This lesson was inspired by one of my most favorite photographers, Duane Michals. When I was living in Pittsburgh the Carnegie Art Museum had a show of his work, it was amazing. I even got the chance to see him in person, he was eating, otherwise I might have said hello. His work just speaks to me, I don't know why, but it does. I love when he takes a photograph and paints quirky objects or shapes on top of it. For this exercise, instead of taking a photograph and painting on top of it I paint a found mug shot and paint it, then paint shapes on top of it.
I sketched out the portrait using a Lyra pencil, then used black gesso to paint in the darks, then I used titanium white for the lighter values. Once it was Dry I sketched out a few shapes on top of the portrait. I then used the primary colors (plus pink) and painted in the shapes.
Need a Mug Shot? There are a lot on this site and this site. You could also make this a self portrait, if you'd like to use a mug shot of yourself.
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