A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography a portrait is generally not a snapshot, but a composed image of a person in a still position. A portrait often shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer, in order to most successfully engage the subject with the viewer.

Painting the Head in One Sitting I ("Tom")
This video demonstrates step-by-step the procedure for achieving a thorough, satisfying portrait likeness in a single sitting. Beginning with a simple drawing made directly on the canvas with the brush, the artist shows and describes the creative steps: stating the shadows, the halftones and the lights... achieving the "mosaic of tones"... restating and refining... "particularizing" the portrait with detail. 90 minutes.

Painting the Head in One Sitting II ("Tessa")
John Howard Sanden shows you, step-by-step, how to achieve a satisfying portrait likeness in a single painting session. Nearly two hours in length and based on Mr. Sanden's recent book Portraits From Life in 29 Steps, this video describes in detail everything you need to know to paint a convincing portrait in oils.
Proceeding with a simple drawing made with the brush on an untoned canvas, the artist proceeds in a logical and direct manner, painting the dark tones first, then the halftone passages, and finally the lights and highlights, with a continuous commentary on color-mixtures, brushwork, tonal values, blending and other important elements of oil technique. Then Sanden shows how to refine the details of the features, pulling together the elements of a successful portrait in oils.

Painting the Head in One Sitting III ("Pam")
Our latest release is number three in our popular series, Painting the Head in One Sitting. This program varies from the other two in that the presentation is specifically arranged to illustrate the 29-step method featured in Mr. Sanden's book Portraits From Life in 29 Steps (North Light Books, 1999). Like the other two, this video takes the viewer step-by-step through the painting of a head-and-shoulders portrait, this time specifically enumerating the 29 steps featured in the book.
The 29 steps are divided into six sections: (1) The Layout, or preliminary drawing, (2) The Shadows, (3) The Halftones, (4) The Lights, (5) Restating, in which the artist refreshes and improves on previous judgements, and (6) Particularizing, in which the precise details of the facial features are painted.
This division of the job at hand into six manageable portions, which in turn are completed through several precise steps (it may sound complicated, but it's really quite simple) gives the painter a logical plan of accomplishment. .

Color Mixing for Portraiture
John Howard Sanden explains and demonstrates his popular Pro Mix Color System, used by professional portrait artists everywhere for over twenty years. You will learn how to mix an endless variety of subtle, delicate flesh tones by combining only two colors! How to mix 78 basic flesh tones and be able to repeat the mixtures again and again, exactly! 90 minutes. exactly! 90 minutes.

Light and Shade in Portraiture
The precise judging of tonal values provides the underlying structure of a portrait. No other factor is more important to the portrait's success. This video explains the bases on which these critical judgments are made... the six kinds of tone... the nine-tone value scale... "reading" values... making a tonal study of simple objects... making a tonal study of complex objects... Relationship of light and shade in portraiture. 90 minutes.

Painting the Facial Features
This lecture-demonstration was presented annually for twenty-three years at the Art Students League of New York, and is always a popular favorite. Mr. Sanden paints an enlarged close-up of the facial features, describing the elements of construction and drawing, color mixing and value determination. 90 minutes.

Painting Hands
Next to the head itself, nothing is more important to the success of a portrait than the painting of hands. This helpful video stresses careful observation... how to simplify... understanding the light and shade... stressing the individual character of the hands... examples from professional assignments. 90 minutes.

John Singer Sargent's Lady Agnew
John Singer Sargent's brilliant 1892 masterpiece. Lady Agnew, is the subject of this three-hour video demonstration. The album consists of two 90-minute video cassettes. In the first program, Mr. Sanden paints the head, and in the second program, the hands, arms, garments, the background, including the chair and accessories. Includes reprint: John Singer Sargent: His Technical Procedure. 2-cassette album. 3 hours of instruction.

John Singer Sargent's Head of an Arab
In 1891, John Singer Sargent traveled to the Holy Land and the Middle East to gain background material for his Boston Public Library murals. This dramatic head of a bearded man in Arab headress resulted from that trip. John Howard Sanden replicates Sargent's brilliant masterpiece, with a continuous commentary. Sargent clearly reveled in achieving the rich bronze tones of the swarthy complexion, the deep shadows which give volume to the head, the fierce intensity of the expression, and the broadly realized turban and garment details. 90 minutes.