Portrait of Nicolaas Rockox

approach — 8 steps

color palette

primary · ivory black · raw umber · burnt sienna · titanium white

secondary · yellow ochre · cadmium red light · ultramarine blue

Mix skin tones by blending white, burnt sienna, raw umber, and small amounts of red and yellow. Use ultramarine blue and ivory black to create the dark tones for the background and clothing. The ruff is primarily white with subtle grey shadows, achieved by mixing white with small amounts of black and blue.

techniques

• ·portrait painting
• ·glazing
• ·scumbling
• ·chiaroscuro
• ·portrait sketching

common pitfalls

• →Getting the proportions of the face wrong.
• →Overworking the skin tones and losing the subtle gradations.
• →Failing to capture the texture of the ruff.
• →Making the background too distracting.