How to Paint the Portrait with the Zorn Palette

[New Masters Academy]

How do value design and color design work together in a portrait? What is color temperature and how do you apply it? How do you keep your paintings from getting muddy, or unclear? These are many of the questions answered by internationally renowned painting Joseph Todorovitch, in this comprehensive lesson. As you did before in the Grisaille lesson, here you will do a 4-up painting thumbnail assignment as well as a longer portrait, applying concepts such as contrast, posterization, form, edge and brushwork and the focal point and first read.

[Abdullah Khalil]

Hi,

i have tried to do a portrait using the Zorn palette, i used vermilion instead or cad. red light but i find it too orange and it hardly give vivid reds. so i was asking if there is obvious difference between the two, and what alternatives we can use instead of cad. red light ? deep could work or too dark ? or other color names from other brands like (red winsor) from W&N .. also i noticed there is yellow ochre and yellow ochre light and i find the tenting power very weak, but i guess yellows are like that.

Finally thank you for your rich explanation and hint on subtle details. would like to see a full finished portrait using a Zorn palette.

Regrds,

A.Khalil

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hello Abdullah,

The Cad Red question has been one I, too, have been trying to figure out since my days at the Academy. I always preferred Cad Red Light although it does lean a little orange. Keep in mind that different brands of Cad Red Light are different so it’s worth experimenting with them. We actually had something called Cad Red Medium which was a little duller than Light, but not as dark as Dark. It really will depend on you and what you’re after in your paintings or in a particular painting. Something that is also worth trying is something called Primary Red, which some of my former classmates got really intense results with. I don’t remember who makes it, but I think it’s available in a few brands.

As for Yellow Ochre, I wouldn’t go for the Light or any variation of it unless you find something called Gold(en) Ochre, which is something between Raw Siena and Yellow Ochre. You could just have those 2 and you’re good. The thing that’s important is to try to spend a little extra on a real nice Yellow Ochre with some serious tinting power.

I hope this helps. Write any questions you still might have and we’ll try to get to them!

Best,

Iliya

 

[erikdennes]

Hi,

I am trying to further my knowledge of color temperature as it relates to flesh tones.  In Joseph Todorovitch’s portrait course, he does a series of color block ins using the Zorn palette.  He is painting an African American gentleman and establishes a dominant skin color for the skin in light, and another for the skin in shadow.  When he begins to model the form, he begins with the highlights in light.  He says that the color family that the highlight belongs to is violet, but he doesn’t say how he arrives at that.  The only thing I can come up with is that the local color of the skin is toward red, and the light source is cool (blue) and blue light plus red light makes magenta, or violet.  Am I in the right ball park with my thinking?

Thanks,

Erik

[Joshua Jacobo]

The light side of the form is affected but the temperature of your primary light source. The specular reflection is literally the reflection of that light source on the skin (it’s actually a oily layer on top of the form that causes this). If your light source is cool then so should be your specular reflection. I think you have the right idea.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by Joshua Jacobo.

[Nathan Drushinin]

In Joseph’s painting of “Kate”, he does a beautiful job, but I’m not seeing the shadows in the right eye socket or on the bottom plane of the nose as dark as he’s painting them.  I’m just wondering if he’s pushing those values for the sake of form.

[Ryan Kaplan]

@nathandrushinin I’m also a student so I’m not an authority, but I noticed the same thing! You’re not crazy. Same goes for some of the reds and shadows in the ear.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Ryan Kaplan.

[Nathan Drushinin]

Cool, Thank you! 🙂

[domenico sorrentino]

hi, it would be a good idea to have a palette of the same color of the background of the subject? for a more accurate idea on how the color will appear?

because as right said by instructor in the lesson at 13:50′ when mixing a desaturated orange for skin that even if the color seem very gray in relation to oher color is still in the family of orange. And infact on the blu palette the mix is distinctively orange even if very desaturated, but when he place the color on the grey canvas it look (at me) brown! some suggestion?

[chris jones]

I assume the shot of Joseph’s palette is under 5000K light source. If so, I cannot find a yellow that is as pale as his yellow is on the Kate painting demo. Can anyone ID the brand and color name?

[Daniel Daigle]

Hi Chris, in the first 2 minutes of the video below, Joseph talks about which paints he is using.
He uses whites that lean towards yellow, but his primary yellow pigments are Michael Harding Lemon Yellow and Bright Yellow, which is similar to cadmium yellow light.
https://www.nma.art/videolessons/zorn-palette-long-portrait-demo/?course=640269

I hope this answers your question

[Johannes]

@nathandrushinin i am also seeing this.

considering the more upward and turned angle of his painting i would boldly assume that the reference provided is not the one he was painting from?

if that is not the case, i’m having strong doubts about my perception 🙁

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Johannes.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Johannes.

[Matthew Haverly]

The photo reference looks like it is leaning to the over exposed side, but it looks like his painting corrects that.  Is that because he is actually drawing from life or?

I know that his other paintings in general have really nice color accuracy so I assume maybe so.

[Betty Ng]

I agree with the points made by Johannes and Matthew Heavenly that the photo reference given for the demonstration of Kate’s portrait seems to be different from the one used in the actual demonstration.  For example, the head tilt in the reference photo is different from what Joseph described in his demonstration.  Furthermore, the ear in Joseph’s final painting is much lower than that in the reference photo.   Although it is not essential, it would be nice if the photo. actually used by Joseph in his demonstration of painting Kate can be provided in order to make his demonstration more effective.   Is it possible?

 

 

[Daniel Daigle]

Hello all, we added several references of Kate to the reference section. I hope that you will find these useful 😀

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