QUICK SKETCH PASTEL PORTRAIT by Katherine Courtney

Sheralyn McNamee, a senior at the University of Central Florida was my subject. She loves live concerts and often streaks and colors her hair. The portrait was painted on grey velour paper 16″ X 20″, using Conte, Nupastels, and Rembrandt pastels. From a live sitting a portrait this size takes about one hour.

STEP ONE
I use a stick of sharpened Conte sanguine 2350 for the drawing. This is a medium value conte, and I can easily make corrections. To capture a likeness you must get the size, proportions, angles, and distances of the features and head in proper relation to each other. Measuring throughout the development of the portrait is important. The head is easiest to measure when it is in an upright position. You establish an imaginary line running vertically from the chin to the forehead; this divides the nose in half. Measure the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows and then to the end of the nose and then to the chin. Usually all three will be the same size. The distance between the eyes is usually the same width as the eye, and the inner corner of the eye lines up with the side of the nose. The center of the eye will line up with the side of the mouth. Establish the basic outside shape of the head.

STEP TWO

Using the side of a white pastel, I make a note of the light area on the face. I start the drawing with the eyes, as I feel that if you do not get the eyes correctly, you will not get a likeness. The most important period in painting the portrait is the first five minutes. If you do not have an accurate drawing, start over. The mistakes cannot be corrected in the course of the painting.

STEP THREE

Cover the entire flesh area using Rembrandt Gold Ochre No. 7. Glaze red around the eyes, on the cheeks, the nose and in the shadow area of the neck. Again use the Gold Ochre No. 7 covering the entire flesh area. This will help blend all of the colors together.STEP FOUR

Use a sharpened cobalt Nupastel to put in the shadow over the eyeball and under the nose. Use Rembrandt cobalt No. 3 to glaze in the shadows in the face and in the hair. I always use a dark blue in the under painting of anything that is to be very dark in a pastel painting. raw umber No. 7 is used in the halftone shadows that run into the light on the face. Her eyes are green/hazel so Rembrandt raw umber No. 5 was used in her eyes. STEP FIVE

Redraw the features using darker sanguine 2354 conte making any drawing corrections needed and use the side of the sanguine stick to glaze over the blue shadow areas of flesh. Use a sharpened Nupastel black to draw her upper eye lashes, circle the pupils and place the iris in the very center of the eyes. Use white conte to note the highlight in eyes. The eye brows are very dark, so dark conte and black were used. The upper lip is darker than the lower one because it is in shadow. Use dark conte to draw a broken line between the lips. Her green t-shirt will reflect green under the chin.

The Finished Portrait:
Develop the likeness and three-dimensional form of the portrait using strong colors.

Working with pastel is fun. You can do a quick sketch such as this portrait on velour or very detailed work on canson, sandpaper, canvas or watercolor paper

Tips for working in pastel:

1. Always have your drawing board either straight up and down or tipped toward you. This will allow small particles of pastel to fall and not smudge the paper.

2. Use your darker pastels first and then use the lighter pastels as you finish. You end up with muddy colors if you put darks over lights.

3. Keep your pastels sorted by value and warm and cool colors.

4. Keep a towel on your lap as you work to clean each pastel before you use it. I also keep a wet washcloth or handiwipes close by so that I can keep my hands clean.

SUGGESTED PALLET FOR QUICK SKETCH
Rembrandt
l00.5 white
201.5 light yellow
202.5 deep yellow
231.7 & 231.8 gold ochre
235.5 orange
318.5 & 318.9 carmine
362.9 deep rose
371.5 permanent red deep
408.5 & 408.7 raw umber
409.3 burnt umber
411.5 burnt sienna
506.5 ultramarine blue
512.3 cobalt blue
538.3 mars violet
546.5 & 546.8 red violet light
548.5 & 548.7 blue violet
570.7 & 570.9 phthalo blue
608.9 chrome green lite
620.5 & 620.7 olive green
640.7 & 640.9 bluish green
675.5 phthalo green
700.5 black
727.3 & 727.7 & 727.9 bluish grey

NuPastel
black
cobalt blue
cordivan
white

Conte
light and dark sanguine
white
black

Paper is velour: #6111 Silver Acrylux Board

Learn more with: "How the Head Changes with Age", "Cutting Freehand Silhouettes"