I love painting tiny portraits. In this tutorial I take you step by step through my process for painting a miniature portrait in monochrome, using a reference image.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

Begin by gathering the following materials:

• A pencil & eraser: To sketch your portrait before you paint it
• Your favourite dark watercolour: Pick a colour that speak to you today, just so long as it’s dark.
• A medium brush and a small brushes: Choose a medium and small brush relative to your size of paper.
• 2 glasses of water: One to rinse your brushes and one for clean water.
• A palette or a plate: Use a palette or a plate to mix your paint colours.
• Paper: Use watercolour or thicker paper to get the best results.

Step 2: Study The Reference

Take your time to look carefully at the reference area, and decide how you are going to simplify it into areas of light, dark, and mid-tones.

I’ve included images below which show one way of simplifying the reference. This isn’t the “right way” because there’s no such thing, it’s simply my way. Feel free to do it your own way, or use my simplified reference.

Step 3: Sketch the outline & blocks of shade

Next, sketch in the outline of your face, and all the areas of light, dark and mid-tone that you want to include. You do not need to worry about the details at this stage. Here, what’s important is to get a good base layer to work from if you want to add details later.

So take your time to get a sketch that you’re happy with. It’s much easier to fix things at this point than later.

Step 4: Paint in your shadows.

Using your dark colour, paint in all the shadow areas of your portrait.

Step 5: Dry this layer / allow it to dry

Allow your artwork to dry completely before moving on to the next step. You can use a heat tool, hairdryer or simply let it air dry naturally.

Step 6: Paint your mid-tones

Create a lighter version of your shadow colour by adding more water to the mix. Use this to colour in your mid-tone areas. Be careful to avoid the highlight areas.

Step 7: Dry this layer / allow it to dry

Allow your artwork to dry completely before moving on to the next step. You can use a heat tool, hairdryer or simply let it air dry naturally.

Step 8: Add details with a smaller brush

Referring to your reference, add any details you want back into your portrait. Take your time and enjoy this work.

Step 9: Enjoy your finished art

Once your artwork has dried, step back and appreciate your monochrome portrait. Then thank yourself for making the time to do something just for you.

Take it Further

I have a class all about this: Paint a Portrait: The Fundamentals of Using Light and Shade. This class explores the use of shadows and highlights to create beautiful portraits that have dimension and form. If you don’t have a Skillshare membership, the link will give you 1 month’s free access to Skillshare, where you can take this class plus thousands of others. (If you choose to continue your access after a month with a paid subscription, I’ll be paid a small commission.)

Curious? You can watch the trailer here:

And you can learn more about this, and my other classes, on my Class page.