chris newbrook 08 Jul 2009

Hi Allan, your portraiture work is very impressive and theres a lovely sensitive softness to it. Your written English if perfect aswell so dont worry about how you come across on here.

From a British point of view the portraiture market is probably the same as in France.

I mostly work in oils now for portrait commissions. i can spend less time creating an oil painting than doing a highly detailed pencil or charcoal. So it's a bit of a paradox that paintings tend to be far more expensive than drawings, and often sale prices can be so high that cost of materials is irrelevant. I guess the classical romantic aspect of an oil painting tends to be more appealing than a drawing aswell.

For an artist it's also a personal creative choice as to which medium is chosen. I prefer oils because of the colour vibrancy and texture, and the way glazes of colour can create depth and illusory space. It's also less tedious than detailed drawing and there's always something new to be learnt from painting in oils. I'm also interested in mark making, and pencils are quite limited in this area.

A lot of artists like me are still creating affordable portrait paintings. I can complete a portrait painting in 16 hours and mine are usually under £400. And large paintings tend to be over £1000, but i doubt many commissions will come my way for this price for quite a while yet.

The painting attached was completed in 10 hours. Though drying time between layers was about 3 days.

if you havnt tried oils or acrylics I'm sure you will enjoy the expressive quality of them.

Allan Barbeau 08 Jul 2009

This portrait is a great piece !!

Actually, I am painting a portrait right know (acrylic) commissioned by the "atelier magique" webmaster. I'm not patient enought to use Oil.

It's true that colors are the best with painting (even if ballpoint pen are not far behind ;)

Personally, maybe because I'm autodidact, I have more difficulty to paint than to draw. So painting is always a longer job for me cause I take more time to go where I want !

chris newbrook 08 Jul 2009

I'm also mostly self taught, even at university it was all theoretical work and very little practical coaching.

I think i got the bug for oils when i was about 13. i've always loved the succulence of it. It can be so messy and a nightmare to clean up afterwards but worth it in the end.

Delacroix said that art should be a feast for the eyes, and i think oils has always been a good medium to manifest this for me.

Peter Williams 08 Jul 2009

For various reasons I can't use oil and I don't like working with acrylic too much, so I have stuck and persevered with watercolour or drawing mediums such as pencil, charcoal or pastel pencil. So I offer these choices to my customers. I find popularity changes, so when I started about 7 years ago it was all pastel or watercolour but now I find that people are preferring monochrome work so either pencil or charcoal. Perhaps I am just better at them or perhaps it's fashion as I think the pencil works, if sympathetically mounted and framed can look stunning in a more minimalist environment and also, as has been said, they tend to be less costly. Heres one of my pencils with a sepia tint added in photoshop for the prints.

Allan Barbeau 08 Jul 2009

Great Cowboy !! It make me realise how for me ( frenchy), Cowboy are movie character and not real people or History. Probably the same feeling for you when you see a armoured medieval knight ;)

My favorite medium is of course ballpoint pen but my costumers favorite is Graphite pencils. And I think that more you use a medium and more you skill get sharper ! Probably for that that I'm not to bad with Graphite pencils !!

Peter Williams 08 Jul 2009

I'm English Allan, so one word for you 'Agincourt'.

Only kidding, but like you, cowboys and indians were just characters in movies until I grew up.

That's a nice pencil work you've done there, I like a picture to have more about it than just a good likeness. You've caught the expression of pride and happiness of the angler with his catch very well. Here's a watercolour portrait. (show me yours)

chris newbrook 08 Jul 2009

I was always routing for the native Indians when i watched the movies as a boy. Cowboys always seemed distructive and the true wild ones.

Jimmy Stewart's brilliant acting ability added fascinating dimensions to all his characters though, including being a cowboy.

Yes Knights were part of history too, but generally the opposite of the heroic archetype they're portrayed. There was a lot of bloodshed during the religious crusades.

Allan Barbeau 08 Jul 2009

Like I said, I don't have many paintings but there is one I done for my brother 2 years ago! There he is with a costume of Louis XV ! Afterward, this Muppet told me that he would prefer to be painted with the Marie-Antoinette's costume .... ^^

I will show you the one I'm painting now but you have to wait it's finish

Minnie Shuler 08 Jul 2009

Take a look at this digital artist's portraits.http://www.artwanted.com/imageview.cfm?id=787805&SaveComment=Yes I don't know that there is a best medium.

Allan Barbeau 08 Jul 2009

WooW, this Odwin Rensen is very good ! I wander how he manage to sell a digital portrait ! Print I suppose ! Strange thing about digital Art is that you actually don't have an original !

But digital Art is great ! I have on the DeviantArt website few digital Artist stock on my favorite ! Some dud do very good job.

To challenge myself with my ballpoint pen Art, I try to get this quality of image. Of course, it's probably impossible but during the process, my skill increases

Peter Williams 08 Jul 2009

Allan, where do you find such good reference material, the poses of all of your portraits are full of attitude. Really eye catching stuff!

Allan Barbeau 08 Jul 2009

When I can, I take the photo myself and always try to fine something interesting like an expression or an original view angle !

jim rownd 08 Jul 2009

In answer to your question.

if your looking for realism I would say any opaque medium would be the best. Because no matter how much you plan to use the white of your board some highlight can't be planned until you see how certain areas are turning out.

edit: or something you can scratch off or erase.

like this http://www.artwanted.com/mb/topic.cfm?Topic=485382

Allan Barbeau 09 Jul 2009

"Because no matter how much you plan to use the white of your board some highlight can't be planned until you see how certain areas are turning out."

There we are again ;) only joking !!

Yes maybe you right ! But I will continue to work that out ! :p

cramer 09 Jul 2009

best medium for a portrait?...i use alof of watercolor and oils for mine but dabbled in everything...anything goes really, whatever the artist likes working with the most, at the moment anyway

Katerina Koukiotis 09 Jul 2009

I admire all portrait work done in different mediums personally for me i love doing portrait work in pencil/charcoal(graphite black and white) it's so expressive and lifelike ,besides my fantasy works the most commission requests i receive are portraits in pencil black and white.

Lovely work from everyone.

Allan Barbeau 09 Jul 2009

WoW Katerina !! You gallery is magique !! Some of your portrait are just ... (looking for words) .... superb

bari titen 09 Jul 2009

hi allan :) great work...

my favorite medium is mechanical pencil because i like the control i have with it....i've tried portraits in oil, but i can't get the detail like in pencil...plus, since using pencil for so long, trying to draw or paint in colors scared the heck out of me...i wasn't used to it...so, for now, i draw my portraits in mechanical pencil...

Allan Barbeau 09 Jul 2009

Thanks Bari !

Your portraits are very light ! Is that your choice ? I ask cause I like theme very srtong and contrasted but some ( like my wife ) like light drawing. Nice portrait anyway !!

darrell parrott 09 Jul 2009

I used oils for years, now only acrylics.I like to work wet in wet, so I block in the whole painting in just local colors. Then I take an area,apply thick paint then expand outward blending wet paint to wet paint.After this drys, I can and do, go over this with washes or dry brush work. This gives me all the techniques that I would have used in oils but no lost time for drying.This one took 12 hours. It is 11 in. x 14 in.