The Art Of Portraiture, Stephen Bauman – Book Review

So here’s the last of my four arty birthday books. I’ve saved this one to the end because there’s something about it that suggests it’s going to be the best of the four. It’s a 232 page paperback and there’s something about it that gives it a huge gravitas that kind of frightens me before I start reading it. It’s about 10.5 inches by 9, not the tallest book and not the squarest but there’s something about those dimensions and the thickness of it that makes me feel inferior. And there are the non-glossy pages, the huge black and white photos, some of them spanning two pages and carrying the title of the next chapter. I know it sounds weird but there’s something scary about how this book is put together. It must be deliberate; I think it’s genius.

Looking at the contents page, we have 30 pages of introductions and scene setting, 110 pages of foundations, 60 pages of practice, 20 pages of process and 15 pages of gallery, glossary and index. Each chapter is divided into a number of subchapters and each subchapter into lots of 2-5 page nibbles for those that like a deep dive contents page. The book is focused on drawing with pencil but there’s a lot here that’s applicable to other media, especially as my portraits in any medium currently start with a pencil outline. Let’s go through all the chapters separately.

We start with a foreword, a preface and then a chapter on vision. The vision chapter is divided into two subchapters on why we draw portraits and the best way to learn new skills. So thirty pages of waffle really. And when that doesn’t include anything about materials, it’s some achievement to spread it all out that long. But I’m not feeling angry. I’m feeling patient and respectful and looking forward to what the esteemed author has to say. Like I say, this book has gravitas.

Then we get to a huge, meaty chapter in foundations, made up of five mini chapters:

• We start with a mini chapter on value, light and shadow. This covers all the important stuff that I read about in the Anthony Ryder book, maybe not quite as well, although I’m still hooked by the gravitas.
• Then it’s organization and simplification. All about simplifying (two or three dimensional) shapes and values and thinking about which edges should be hard or soft. I learned something here: I’m guilty of undersimplifying in some places and oversimplifying in others.
• Then there’s a short subchapter on visual memory. You might wonder why this is relevant for a portrait painter but stuff has to sit in the artist’s memory between observing the subject and putting pencil to paper. So there’s stuff here about how to take measurements as well as how to practice visual memory.
• Then we get to a huge 45 page subchapter on anatomy. All the bones and muscles in the face are named and some bits are covered in a huge amount of detail, with different bits of single bones all getting their own names. Every crease, dimple, highlight or shadow on the face is there for a reason and the reason can be found in this chapter. Unfortunately it’s a very encyclopaedic chapter and not especially readable. I’d recommend that the reader follow up this chapter by taking a look at Stephen’s YouTube channel and, in particular, at the four videos that he’s created on how to draw the eyes, ears, nose and lips. These really bring home what a knowledge of anatomy can do for your portrait painting, showing off all sorts of highlights and shadows and referencing them back to bones and muscles. And the videos are nowhere near as scary as the book.
• And we finish this chapter with a subchapter on composition. How the pose, the range of values used, the sharpness of edges and the values in the background can affect the mood of the portrait. Interesting stuff.

The next chapter is called practice but feels to me like it includes the actual drawing process:

• We start with a subchapter on getting started. There’s a bit about materials and studio setup, and then some practice exercises on getting even tones, drawing spheres, simplified block-ins and drawing from memory.
• That’s as far as practice goes, really. We then get three subchapters, each with a 4-6 step demo of a portrait, but with four different approaches. This was my favourite bit of the book. The first (the visual block-in) starts with an envelope of straight lines (as per Anthony Ryder) that are then filled with shades in chiaroscuro style and gradually refined into a portrait. The second (the structured block-in) feels more traditional, starting with a simplified, three-dimensional head block that is gradually refined by introducing smaller 3D shapes and then shaded in using all the shadow theory from earlier chapters. The third was most similar to my current approach and the one most suited to working with a grid. It starts with abstract, two-dimensional shadow shapes and works forward from there. It felt similar to the first approach but I think the difference between the two is than one starts from lines that delineate edges and planes and the other starts from shadow shapes and ignores the existence of planes and edges. Most of the difference is probably mindset.

Then there’s the chapter on process. It’s quite short, with no subchapters. Most of it is just reiteration of lessons from the rest of the book but there’s also some psychological stuff in there about how to deal with all the messages that your brain is giving you during or after the portrait. And then, after a mercifully short gallery, we have a glossary and index and that’s us done.

An interesting book. Most of what I learned was in the three demos in the practice chapter. These detailed demos included a lot of tips and, while presenting me with two alternative methodologies, also validated my existing methodology. The section on anatomy is a useful reference if I’m ever doing a portrait, see a shadow or highlight in the subject and wonder whether I should include it in the portrait. If there’s a good anatomical reason for it, then I can include it. There was also some stuff on simplification that I really need to take on board, but not much new for me to learn about values. But the weird, grandiose nature of the book will hopefully push those lessons through hard. The book is like one of those speakers who can talk slowly and leave long gaps without worrying that someone is going to interrupt them. I’ll stop there. I appreciate that this is one of my weirder reviews. This book is worth it just for the four demos and the section on anatomy. But I wouldn’t make it my first book on portraits (I’d go for Betty Edwards, then Bill Maughan, followed by The Chad if painting in watercolour) but this is a fine follow up. It scores four palettes.

🎨🎨🎨🎨

You can find this book and more reviews of it at Amazon UK, here. As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases but this costs absolutely nothing extra to you.

And do check Stephen out on YouTube.