Workshop: Paint a fantasy portrait with oils
Explore Eeva Nikunen ’s creative process as she paints a portrait in oils, and learn how you can add atmosphere and glow to your fantasy work
Eeva Nikunen takes you through her creative process and shows how you can add atmosphere and glow to your fantasy work.
The beauty and technical skill of the Old Masters has long fascinated me. The use of lighting and composition in Renaissance era artworks, and the elegant portrait paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has always been inspirational. It’s helped me bring some of that luscious use of colour and refined brush work into my own art. And for the past few years I’ve been practising my skills with oil paints, and it has quickly become my favourite medium to work in.
For many years, graphite pencils were my primary medium; I was a little intimidated by oil paints. I tried all other colour mediums, including acrylic paints, coloured pencils, watercolours and even digital painting before I had the courage to finally try my hand at oil painting.
learning from the masters
To get started, I took a few oil painting classes here in Finland, taught by local museum and gallery artist Emmi Mustonen. I learned a lot about traditional oil painting techniques at her Old Masters oil painting workshops. After learning the basics, I was able to implement some of these traditional techniques into my own art. The more you paint with oils, the more you discover how much there is still to be learned.
In this workshop, I’ll demonstrate how I create an oil painting from start to finish. My technique consists of working in layers, and in this workshop you’ll see my painting go through many different phases.
Oil painting requires a lot of patience. It’s a very slow, but also forgiving medium. When I first started experimenting with oils, one of the hardest things for me to grasp was getting comfortable with the ugly and awkward stages, and waiting for the paint layers to dry. But I’ve learned to enjoy the process, and to trust that by the end, the painting will eventually start matching the vision I had for it in the beginning.
Working with oils is a constant learning process. I’ve discovered that using different transparencies of white paint enables me to paint the illusion of mist and glow. This gives my paintings a magical atmosphere.
I hope that this workshop will inspire you to find what techniques work best for you.
Eeva’s work is inspired by the stories and imagery of Finnish and Russian folktales, as well as the heroes and heroines found in classic literature. You can see more of her work at www.eevanikunen.com.
1 Sketching the idea
I begin my painting by drawing a sketch on toned sketchbook paper. This sketch will work as a guide throughout my painting process; however, I’m always open to the possibilities of making changes along the way. Oil paint is a forgiving medium, and if something doesn’t look right, you can always paint over it.
2 Transferring the sketch
I print out a photocopy of my sketch, and I’m now ready to transfer the sketch onto the painting surface by using white transfer paper. I prefer to paint on a toned surface, and that’s why I’ve covered my painting surface with an even layer of Raw umber paint.
3 Tracing the sketch
I place the piece of transfer paper in between the painting surface and my sketch, and then trace the lines of my drawing with a pencil. The traced lines now appear on my painting surface. The transfer lines will work as a guide for me when I start the underpainting process.
4 Painting the underpainting
I start painting by using only Titanium white and Raw umber paint. My main focus at this stage is to cover all the lines left from the white transfer paper, and paint all the main elements of my image on to the painting surface. I’m not too worried about detail at this point, because I can keep rendering each part of the painting when I’m adding the colour layers.
5 Introducing colour
I start to add the first layers of colour. I use my underpainting layer as a guide as I mix various tones of dark and lighter shades of colours on my palette. The first colour layer often looks a bit odd. But I know that once I apply more layers and colour tones, the painting will eventually start coming together.
6 Making adjustments
I decide that the way I’ve painted the nightgown in my underpainting wasn’t working, so I paint a new colour layer on top of the previous one to hide the mistakes I made earlier on. I also use a piece of sandpaper to scrape away some of the earlier layers that I had painted.
7 Adding stars and sparkle
Now I add stars to my night-time scene by using a wide coarse brush that’s been dipped into Titanium white paint mixed with a lot of painting medium. I simply flick the paint off the brush using my finger. This is a great technique for adding stars and sparkle, or even flakes of falling snow, to a painting.
8 Applying glazes to bring depth to the scene
I wait 24 hours for the white paint to dry, and then apply a glaze of Ultramarine blue over the white dots. I repeat this process many times during the painting process using different colours of glazes. I’ve found that using this layering technique enables me to create a lot of depth within the painting.
9 White paint creates a glow
To establish the illusion of glowing elements, I paint thin layers of translucent white paint to the background. I apply zinc white paint on the edges of the crescent moon to create an illusion that it’s glowing. I use three different whites in this painting: Titanium white for highlights, Zinc white for transparent layers and Translucent white to create mist.
10 Bringing in detail and use of reference
During this step I paint more detail into the nightdress by using transparent Zinc white paint. When I paint historical clothing, I refer to paintings by portrait artists from the 18th century. They were masters at painting fabrics. Whenever I arrive at a stage of the painting where I need some more inspiration, I flip through my favourite art books for ideas.
11 Snowflakes and glowing stars
I depict glowing stars by painting the centre with a dot of Titanium white and adding a circle around the dot with transparent Zinc white. I also paint tiny snowflakes with Titanium white paint. Once the dots and snowflakes have dried, I can add thin glazes of different colours on top of them.
12 Generating atmosphere
I want this painting to convey the feeling that the character is standing outside on a mild winter’s night. I add moving leaves and snowflakes around the character to create the illusion of a gentle breeze. I also paint the character’s hair in motion to emphasise that she’s affected by the prevailing weather
13 Painting patterns on to fabric
I paint flower and leaf patterns on to the cloak using a tiny brush. I pay attention to the folds of the fabric and try to imagine where the pattern would be visible, then paint the flowers and leaves accordingly. Looking at reference images of painted or real fabric also helps during this stage.
14 Final glazes create a bluish tone
To give the illusion that the pattern is part of the fabric, I paint dark and light glazes on top of the pattern. The most common paint mixture I use for shadows is a mix of Ultramarine blue and Raw umber paint. This mixture creates a wonderful bluish tone that’s perfect for any areas that are in shadow.
15 Varnishing the painting
When the oil paint layers dry, they lose some of their original glow. Adding a final coat of varnish will bring the shine and depth back to the painting. I apply two coats of gloss varnish with Gamvar. Each layer of varnish need to dry for at least 24 hours after application. And then I call the painting finished.