Hazel Soan’s top 5 tips for painting people and portraits

Hazel Soan is a popular artist who divides her time between London and Cape Town, exhibiting her work widely. She was one of the art experts in the popular Channel 4 TV series ‘Watercolour Challenge’, and also shares her expertise in her many books and instructional DVDs. Her new book, Painting People and Portraits, explores a hugely popular area that many of us wish we were better at.

Hazel explains: ‘Painting people is fun, challenging and worthwhile. The subject resonates with all of us – it is familiar, yet always new, allowing a natural and proper fascination with contours, lines, shapes, tones and colours explored through friends, family and strangers. Our associations with people imbue paintings with meaning by default, and although painting people can be daunting, this justifiably popular subject will thrill you once you get involved.’
 

Hazel Soan’s top 5 tips:

1. Don’t let embarrassment or fear stop you from painting people, it doesn’t matter if they go wrong, it really doesn’t!

2. Take advantage of waiting times to sketch faces and figures with a pencil in airports, stations, queues etc.

3. Don’t paint heads too big or too round, heads are oval and fit into the adult body c. 7-8. times.

4. To create a balanced pose, drop an imaginary plumbline down from the neck, the ankle of the foot taking the weight will be directly below the nape of the neck.

5. To suggest small lively figures in a wider scene let your brush dance around to create lively limbs and poses: an oval dab above a squiffy rectangular shape with two wobbly legs below will look more like a person than if you try to paint a person!