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Painting Luminous Portraits for Artists

An Essential Guide to Painting Facial Features, Fleshtones, Light, and Form
Series: For Artists
Brief Description
The complete guide to painting the portrait in oils.From Steve Forster, award-winning portrait artist and co-director of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, Painting Luminous Portraits for Artists presents essential lessons on how to paint a radiant likeness in oils in five comprehensive chapters, each... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$4999
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From Steve Forster, award-winning portrait artist and co-director of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, Painting Luminous Portraits for Artists presents essential lessons on how to paint a radiant likeness in oils.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
The complete guide to painting the portrait in oils.

From Steve Forster, award-winning portrait artist and co-director of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, Painting Luminous Portraits for Artists presents essential lessons on how to paint a radiant likeness in oils in five comprehensive chapters, each with skill-building exercises and QR codes to instructional videos:

Discover fundamental materials, techniques, and basic anatomy and feature development for creating an underdrawing.Explore color theory and color palette structures.Learn painting techniques, including different shape and lighting approaches.Consider creative strategies for portraits.See how digital painting techniques can be used to support and enhance traditional painting techniques.
Perfect for artists at all skill levels who want to explore capturing form and light through realistic painting techniques, Painting Luminous Portraits for Artists shows you how to capture the human portrait from a diverse range of perspectives, flesh tones, and light effects.Β 
The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.

Also available from the series: Drawing the Head for Artists, Essential Human Anatomy for Artists, Figure Drawing for Artists, Life Drawing for Artists, Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists, Dynamic Still Life for Artists, Facial Expressions for Artists, Landscape Painter's Workbook, Plein Air Techniques for Artists, and Sketching Techniques for Artists.

Series: For Artists

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  • Facial Expressions for Artists
    Breathe life into your portraiture with this inclusive guide to drawing the full range of human emotions, from fear to rage, grief to joy. An accurate depiction of a subject or character's facial expression is the key to conveying their individuality as well as authentic emotion or mood. Written and illustrated by Oliver Sin, celebrated portrait artist, veteran instructor, and...
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  • Essential Human Anatomy for Artists
    Study human anatomy to translate nature into drawings that are both anatomically accurate and artistically beautiful.Essential Human Anatomy for Artists is an anatomy course in a book thats designed to offer you new tools to help you understand the connections between exterior forms and deeper structures. Along with demonstrations of key materials are in-depth discussions of the skeleton and the...
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  • The Landscape Painter's Workbook
    The Landscape Painter's Workbook is the definitive hands-on guide to the time-honoured techniques and essential elements of landscape painting. Written by celebrated landscape artist, instructor, and author Mitchell Albala, this richly informative and beautifully illustrated volume leads you step by step through his approach to the genre, from establishing a composition using basic shapes to applying time-tested colour strategies, with...
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    $4999
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    Ships early August
  • Painting Luminous Portraits for Artists
    The complete guide to painting the portrait in oils.From Steve Forster, award-winning portrait artist and co-director of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, Painting Luminous Portraits for Artists presents essential lessons on how to paint a radiant likeness in oils in five comprehensive chapters, each with skill-building exercises and QR codes to instructional videos:Discover fundamental materials, techniques, and basic...
    Paperback
    $4999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Figure Drawing for Artists
    How often does an aspiring artist read a book or take a class on drawing the human body, only to end up with page after page of stiff lifeless marks rather than the well-conceived figure the course promised? Though there are many books on drawing the human figure, none teach how to draw a figure from the first few marks...
    Paperback
    $4999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists
    Originally developed in the 18th century as a visual supplement to botanical nomenclature, botanical illustration and art uniquely fuse art and science by documenting the parts, details, and life cycles of plant species. In Drawing and Painting Botanicals for Artists, eminent botanical artist and veteran workshop instructor Karen Kluglein reveals her secrets for rendering leaves, flowers, berries, and branches both...
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  • Drawing the Head for Artists
    Drawing the Head for Artists is the definitive modern guide to drawing the human head and portrait, featuring the classic mediums and methods of the Old Masters. Written by celebrated portrait artist and veteran studio instructor Oliver Sin, this richly informative and beautifully illustrated volume leads readers step-by-step through his method, from establishing a point of view to applying the...
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  • Plein Air Techniques for Artists
    From award-winning artist Aimee Erickson, Plein Air Techniques for Artists presents the step-by-step process for plein air for landscape, still life, and the figure, along with exercises to strengthen skills. In Plein Air Techniques for Artists, award-winning artist and respected workshop instructor Aimee Erickson demystifies how to capture a variety of light effects and guides you in strengthening your plein...
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  • Sketching Techniques for Artists
    Learn dynamic sketching and watercolour techniques for creating cityscapes, landscapes, figures and faces, still lifes, and more, enhancing the story you want to tell with form, line, and colour. Discover incredible methods and tips for creating dramatic street scenes and vivid landscapes, and capturing dynamic figures and graphic architectural details. Artist Alex Hillkurtz, a top Hollywood storyboard artist and international...
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  • Life Drawing for Artists
    Life Drawing for Artists teaches a contemporary approach to figure drawing that includes both the familiar posesβ€”standing, sitting, lying downβ€”but also how to capture figures in movement and in more dynamic and engaging positions. Author Chris Legaspi is a dedicated, life-long artist and admired instructor who is known for his dynamic figurative drawings and paintings, and as a successful illustrator...
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  • Light and Color in the Watercolor Landscape
    Master light and colour to create stunning watercolor landscapes. Discover the secrets to capturing depth, atmosphere, and emotion in your watercolor landscapes with Light and Color in the Watercolor Landscape. Acclaimed artist and instructor Vladislav Yeliseyev shares his proven techniques for harnessing light and shadow, creating luminous colours, and refining compositions to enhance realism and impact. With step-by-step guidance, detailed...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780760395622

Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 August 2025

Country: United States

Imprint: Rockport Publishers Inc.

Illustration: color illustrations

Contributors:

  • Foreword by Stephen Bauman

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 216.0mm

Height: 279.0mm

Weight: 649g

Pages: 176

About the Author

Award-winning artist Steve Forster received his MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art (NYAA), and also attended the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, where he met his wife, Rebecca. Since 2014 Steve and Rebecca have been Co-Directors of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art (LIAFA) in Glen Cove, New York. He currently teaches painting at LIAFA and previously taught painting at NYAA for almost 15 years. Steve blends digital painting and a love of traditional media to create unique contemporary portrait stories. His paintings are regularly exhibited in solo and group shows nationally. Steve was born in Boston, spent most of his life in central Florida, and now lives in Glen Cove, New York. Steve and Rebecca have three kids, Elijah, Evie, and William.steveforster.net
Instagram: @steverforsterpaintings
Long Island Academy of Fine Art: liafa.comThe work of artist and teacher Stephen Bauman focuses on the human figure. He has given drawing and painting workshops and demonstrations at various institutions throughout the United States and Europe, including the Long Island Academy of Art in New York, the Art Florida Academy in Miami, and at all three campuses of the Florence Academy of Art, in Sweden, Italy, and the U.S. Bauman's work, which has been exhibited and collected in the U.S., Europe, and China, received first place in the Imaginative Realism category of the 2014-2015 Art Renewal Center Salon, as well as a purchase prize for his painting When I Was Young, which was also featured on the cover of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine in which he was profiled. His work has also been featured in numerous other publications, such as Lessons in Classical Drawing and Figure Drawing Atelier by Juliette Aristides. He lives in Florence, Italy.

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