Reference Material

I was commissioned to paint this unusual double portrait of two brothers. The main source material was a beautiful photograph of them playing, accompanied by several more detailed pictures of the boys on their own. I always try to convey a sense of personality in a portrait, so it helps to have lots of reference material, to get a feel for that. My aim is to capture the essence of someone, rather than to produce a photographic reproduction (although, of course, getting a likeness is also important). 

Step by Step

I start by working on the younger boy's face, using a close-up photograph. I try to get it as close to finished as possible, before I move onto other areas.  Clothes are in some senses much quicker (and easier) than faces, so the T shirt doesn't take too long

Adding the second face

Once I am reasonably happy with the first boy, I start on the second one, ignoring the lower left hand side of the painting for now. This is a risk, because I will have to lean over the right hand section when I come to work on it, but I don't want to start on the jeans before I'm sure of the positioning of the second boy. If they are painted completely separately, they can end up looking "stitched together".
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I work a little more on the clothes and then check the faces one more time. I will often leave a painting overnight at this stage and return to it in the morning to get a fresh perspective. Or I might view it in a mirror.

Once I'm happy with the faces I finish off the clothing and add a little grass to "ground" the boys in the painting. They don't want to be floating about.
I'm very happy with the finished result, and so is the customer.

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