DimpleChildren portraits differ from adult portraits in detail. Childrens’ faces are simpler and have softer edges. This young one is 10 years old. He sat for me after finishing up his math diagnostic test. Inbetween washing my brush out in the water, he snuck in his cookie snack. He worried that his mouth would betray the crumbs. I wasn’t looking at his mouth; I was looking at his dimple.
The dimple was the last stroke on this paper. I laid in raw sienna as a base color, some very washed out cadmium red for his left cheek and when that dried, a rectangular dab of Winsor Violet, Winsor Green and the other facial colors on my palette. These are tiny tiny drops of paint. Any more color loaded would have been far too harsh for this child’s sweet face.
The black in his hair and eyes is not palette black; it is a combination of Winsor Violet and Paynes Grey with a dab of Indian Red. I’m not afraid to use black itself but on a child’s face, it’s often too heavy. I was extremely cautious about any of the shadows because it could easily look like a 5 o’clock stubble. I doubt his mother is ready for him having to shave.
Some places on a face are almost always reddish: the ears, the mouth and the nostrils. The ears are reddish because they are thin skinned cartilage formations that blood rages through. Ears bleed profusely and quickly. (Do not ask Vincent Van Gogh about this.) This is the best time to plunk in some Cadmium Red.
The lips on most people are pinkish or reddish. To be extremely gross, lips are the extensions of our inner mouth coming out. The top lip usually is darker because the ceiling light shows downward.
Nostrils are the word that you can get third graders to snicker at. Not every hole in the human body elicits this reaction. No one giggles at ‘ears’. But say, “nostrils” and the kids cackle away. The nostril, like the ear, is a hole surrounded by skin near more cartilage. Traditionally, the nostril is treated like a black spot on the face. And if you paint it black, you’ll be looking at the nostril for the entire time. It’ll look more like a mole and than a hole. And in young human psychology, a mole is even more interesting than a nostril hole. However, if you soften that black into a reddish blend, it still translates as being a nostril… or two.
The most important element of doing children’s portraits live is working at loving them up. And to love them up, work in lighter washes. And work them quickly. There are cookies to be eaten.