The portrait of my Young Robin Hood is finished and I wanted to share some detail shots of this custom painted child portrait. The oil painting measures only 8x10inches, but I was able to add a lot of details and highlights. Now I get to paint the same portrait again since my client not only wants her painting but another copy for the child's parents as well.
Needless to say, I am thrilled and honored that what started out with the photo below turned into the painting you see now.
Since the painting is rather small, I had to really zoom in to show you the details. I added highlights in the eyes, on the lips and the strands of hair to make the child's head look as lifelike as possible on such a small canvas.
The original photo did not have much detail on the sword, so I added some more to make it more realistic looking.
I did not do much on the shield and kept it rather simple. This was done on purpose as a little artist trick to keep the eye of the viewer focused on the child. Here is how I guide you through this painting, without you really realizing how I make your eyes return to the child.
The visual circle is created first with the tree trunk, the tree base moves the eye towards the shield and the branches in the background lead back up to the trunk. This creates a circle around the little boy. The light clearing in the background and the shield again, are two more stop points, further narrowing the attention towards the child. If I had added tons of detail to the sword, then the eye would ping-pong between the sword and the shield rather than come to rest on the angelic face of this child.
I learned all this from studying and painting old master paintings. It's amazing when you really work on something what hidden information you can discover. To think that we haven't even talked about symbolism.
Well, I need to get back to the easel and start on another painting. If you like to order a similar portrait of your loved one click here...
Here are my latest finished paintings ...
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