Steps to a Likeness: Oil Portraits 

As an old retired lady who has never drawn or painted since infant school, and needs to just get on and learn fast... this was perfect for me. Learned all I needed in 10 minutes and spent a funny, very enjoyable hour using my husband as a live model. After a couple of attempts my hubby had all his facial bits in the right place and in the right proportions. Thank you so much.

I just have to say, there are people who are born to teach who are worth their weight in gold, and this instructor has that gift for sure. Amazing!!

One of the best teaching videos I have ever seen! Great pieces of advise to all levels of artists!

Thank you Perri for helping us see how important measuring is whether we use tools or it comes naturally to us.

I thought it was very helpful. I especially liked the part about resting your hand on the easel for measuring & being able to use either hand.

Close to some of the art training tips I learned in high school and art school; the eye is good unit for measuring various features on the frontal view of a human face. Example: the height of the eye is used for determining the width of the nostrils, the area between the bottom of the nose and the top of the upper lip of the mouth, the width between the eyes, the width from the outer corner of each eye to the side of the head ( generally resulting in the width of the head, at its widest point, being about five eye-width units wide ). It is usually one eye unit from the corners of the mouth to the outer edge of the jaw, and one eye unit high from the bottom of the lower lip to the bottom edge of the chin.

Thank you so much...these measurements are critical to getting the best rendition of the person's face, always a problem for me when I'm working on a portrait. Love your video. Peace

Good, no nonsense approach. It works. Practice is everything

Wow, I thought this video was really informative! She was giving some really good, practical instructions that seem so obvious but do need pointing out sometimes. Thank you for sharing. :)

This is absolute gold!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

This was great I learned a lot thank you for this sample!

Great video, excellent teacher, wish it was longer!

Lady, reading all the comments, I realized that the bigger the ignorance reing in a heart, the ungrateful people are more stupids!...I BLESS YOU, FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, because in this audiovisual tape, you finish to polished what I had not understand of proportions and features of faces individual differences; in my 65 years old, maybe painting is my last dream I got since I was a little girl...GOD BLESS YOU, FOR HELPING ME TO ACHIEVE IT!

Thankyou for making this video-its clear and direct. Perfect for those of us who want to learn!!

make your own calipers by cutting 2 pieces of cardbord and connecting them with a sharp pin like the hands of a clock. attach some kneeded eraser so it doesn't poke your finger on the other side

This is quite elaborate. Taught me a few interesting things! Thanks a lot!

she is an amazing teacher and I see what I have been trying to learn how to draw a face of someone. she is a born teacher.

From egypt, Please come back to make more videos because I have benefited a lot from you💕💕💕

absolutely one of the best over the internet that i've ever seen.

Anyone under your tutelage, his no choice but to be a great artist. I wish I could train under you for a year. God bless! 🙏🏾

thank you for this video...after watching countless videos that show how to proportionate on paper..yours is the only one actually showing how you get the proportions in the first place.

Always learning an easier method for portraiture. Enjoy your presentation and will try it right away.

Absorbing upload . Excellent stuff .

You make some great points about measuring

Fantastic information, very useful stuff !

I find your measuring techniques very interesting and useful. I have never before used your methods in all my years as a portraitist. I'd been doing portraits on and off for 30 years. Thanks for your measuring methods. In doing portraits, most artists start with the eyes, whereas I start with a sitter' nose - the most central feature. From the center, I work outwards and quickly. It's easier that way. That was the method once taught to Victorian artists in art schools.

I needed this info. Thank you!

The model is beautiful!

I love your reply so much. Made my day.

Awesome Info. Thanks so much for this!

Wow this is GOLD!

Your English is very good and understandable. Thank you for your patience. All the best. :)

A Gold standard video !

Gracias Maestra. Excelente información.

Muchas gracias por el aporte!!! Genial!!!

YOU finished to quick!!! I love this girl...the teacher that is..

Damn, everything she said is SO useful!

Thanks, this was very helpful!

Thanks you for sharing! Really helpful :)

If you're looking for the tool she is using to measure: they are called proportional dividers or scale dividers. She calls them calipers.

Excellent teaching...thank you

Love your work

beautiful way to learn

Awesome teacher

Drawing a portrait isn't all about measuring :-p sure it's vital to understand the relationship between the features but once this has been established it's important just to sketch and feel the lines of the face for yourself. Drawing portraits is just as much about expression as it is about the perception of reality, however, that being said I still find it useful after years of practise to come back and re-explore the basics of portrait drawing. This video was very helpful! Thank you

Excellent tips

thanks for sharing such imp points

love this self control, well done

great lesson, very helpful to me.

Thank you very much to share your art I hope you keep making videos Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank very much :-) God bless, from Indonesia :-)

This video sooo helped me in painting👌

Perfect thank you!

Thanks for the tips

Very informative.

Great teacher 🙏

This so much better than all of those artists who do time lapse instructional videos. I could be wrong,but it seems like, while off camera, they just trace from a photo, leaving very light lines. The video they do show seems like they're just darkening the lines they traced.

very useful lesson, thanks

Very helpful, Thanks

Thankyou for that tip on resting hand on easel !!

wonderful

great lesson

Very informative!

It is really very useful

great stuff

thx for the helpful tipps!

Yes, I feel like that too. But then, you know, when I just give it a go my own way, most of the time the results are just way under my expectation. I think that's because I don't have a solid basic knowledge and only limited experience. It's a very structured way of traditional approach toward realism in portraiture and is useful for beginners. I think if you be patient and practice it long enough, it'll get easier and later on you'd have good sensibility to just go intuitively with good result.

I’ve gotta get one of those clips.

True. I agree in general with your comment. It is always when there is so much information to take on, which is usually the case when beginning something new, that one feels overwhelmed. Thank you for the comment. :)

I understand that- I've been drawing portraits for a while and first I picked up likenesses more naturally. In art school however you will be taught to measure and techniques for precision. But just because you use this exactness once doesn't mean you always have to use it. The point of it is to teach you things you would never otherwise discover. It is worth doing AT LEAST once. Then you can always go back to trying to capture a fleeting gesture or a perfect smile- but better! Good luck :)

Useful indeed, good habits of keeping distance with the subject. Great.

Thank you

I went to art collage for year never learnt this, in fact never learnt anything.

I have trouble with faces. this is great!

Thanks for your comment. Yes, you are probably right. For me, all this measuring is quite tedious. It made me realize how much more there is to learn. Once again thanks for replying - especially in English. It is not always easy to communicate in another language. :)

I 've bought this capila or this proportion thing but it's impossible to fix it in one size so it changes the size it's not usefull. Better is to look at the model or use the pencil and thumbs... .

Pelajaran yang sangat bermanfaat..

The wonderful thing about this technique, if you want to call it that, is something you can do without even using any kind of tools when it's practiced enough. You can do it just by looking at the paper and getting some fairly accurate measurements without even trying.

@DistressSignal there was one thing that i was taught in life-drawing that i find very helpful and it was to draw vertical lines, first by starting from a certain point then moving outwards either side of the original line. I'd say measuring does help to an extent if kept to a minimum, however measuring every detail i personally find unnecessary

the instructor is a babe! the hair, the skin and bone structure - someone should paint her.

Nice.. Tnx for uploading

I remember some of this from school.

RU-vid is so great, where else would you get this kind of information other that goin live lessons :) love it x

Try using the other end of your measuring device! :D

wonderfull!!!

1:21 Delilah: "Are you saying I got weird facial proportions??"

I have 20 ! Too lovely to use !

muy bien las clases de arte excelente tambien me dedico al arte, seria bueno en español muchas gracias

EXCELLENT

All the measurements are required only if you want to get likeness of what is in you sight. But it is a free world!

very helpful

Thank you. 👍🏻

Grazie!!

I don't do sight size drawing like the presenter, but I was taught, in every drawing and figure drawing class I've ever had (and I've got a Masters Degree) to use the structural method based on the Canon of Human Proportions as put forth by anybody from Vitrius to Da Vinci to Walter Foster. It is and always has been standard academic training.

@cutthegames You are absolutely correct. Her method is valid, but other artists might do it with different tools, or even out of their heads. And, since she's explaining the technique in detail, it comes out more complex looking than it might be for her when she's actually painting.

Now you have made a case wherein I can agree with parts. People will always measure. The overall piece has to work even if the measuring is off: a la Ingres. But Ingres knew he was "breaking" the rules and "mis-measuring" for the sake of the overall composition. That has nothing to do with "feeling" and everything to do with good composition. I'm glad you have come around to a rational explanation rather than just blaming the "system" used. Gotta go paint. It's been fun.

My analogies are proper for the original argument, which wasn't about being a professional, but about learn and gain proficiency doing a task; In this case how to draw likeness. This is one way to do it, and it requires additional tools, a live model, and is very mechanical. If an artist is talented enough likeness can be achieved with only a pencil, paper and practice. It may or may not take longer, but it's definately doable.

Very good 👌👌👌👌👌👌

Nice going Perri, your head has to be in the same place always. The brake in the mouth is also the teeth line when they smile.

Hello, love the tutorial very personable and accurate but can I ask where I can buy the calipers thank you, Joseph