From the "Fascination With Mona Lisa" topic, the following are excellent resource books on the subject of portraits and portraiture.
How to Paint Skin Tones by James Horton, Hazel Harrison: Highly recommended for the novice painter and experienced artist alike. I'd recommend this book to artists of all media, whether you work with oils, watercolors, acrylics, gouache, or pastel, this book will be a valuble resource.
Painting Beautiful Skin Tones With Color & Light in Oil, Pastel and Watercolor by Chris Saper: The first chapter is rooted in the basics, showing artists how to recognize and use the five major elements of painting: drawing, value, color, composition and edges. From there, artists learn how to work with light, shadow and color to effectively capture the beautiful skin tones of various ethnic groups, including Caucasian, Asian, African-American and Hispanic. Next, artists discover how to execute the principles learned, using detailed instruction for color selection, mixing and application.
The Best of Portrait Painting by Rachel Rubin Wolf (Editor): Not a tool for the artist or artisan but recommended for those who view and appreciate fine visual arts. This book will be helpful for enhancing your knowledge on Portraits and Portraiture.
Key to Painting Faces & Figures (Keys to Painting) by Rachel Rubin Wolf (Editor): Learn the secrets of Al Stine, Michael P. Rocco, Kevin Macpherson, Paul Leveille, Bet Borgeson, Lee Hammond and other great artists! Add life to your portraits and authenticity to your figures! In these pages, top artists share proven techniques for painting portraits, distant figures, bustling crowds and more. It's some of the best step-by-step instruction ever published by North Light Books--from how to use light, composition and color effectively to full-length painting demonstrations.
The 5 Essentials in Every Powerful Painting by Ramon Kelley: Timeless principles that apply to all styles of surface design art. Each chapter features many paintings that are examined for illustrating the principle the chapter is discussing. The final pages of each chapter are devoted to a step-by-step demonstration and captions explaining what the author is trying to achieve and why he chose to approach each stage of the painting the way he did. The end of the chapter then lists the other principles and thumbnails of the demo painting to show how those 4 remaining principles apply to it.
The Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing - A Contemporary Perspective on the Classical Tradition by Anthony Ryder: One reader wrote: "If you are serious about taking a traditional approach to figure drawing and want to produce artwork of the finest quality, this is the book to look at." Not really for beginners, but more for the serious artist, the writer provides extremely detailed steps for each technique. "This is a book that rewards the eye as much as the mind, and it is a feast for both. If you aspire to greatness in your figure drawing, then buy this book, study it, and apply the lessons."
Portraiture - Facing the Subject (Critical Introductions to Art) by Joanna Woodall (Editor) From Italian Renaissance portraiture to Picasso cubism ... a bit of everything.
