Quick answer: The key oil painting techniques for portraits are a toned ground and careful drawing, a monochrome or limited-palette underpainting to fix values, blocking in the big planes of light and shadow, mixing skin tones from a few colors rather than a tube “flesh,” controlling edges (sharp near the eyes, soft at turning forms), and finishing with thicker highlights and thin glazes. Most portraits succeed or fail on proportion and value, so get those right before you refine features.
Portraiture is often considered the most demanding subject in oil painting. A slightly misplaced eye or a shadow that is too dark changes not just the likeness but the age, mood and even identity of the sitter. The good news is that portrait painting is built on a handful of techniques that can be learned and practiced in order.
This guide covers the oil painting techniques for portraits that matter most: preparation, drawing, underpainting, skin tone mixing, building form, painting features, edges and finishing. For a broader foundation in core methods before tackling faces, see our guide to the best oil painting techniques for beginners.
Materials for Portrait Painting
- Surface: smooth primed panel or fine-weave canvas, typically 11×14 to 16×20 inches for a head study.
- Brushes: filberts (sizes 2–10) for most of the work, a few small rounds for features, a soft blending brush (optional), and a larger flat for backgrounds.
- Palette knife for premixing skin tones.
- Mediums: odorless mineral spirits for the underpainting; linseed oil or a painting medium for later layers.
- Mirror for checking the painting in reverse.
- Reference: a live sitter or a photo with clear, single-source light.
Common portrait palettes
| Palette | Colors | Strengths |
|---|---|---|
| Limited “Zorn-style” palette | Titanium or lead white, yellow ochre, cadmium red (or vermilion hue), ivory black | Harmonious, natural skin tones; teaches value control |
| Earth palette | White, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, raw umber, ultramarine | Warm and cool range, easy mixing |
| Extended palette | Above plus cadmium yellow, alizarin crimson, cobalt or cerulean blue, viridian | Wider range for diverse skin tones and vivid backgrounds |
Beginners often benefit from a limited palette because it reduces color decisions and keeps skin tones harmonious.
Technique 1: Toning the Ground
A thin wash of burnt sienna, raw umber or a gray tone, wiped back to a mid-value, removes the glare of white canvas. It also helps you judge skin values, which are almost always darker than they appear on a white surface. A warm ground can peek through in places and add life to skin.
Technique 2: Accurate Drawing and Measurement
Likeness depends mainly on proportion. Useful methods:
- Sight-size: place the canvas next to the sitter and compare them from a fixed viewing distance, transferring measurements directly.
- Comparative measurement: use a brush handle or knitting needle to compare distances, such as eye width to nose length.
- Landmarks: the eyes are usually about halfway down the head; the bottom of the nose about halfway between eyes and chin; the mouth about a third of the way from nose to chin. These are averages; observe each individual.
- Plumb lines: hold a vertical line to see what aligns, such as the inner corner of the eye with the edge of the nostril.
Draw with thinned paint or charcoal (fixed afterward). Keep it simple: head shape, feature placement, hairline and major shadow shapes.
Technique 3: The Monochrome Underpainting
An underpainting establishes values before color complicates matters. Common types:
- Brunaille: brown tones, usually burnt umber with white or by wiping out.
- Grisaille: grays, often black and white.
- Verdaccio: a greenish gray mixture traditionally associated with Renaissance flesh painting; it can make skin tones above look naturally cool in half-tones.
Keep the underpainting lean and thin, with solvent if you use it. Mass in the shadow side of the face as one shape, then the half-tones, and leave the lights as the toned ground or a light value. Let it dry, usually one to two days.
Technique 4: Mixing Skin Tones
There is no single skin color. Every face contains warm and cool areas:
- Forehead: often slightly more yellow because of less blood flow.
- Cheeks, nose and ears: warmer and redder.
- Jaw and chin: can be cooler, sometimes bluish or greenish, especially on men with facial hair.
Premixing strings
Before painting, mix a “string” of skin tones with a palette knife: a light, light-middle, middle, dark-middle and dark value of the base skin color. Then mix a warmer and cooler version of the middle value. This saves time and keeps transitions controlled.
Base mixtures by skin tone
| Skin tone | Starting mixture | Shadows |
|---|---|---|
| Light | White, yellow ochre, a touch of cadmium red | Add raw umber or a little green; cool with ultramarine |
| Medium | Yellow ochre, burnt sienna, white, touch of red | Burnt umber with a little ultramarine |
| Deep | Burnt umber, burnt sienna, alizarin or ultramarine; little white | Umber and ultramarine; highlights often cool |
Avoid adding white alone to lighten skin; it can make skin look chalky. Add a little yellow ochre or a warm color with the white to keep it alive. For deep skin tones, highlights frequently pick up cool reflections from the light source and surroundings.
Technique 5: Blocking In Planes of Light and Shadow
Think of the head as a sculpted form with planes: the front of the forehead, the side planes of the temples, the planes of the cheekbones, the bridge and sides of the nose. Using a filbert, paint these as flat patches of the right value and color before blending. This “planar” approach keeps the head solid.
Begin with the shadow side, painting it fairly thin and transparent. Then lay in half-tones and lights more thickly. Keep the shadow and light families distinct: no light value in the shadows, and no shadow value in the lights.
Technique 6: Painting the Features
Eyes
The eye is a sphere in a socket, partly covered by lids. The upper lid casts a shadow on the eyeball, so the top of the iris is darker. The whites of the eyes are rarely white; they are gray or tinted by the surrounding skin. Add a small, precise highlight consistent with the light source.
Nose
The nose is a wedge with a front plane, side planes and an underside. The underside and nostrils are usually darkest. Use soft edges on the side facing the light and sharper edges at the cast shadow.
Mouth
The upper lip usually faces down and is darker; the lower lip faces up and catches light. The line between the lips is the darkest part, but keep it soft at the corners.
Ears
Ears are often simplified. Paint the overall shape, the inner shadow and a few highlights on the rim.
Technique 7: Edge Control
Edges are one of the most important portrait techniques. Hard edges draw attention; soft edges let forms turn away.
- Hard edges: near the focal point, such as eyelid edges, a cast shadow under the nose, or where the light side meets a dark background.
- Soft edges: where the cheek turns into shadow, the hairline, and the jaw meeting the neck.
- Lost edges: where the shadow side of the face merges into a dark background.
Use a clean, dry brush to soften edges by lightly dragging across them, or paint them softly from the start.
Technique 8: Painting Hair
Paint hair as a mass first, with light and shadow, not as strands. Notice how the hairline is a soft transition into skin. Add a few strands only at the edges and in highlights, using a rigger or small round with slightly oily paint.
Technique 9: Glazing and Finishing
Once the painting is dry, glazes can enrich skin and shadows:
- A thin glaze of a warm transparent color can unify cheeks and lips.
- A transparent dark glaze can deepen background shadows.
- Scumbles of light opaque paint can soften backgrounds or create atmosphere.
Add final highlights thickly, on the brightest points such as the nose bridge, forehead, lower lip and eyes. These thicker passages follow fat over lean.
Technique 10: Painting the Background to Support the Head
The background is not an afterthought; it controls how the head reads. A background slightly darker than the lit side of the face and slightly lighter than the shadow side lets the light edge stand out while the shadow edge melts away. Warm skin generally looks more alive against a cool or neutral background, and the reverse can work for cool-toned sitters. Paint the background early, wet into the edges of the head, so you can adjust both together rather than cutting around a finished face.
Alla Prima vs Layered Portraits
| Approach | Process | Strengths | Challenges |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alla prima | Painted wet-into-wet in one session, often 2–4 hours | Fresh brushwork, spontaneity | Requires decisive mixing and drawing |
| Layered (indirect) | Underpainting, then color layers and glazes over days or weeks | Control, refinement, luminous skin | Time-consuming, drying waits |
Many portrait painters combine both: an underpainting followed by one or two alla prima color sessions.
Lighting the Sitter or Choosing a Photo
Single-source, directional light creates clear shadow shapes that are easier to paint. A light placed above and to one side of the sitter, often at about 45 degrees, is a classic setup. Avoid flat, frontal lighting or harsh overhead lighting, which flatten features. If you work from photos, choose images with natural light, minimal lens distortion (taken from a distance, not close-up with a wide-angle phone lens) and visible shadow shapes.
Common Mistakes in Portrait Painting
Skin tones too pink or too orange
Overuse of red or a tube “flesh” color. Introduce cooler and more neutral tones, especially in half-tones and shadows.
Shadows painted too light
Many beginners lighten shadows to show detail. Keep shadows grouped and darker, with less detail.
Features painted as symbols
Outlining eyes and lips produces cartoon-like results. Paint shapes of value instead.
Too much blending
Over-blending gives a plastic look. Keep some brushwork visible and blend only where forms turn gradually.
Ignoring the neck and background
These anchor the head. Paint them early and relate them to the face.
Checking Your Progress Mid-Painting
Fresh eyes catch errors that hours of staring miss. Look at the painting in a mirror to flip it, which instantly reveals tilted features and lopsided proportions. Step back several feet, or take a quick photo and view it small or in grayscale to check values. Compare the darkest dark and lightest light in the painting with the sitter. These checks take a minute and often prevent an hour of rework.
Practice Plan for Portrait Techniques
- Paint five value studies of heads in burnt umber and white, 30–60 minutes each.
- Paint features separately: an eye, a nose, a mouth, an ear.
- Try a limited palette head study.
- Paint a full portrait with underpainting and two color sessions.
- Copy a portrait you admire to study its edges and colors.
FAQs
What is the best oil painting technique for portraits?
There is no single best technique. Many painters use a monochrome underpainting followed by direct painting and glazing, while others paint alla prima. Value and drawing accuracy matter more than method.
What colors do you need to paint skin in oil?
A limited palette of white, yellow ochre, a red and a dark such as black or burnt umber can create a wide range of skin tones. Many painters add burnt sienna and ultramarine.
How do you blend skin tones in oil painting?
Premix values, lay them side by side and soften the transitions with a clean brush. Avoid overblending; leave some brushwork to keep skin lively.
Should beginners use a limited palette for portraits?
Yes, a limited palette simplifies mixing, keeps skin tones harmonious and makes value control easier.
How long does an oil portrait take?
An alla prima head study may take two to four hours. A layered portrait often takes several sessions over days or weeks, depending on detail and drying times.
What brushes are best for oil portraits?
Filberts in several sizes handle most of the work. Add small rounds for features and a soft brush for blending edges.
Final Thoughts
Portrait painting rewards patience and order: tone the ground, draw accurately, underpaint values, premix skin tones, block in planes, paint features as shapes, manage edges, and finish with highlights and glazes. Practicing each technique separately makes the full portrait far less intimidating.
If you want to strengthen fundamentals first, our guide to essential oil painting techniques every beginner should learn covers underpainting, blending, glazing and other core methods in more depth.
