All my life I had only used pencil and was comfortable with that. I was reticent about getting into color. It seemed daunting because of all the considerations that came with color that I never had to think about with pencil. And I’ve always loved drawing faces. So I decided to take a portrait painting class at a local community college. And the rest, as they say, is history. My first portrait was, to say the least, not especially impressive, but it was my first attempt at using new media (oil) and with it, different techniques from any I had used before. Although I had two university degrees in art, those curricula hadn’t ever encompassed a portrait painting class. And then once I learned how to combine colors in oil, I saw the luminous effects oil could give, which is especially important in a portrait. You want to portray the luminosity of the skin, the shine of the eyes, the sheen of the hair, the glint of the teeth. These were things I could only go so far in conveying with pencil alone.
However, those years I had spent in pencil were not by any means wasted. It was only through all of that training that my drawing skills were up to par so I could focus all my attention on learning the ins and outs, the peculiarities and joys of a color medium. If I had had subpar drawing skills, I would have ended up with wholly unimpressive portraits and never known if it was drawing skills or learning a new medium that was responsible. Always get your drawing skills under your belt first!
