Water colour techniques for painting children
Children make fascinating subjects to paint. Their quirky poses and delicate colouring present a different challenge to the usual sitters. Alas, they’re not as content to sit still and the portrait artist has to be able to capture their likeness as rapidly as possible. However, this makes them and an ideal subject for water colour painting.
The fluent nature of water colour and their power to show delicate colouring make them good for portraits of young people. Two words you need to remember when starting a portrait are “speed” and “simplicity”. Don’t get too absorbed up in being accurate, a light sketchy way will be sufficient to get the freshness of youth.
Young skin tends to reflect a lot of light with fewer large shadow areas of the older sitter. Limit yourself to a palette that includes just a few light and fresh colours. Ensure you use a clean damp brush when lifting out colour for highlights, this will stop your colours getting muddy. Ultramarine is a good pigment for shadow areas, use delicately as it’s strong but luminous, so will allow the white of the paper to come through.
Acquiring a good pose is the mainstay for a portrait, a stiff subconscious pose will look stiff on paper as well. If you’re familiar with your sitter try using gestures or expressions that are specific to them, it’s an splendid way of showing a sitters personality. Providing entertainment will relax your sitter and keep them quiet for longer. A teenager may be happy with music, younger children are very happy to sit in front of their favourite show on TV. At the same time you’ll find their faces are constantly moving allowing you to capture the expressiveness. Let them pause once in a while, a teenager should have a rest every 20 minutes, a younger child more often, to make sure they don’t get too fed up with the process.
Before you begin, work out your lighting and make pencil sketches whist chatting to your subject to both relax them and find out about their hobbies and personality.