How I create portraits that are more alive than your photo! Portrait of Antonia 103 years old

I am creating a family heirloom portrait of Antonia who will be turning 104 years old in March.

Here are some really early stages of her portrait. 

The family want her ' warts and all" but I will still fine tune things to bring her to life!
I'm enjoying painting her. 

 Antonia doesn't like being photographed but I went and took 100's of photos  and this is the one the family chose. 

 Her portrait is a 30 x 40cms image size custom framed Oil.

  

 The sketch .  On request I've reduced the size of her nose a little although it's hard to see in the drawing.

A rough under painting in acrylic

 Here she is roughly 60% completed. I will emphasise the important things like her expression and add subtle colours for interest.

Since this photo was taken we are now at the final tweaking stages and I'm enjoying playing and adding subtle colours to give her portrait interest.

I'm also enjoying deciding what I want to emphasise and what things to downplay. This is how I create flattering lifelike portraits.
 

Unlike in a photo where everything has the same emphasis, in her portrait I can make her eyes more important , downplay wrinkles, enhance her expression and generally play around to ensure the best result.
When you look at your loved one or pet you don't see every detail- you hone in on what is important to you - their eyes and expression .
 

I recreate this in the portraits I create for you.

This is why the painted portraits I create are always so much more alive than the photo!

Tag # lifelike portraits # portraits painted #pet portraits