How to Paint a Portrait

Alexander Shundi: Hello! I'm Alexander Shundi. Welcome to my studio. Today, I want to show you how to paint a portrait. We are going to be using very basic materials, a canvas, some oil paint and some brushes. Today, we are going to be working from a live model what you see here behind me. I much prefer working from a live model than working from a photograph. A photograph flattens out the image whereas when you are in front of a real person, you can feel the person, you can see the person from different positions, it's much better that way. Let me tell you little bit about myself. I've been making art and teaching for over 40 years. I've taught at many different art schools and universities as well private studios and I have received classical training at the Brera Academy in Milan, Italy which is where I came from originally, and the Yale University. I've shown widely both here and in Europe, in museums and galleries. So now, I would like to go on to the next clip and show you how to pose a model.