edges around the background, muting other colors. It made the painting feel focused.
Focal Point in Landscapes
Landscapes can be trickier, because everything feels important—sky, mountains, trees. But here’s the trick: choose a “moment.”
In one class, we painted a path leading into the woods. The focal point was not the trees or the sky, but a small patch of light hitting the path. We:
Directed the lines of the path toward that light
Used higher contrast where the light met the shadow
Toned down the sky to keep attention on the ground
Another example: a ship, its color and placement made it the natural focal point. Everything else—the muted water, the gentle sky—helped guide the eye there.
Common Ways to Create a Focal Point
Here are some tools we use regularly in class:
Contrast – Light against dark, or warm against cool, draws attention.
Detail – Sharper edges and more texture pull the eye in.
Color – A pop of saturated or unexpected color stands out.
Placement – Objects near the Rule of Thirds lines feel naturally strong.
Leading Lines – Paths, shadows, or objects pointing toward your subject.
Final Thoughts
If your painting feels scattered, ask yourself: Where do I want the viewer to look first? That question alone can clarify a lot.
Every time we paint together in class—whether a bowl of peaches or a mountain trail—I encourage students to make a clear decision about the focal point. It doesn’t mean being rigid, but it gives your painting purpose and clarity.
Next time you set up a composition, try this: squint, step back, and see what jumps out. Then, build your painting around that.
