Mixed Media Portraits; Pam Carriker

Good Book Report :). Oh finally! An accessible book on creating realistic portrait. Pam's book is a great brush up for me with most of the classic techniques I learned in my academic art school. I know that I'll refer to it often. It's much more engaging than my other portrait/figure books and brings these techniques successfully into the mixed media world.

These techniques for looking at the face and breaking down the features are time honored. This is how artists have been trained for centuries and we have to give a round of applause to Pam for bringing it to the mixed media world. An intenses portrait class in a book, Pam includes projects in 3D (3D helps your 2D), subtractive techniques, monochrome and neutral color mixing. 

After art school, I did portraits for a few years. It was a VERY long time ago :) I loved taking the time to look at my face and see the tracks of time marching across. 

This is the book for you if you'd like to draw realistic faces. Pam breaks it down so that it's not overwhelming. It makes perfect sense. As a student, I was taught to break down the face and figure using blocks. One teacher eventually taught us using circles and either of these techniques work well. 

Listen: I've always thought that the tools of art: drawing, color mixing, composition, etc. are learnable by anyone. I had a drawing block for years after art school. But there is no need for that. Here are the tools to take it on. If you have the tools, it's so much easier to communicate.

Disclaimer #1: Pam asked me to review this book and I agreed (because it was already on my list of books to read and review. See Disclaimer #2)

Disclaimer #2: I'm so happy to see alternatives to drawing cartoon, cute, beautiful GIRLS. While there is nothing wrong with those faces, I've always loved the real live human face. My art training included a ton of model drawing. We had models of every age, weight, race and body type. It was a wonderful experience. I had to find the beauty.

I heartily endorse this book and look forward to working with it more. Thank you Pam :)

Comments

[Jill]

I'll have to check this book out. Thanks for the tip, Diana. I've been wanting to brush up on my face techniques as well so I can focus on more detailed pieces.

[jan]

I Like that Pam is teaching how to create "real" faces but at the same time they can be stylized and "our own" They don't have to be 100% real all the time! I like the feeling of playing.

[Diana Trout]

I agree Jan. What is the point of a rule if you never break it :)

[Diana Trout]

I keep dipping into it, Jill. I’m super rusty so it’s been very helpful!