Portrait painter
Oil portraits painted from life, and how to paint your own
I’m Tomasz. I paint portraits in oil from life, and I sell a palette guide, study sheets and prints, plus two video courses on painting faces.
Blog
Latest posts
Session four of the elderly woman’s portrait
I put in the middle tones of her face today and left the darks for next week. Here is what I did in the two hours she sat.
Setting up the chair and the light
Where I put the sitter, where I put the easel and why I wait for the winter light before I start.
Mixing skin tones with a palette knife
Three piles of paint on a sheet of glass, and how I mix a warm, a cool and a shadow tone from them.
Quick face studies in my sketchbook
Ten-minute drawings of faces before I paint, and how they show me where the portrait will go wrong.
Digital downloads
Downloads
Download as soon as you pay. Yours to keep.
Online course
My course
Video course · 8 lessons
Paint Your First Oil Portrait
From a blank canvas to a finished head in oil, one sitting at a time.
- What you need to start
- Setting up a sitter and the light
- Drawing the head on the canvas
- Blocking in the shadows
- Mixing skin tones
- Eyes, nose and mouth
- Hair and beard
- Finishing and varnish
Newsletter
The Sitting Letter
A short letter every Saturday: one painting session, one tip and one thing to try at your own easel.
About
Hello, I’m Tomasz
I paint portraits in oil, with the sitter in a chair and me at the easel, in a tall room with a big window. A portrait takes me four or five sittings, and I start every one by looking at the face for a long time before I touch the paint. I began with a sketchbook and a few tubes of colour, and I still draw a face before I paint it.
Every week I post about a painting session: what I did, what went wrong and what I would do again. What I sell is the part you can use: a palette guide, a proportions sheet, sketchbook study pages, printable prints of my portraits, a starter bundle and two video courses, one on painting your first portrait and one on skin tones. I do not take commissions. I teach you to paint your own.