Here is a step-by-step oil painting progression. 
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1) After pencil sketching on a 9x12 canvas panel, I start with the focal point. For this painting the focus is the head and shoulders.

2) I paint the shapes of dark and light. Looking only at shapes right now and not at all interested in detail.

It's all about choices!  Decisions have to be made constantly throughout a painting.

3) At this point I have put in a dark background to show the highlights. I chose to go dark with the background, but I could have gone light.

4) Within the tulle of her skirt, dark shapes have to go first to add the structure or foundation. Then mid tone shapes are added followed by light highlights and detail. The final focal is the emphasis of light shining on her legs and tulle skirt. So those shapes are strengthened.

​I hope you enjoyed this progression.

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It is common to be too tight and focused on details EARLY ON.

​Ironically being LOOSE in the beginning will actually improve the final details in your drawing. 

​You do not have to dread the blank sheet of paper in front of you. Here are some ways to help you relax and enjoy drawing. 

Be loose and very general with your beginning pencil lines, make a soft suggestion of where the eyes and face will be.

Remember that all of these soft lines will be covered up with future mark making and shading. So don't worry about messing up.

Why? Sometimes a pencil point or line can be too restrictive. Powdered graphite is easier to put down broad, loose, value shapes of darks.

Please don't be afraid to get your dark shadows in, because again future marks will go on top.

​No ... the second photo above isn't darker than the photos to the right.  You may think I lightened some of the eye area, I didn't.  

​What I did was go darker with the eyebrow, lidline, and lashline. It's just an optical illusion. Those darker marks make the values before it look lighter.

Have fun and enjoy drawing.

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What a great class! Fantastic finished work by my Portrait Drawing Class at OA Gallery!  The focus of this portrait class was drawing the portrait on toned paper using graphite and charcoal. It's great for students to have a connection to their subject, so students are encouraged to bring their own photos. 

Demonstration Drawing where I begin by loosely laying in the large shapes of the head, face, hair and neckline and then I start the eye area. 

My art class students are working hard and making beautiful progress!

What a great job they did! I have the best students!
Thank you all for making it such a fun class!!

If you are reading this and are interested in taking
Art Classes with Marie Donato,
​check out Marie's Art Class Info Page
for more information.


Have a Great Day!

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Thought I'd share with you a little bit about how I approach my oil painting for a portrait. I like to start at the focal point, which for a portrait, is always the eyes.

Just as I approach my drawing by shapes, I tell my drawing students to notice shapes and to draw the shapes. In painting I do the same and attack the focal point the same way, looking for the color shapes.        
(Please excuse the phone pics)

Apply the color shapes one next to the other.  Where the color shapes meet, blend softly.

I paint wet-into-wet one section at a time.

It is helpful to lay in some color in the background that can be used to softly create "soft" or blurred edges while the paint is wet.  Some edges should fade or gently blend into the value of the background.

Glazes are added to brighten the color of the cheeks, nose and ears.  The middle part of the face has more color in it than the top or bottom the face.

The white of the eye is never white, only the highlight will be white.

All done!

For Marie Donato's Oil Painting Classes offered - click below.

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​This was my Portrait Drawing Demonstration for the class "Drawing on Toned Paper" held at OA Gallery.  I was using black charcoal for the darker values and white charcoal for the highlights .

Here the dark values are established in the drawing.  In a portrait the eyes will always have your darkest dark in the pupil of the eye and at the lashline. 

A white charcoal pencil is used to show the highlights.

This is the stage where values are checked and corrected. They help to show the three dimensional quality in the drawing.

The portrait demo is finished and ready to be put in a frame!

​The portrait is complete! It can be viewed at the Galleries at Heartland in Kirkwood, MO.

Look at these beautiful drawings!  Everyone did a fantastic job!  What a great class!

Would you like information about my art classes?  Check out my classes here on my website.

Or  Sign up for my newsletter for new classes as they are scheduled. 
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Here are recent drawing videos that were taken as I was finishing up the portrait details.  I wanted to share with you my love for drawing today.

​These drawings were completed on Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper.   To finish these portraits I used General's charcoal and graphite pencil along with powdered graphite.  The most exhilarating part of my job as an artist is getting those beautiful eyes looking back at me!  I truly love being a portrait artist and am very thankful to God that I am able to be an artist.

If you have any questions just let me know.  Thank you for watching.  
​Have a great day!

To start, I loosely block in the shapes with pencil and powdered graphite.

Here is a step-by step demo showing how I develop a portrait graphite/charcoal drawing.

Here, I start to develop the face of the portrait, working toward getting the likeness.

Once I feel comfortable with the face, I move down to the hand, arms and shoulders toning in form and capturing the shadow play of lights and darks from the sunlit window. I am using graphite pencils as well as powdered graphite.

Here the fabric layers of tulle of the ballerina's dress are developed. 
For the contrasting darks in the eyes and hair, I am using charcoal pencil.

At this stage I am refining and tweaking everything making fine adjustments.  To help with the highlights of the skirt I sharpen up the edges of the fabric with an eraser.

Here is the finished drawing!

Welcome to a Fun Step-by-Step Drawing Demonstration


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5 Easy Steps to Drawing!
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Drawing is the foundation of all art.  Sometimes you may not know where to start... or just starting a drawing seems a bit overwhelming.  Here is my approach to drawing in 5 easy drawing steps.  I hope these steps will help you as they have helped many of my art class students! 

Step 1) Geometric Shapes and Angle of the Gesture
Here lightly sketch the oval shape for the head, and the overall angle of the body, moving diagonally from upper left to lower right of the page.  The diagonal provides strength to the composition. Proceed with shapes that you see to help you sketch the drawing.
Continue on by progressing from large shapes to the smaller shapes and block in the facial features, more clearly, now.