Top tips for self-portraits

Start with some sketches from life and take reference photographs to help you think about some of the basic compositional parameters, such as scale, position of the figure, mood.

Work with a neutral ground. If your canvas isn’t linen then add an initial wash of a neutral colour to avoid a white canvas that can be distracting when assessing tonal values.

When beginning your painting, squint to try and find the large tonal (light/dark) blocks. You could even do some preparatory tonal studies using just black, white and a mid-grey. This will help you to simplify the structure of light. Once you reach the end of the painting, even though you will have developed more detail, your work should stay true to these simplified planes. Take a photo of your painting on your phone and check the thumbnail image to see if the light looks convincing from a distance.

Pay attention to shapes, particularly the bone structure, rather than features initially. This will help you map across a painting to get proportions right, which in turn will lead to a better likeness.

Think about restricting your palette. This will help you simplify your colour choices and help your painting achieve harmony.