Painting Self-Portraits

Self-portraiture is a remarkably rich and varied genre, acting for centuries as a means for artists to explore their inner and outer selves. This book looks deeper into the motives and thoughts that lie behind the creative process, and it also balances the goals of technical profiency and emotional authenticity so the artist is better equipped to make a compelling self-portrait. Written by identical twins, it offers a personalized, practical and theoretical guide to this most powerful of art forms. The text looks at the whole creative process involved in making a self-portrait, and extended step-by-step demonstrations follow three differing approaches to self-portraiture. It emphasizes the use of good observational skills, expressive paint use and a highly practical and critical self-analysis, and offers a thorough cultural and theoretical review of the history and categorization of the self-portrait, as well as an analysis of two master self-portraits. Aimed at all artists and designers, animators and portrait painters and illustrated with 87 colour images.

Paul James has been painting for over twenty-five years. He has written for several publications and is currently an art teacher in New York.