That portrait demo website was really useful (and I generally abhor demos like that — but that one was quite useful with clearly defined steps).

Haven’t decided how I’ll tackle it just yet — but you gave me some good ideas to point me in the right direction.

Thanks again..

I can suggest two things. First, it’s a matter of careful observation. What color is a particular patch of shadow, and how does that color relate to other colors near it? Some shadows really are quite warm. For example, a shadow area that is receiving a lot of reflected light from another part of the body can be quite an intense red under some lighting conditions. Optimally, you would be able to do this from life, because photos can distort color quite a bit.

Second, look at how painters have solved this problem in the past. Here’s an example. Often, when you look at shadows on a very well painted figure, they appear to be quite cool in comparison to the lights. When you look more closely, you may notice that the shadows are of a similar hue to the lights, but lower in chroma. The shadows are actually still “warm,” but painted with darker, less intense colors. William Bouguereau was really great at doing that convincingly.

In terms of a cool underpainting, give it a try and see. There is no need to obliterate the lights with opaque paint. Instead, you can glaze over them and create tonalities with optical mixing. With a bit of practice, this can work quite well. Check out the web site of Scott Bartner, a portrait artist. He has a demonstration of multi-layer painting that is first rate.

I have a portrait of my daughter all sketched out and ready to paint from a photo taken on a warm sunny day. Her face is pink, the reflected light in the shadows looks warm red. I know from experience if I paint it the way I think it looks the shadows will be way too hot.

It seems ridiculous to me to paint a cool grisaille — the whole light side will just have to be opaquely painted over. Yet painting a pink underpainting with green shadow boundaries seems absurd to me (although that is what I’m leaning at for the moment). Or would it better to just try and capture a midtone and lean it cool and warm as necessary for the underpainting?

Any advice pointing me in the right direction would be great.

Your website is awesome by the way — I have learned a ton from it.

If you are interested in realist art, I’m sure you’ll find “Light for the Artist” useful. I have not heard anything about a new book. He is very old, although still painting and teaching. I was able to attend a lecture he gave last year.