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Demonstrating
and Explaining
the Premier Coup Technique
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 hroughout
my teaching career, and in my books, I've advocated a 29-step
method of painting a portrait head from life. This format was
first suggested to me by Don Holden, a leading art instruction
author and book editor. At first I protested the number of steps
as overly complex, but over time I've come to see the value
in the very logical, systematic approach the method requires.
In practice, some of the individual steps require no more than
a few brushstrokes to complete. As a learning exercise the 29-step
routine requires the painter to think logically, and attend
to the needs of the painting in a systematic way — as opposed
to the instinctive, hit-and-miss approach which so often prevails.
For example, in the demonstration which follows, you will see
that I attend to the halftones first in the lower third of the
face, then in the central third, and finally in the upper third.
The highlights are similarly introduced in a similar sequential
manner. To the painter who, upon reading this finds it too confining
in concept, let me just say — give it a try before you
reject it! You may be surprised at the sensation of command
and authority such a systematic approach will give you. —John
Howard Sanden |
This demo is available in live-action
video on the Ordering page.
On the following steps, hover over the thumbnail below to see
the final painting. |
Hover to zoom final painting |
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