Viewing the Subject

• 1). Sign up for a Skype account or download an instant messenger such as Yahoo Messenger if you are going to paint a subject via webcam. If not painting a live subject on webcam, proceed to step three.
  
  
• 2). Log on to your account or sign in to a video-capable instant messenger with the person you are going to paint. Activate the webcam feature that will allow you to see live video of each other.
  
  
• 3). Open up the computer program you will be using to paint your subject. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are good choices. Corel has some similar programs such as Painter. Be aware that these all cost money, unless you are using a trial version.
  
  
• 4). Use an alternative, online graphics program such as Sumo Paint. Sumo Paint has many of the features offered in the other programs and costs nothing to use. It does not have to be downloaded to your hard drive, so you can use it as soon as you go to the website.
  
  
• 5). Have the person sit in front of their webcam and pose for you or place the photo reference in front of you. You can also paint a portrait from memory. If using a webcam, sit in front of yours, so the live subject can interact and feel more comfortable about being painted in this manner.
  
  

Using the Programs

• 1). Use the computer program to sketch out the shape of the head and other features. A pencil tool can be used freehand to do this, or shapes and curves can be put down using their respective tools. The head can be represented by an ellipse, which can be put down quickly with the click of a mouse or touch of a Wacom pen.
  
  
• 2). Continue to draw and refine the features of the portrait. When you reach a finished drawing stage, you can switch to a brush tool and lay down a tone over the entire canvas. This can also be done by selecting the entire canvas with a selection tool and filling it.
  
  
• 3). Go right into the portrait, using a brush tool to paint in colors that you will layer to create skin tone and other colors in the painting. Selecting the opacity and taking it down to something less than 50 percent will allow you to create lighter colors with the brush at first.
  
  
• 4). Continue to add layers to the painting with the brush tool until you are satisfied with the painting. Save the painting to your computer as a graphics document depending on what program you are in, such as .psd if using Photoshop. This is important if you have to go back and edit the portrait. Also save the painting in an image format such as JPEG or Bitmap. This will allow your client to view the painting without any special software.