Live Art Demonstration Review   -   September 2026

Artist: Paul Berryman    Subject: Art of Portraiture    Medium: Charcoal

To see some photographs taken during Paul's demonstration Click here

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Pencil being used is a General’s charcoal.  Paul avoids graphite due to the shine it creates. The white pencil was also charcoal. The paper used is a mineral grey cartridge paper. His eraser called Tombow Mono was passed around the hall for attendees to look at. It is a fine eraser. Paul uses a mechanical sharpener. 

Paul told us he has been a professional portrait artist since Covid. He started as a child drawing aeroplanes, but then spent years hardly doing anything. When Portrait Artist of the Year started in 2013, Paul was inspired to have a go at doing a self-portrait. It went well and he set up local classes. Once things took off, Paul’s business to a back seat to his art and he is now going around doing demonstrators and has an online presence.

People rush to put the anatomy in, such as an eye, this is a common mistake. Tonight Paul showed us how to start with shapes - hence he started with the hair then the shape of the face, one line at a time. He counselled us not to think of it as a face but instead lots of tiny shapes and lines. In most scenarios he will start at the top of the head. 

Likeness is a definable element of portraiture. A lot of character can be captured by turning a head so there’s more relief and texture and no symmetry to worry about. Paul says if he realises something is wrong he changes it at that moment - don’t just let it go. Everything is observation based. You need to ignore what your brain is telling you is right. Paul described the process of building with the shapes as like a jigsaw. Xxx

‘What do you do about glasses?’ is a common question. The sitter’s glasses this time were light. You can easily see through them, although they distort slightly and leave some shadow. Thicker glasses should be put in earlier as you cannot see through them and you cannot ignore them. 

After a rough outline, Paul started adding shadow, including edges of glasses where they interact with shadow. At this stage the portrait started to look 3D. 

Paul cautions against going in too quickly with the eyes.  Eyes are the things that will bring a portrait to life, but a bad eye will kill it. 

Once Paul was happy with the position of the lighter lines he started to go in with heavier lines and sharing. He said with a photograph it is easy to define the shadows but with a life drawing it is harder to keep a check on where   shadows are moving with minute movements of the face. Of course, working with a life model is much harder because your brain has to translate the 3D to 2D. 

Values are the relative levels of light and dark. Paul showed us a chart showing the same range of values on grey, white and black paper. The grey paper already has warmth. Paul demonstrated how shadow transitions worked using a sheet of white paper curved at different angles, then creased. In the picture the shadow map currently had sharp edges but where these shadows were curved Paul used his pencil to build the transitions. He worries less about hatching directions and more about getting the values right. 

 

Talking about realism, Paul used John Singer Sargent paintings as an example. On viewing. they jump out of the canvas as so vibrant and alive. However, on close scrutiny, they have an impressionistic quality, whereas paintings where every mark is painstakingly applied; they do not appear as lifelike.   

Paul shared a trick: as artists we choose where we want a viewer to look. We can add detail where we want the focus to be, using an impression where it requires less focus. Example, the ear versus the rest of the face. 

The process: 1. shapes, 2. shades, 3. edges, 4. texture (the least important detail that comes in at the end). 

Towards the end, Paul used the white pencil to add some highlights, starting with the lenses on the glasses. White needs to be used sparingly as it can kill a drawing if used to excess. 

The end result was a great likeness of sitter Suneeti and Paul presented it to her to take home. 

Meg Grant