Matthew James Taylor Matthew James Taylor

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Portraiture (Exploring Different Mediums, Styles & Techniques)

Portraiture is a type of art that depicts a person or group of people, typically a face or head, in a realistic or representational manner. The main focus of a portrait is usually the person's face and expression, and the purpose of the painting is to capture the individual's likeness and character.

I find portraiture to be one of the hardest art forms because you need to be so precise to accurately capture a person's likeness.

"Art nouveau portraits" AI-generated

Art nouveau portraits generated by AI
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Software
MidJourney
Style
Art nouveau
Date
16 Dec 2022

I tried out MidJourney, an AI-generative art tool, and created this series of art nouveau portraits. It's amazing what artificial intelligence can do!

See more of my artwork inspired by art nouveau.

"Arlo Taylor" Quick charcoal portrait

Arlo Taylor: Charcoal portrait
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal on art paper
Date
19 Oct 2020
Time
10 minutes

This is a portrait of my eldest son, Arlo Taylor in charcoal pencil on art paper.

"Sylvie Taylor" Quick charcoal portrait

Sylvie Taylor: Charcoal portrait
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal on art paper
Date
19 Oct 2020
Time
10 minutes

This is a portrait of my daughter, Sylvie Taylor in charcoal pencil on art paper.

"2 female charcoal portraits" Charcoal pencil on grey paper

2 female charcoal portraits: Charcoal pencil on grey paper
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal, white charcoal on grey paper
Date
2 Dec 2019
Time
Approx. 45 minutes each

Two separate portraits of the same model. I drew these on grey paper with charcoal pencil, plus white charcoal for the highlights.

"Summer and the Duke" Watercolor portrait

Summer and the Duke
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, black ink
Date
2019

This is a portrait of my youngest son, Summer, riding his Mum's dog, 'The Duke'.

I worked from a few reference photos because it's impossible for kids and dogs to stay still!

"Kevin Taylor in charcoal" Portrait of my Dad

Kevin Taylor in charcoal: Portrait of my Dad
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal, white charcoal on blue paper
Date
29 May 2016

This is a portrait of my Dad, Kevin Taylor. He was also an artist.

"Basic female portrait" Charcaol pencil on art paper

Basic female portrait in charcoal
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal on art paper
Date
5 Jul 2012
Time
10 minutes

This was a short pose so I didn't get far with the drawing, but I love how you can see all the construction lines.

It's nice to see how a drawing is structured and built up by an artist because you can learn so much.

"Art nouveau portrait" Graphite pencil drawing

Felicity circle: art nouveau portrait
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Graphite pencil
Style
Art nouveau
Date
9 Sep 2007
Time
A few hours

I worked on this drawing in my spare time and it took a while to get it this far. I enjoy working in art nouveau style but each line of hair can take a while to get right, it's worth all the effort though.

I originally intended to ink this afterward but I actually quite like the messy pencil look.

If you look at the larger version you can see a few smudges, marks and construction lines etc. that's all part of it.

"James Bamford" Charcoal on orange paper

Portrait of my friend James Bamford in charcoal
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal, white charcoal on orange paper
Date
10 June 2006

A portrait of my friend, James Bamford, with charcoal on orange paper.

"Man with white beard" Graphite pencil portrait

Man with white beard (graphite pencil)
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
H Graphite pencil on art paper
Date
1 Mar 2006
Time
1 hour

This portrait was really hard to draw because the model's large white beard was concealing his jaw line. When you can't see the shape and extent of someone's face then it's hard to map out all the anatomical features accurately.

But I guess its good practice to draw poses like this because it helps you to visualise the important anatomical landmarks underneath hair and clothes. We don't always have the luxury of drawing naked, hairless people!

I drew this picture with a grade H graphite pencil and it was so light on the page that it was very hard to see. After I scanned in the sketch I increased the contrast in Photoshop so you could see more detail in the linework, as a result the tooth on the paper is more apparant too.

"Softly drawn girl portrait" Charcoal on art paper

Softly drawn girl portrait: Charcoal on art paper
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal on art paper
Date
29 Nov 2005
Time
1.5 hours

I love this portrait. It's actually a section of one of my charcoal life drawings.

"Nice female portrait" Charcoal on tan paper

Nice female portrait: Charcoal on tan paper
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal, white charcoal on yellow paper
Date
13 Sep 2005
Time
1 hour 40 minutes

This is a nice portrait study.

I sat very close to the model so I was able to see a lot more detail then normal. It really makes a difference when you can see what you are trying to draw.

If you look closely you can see horizontal lines evenly spaced across the page, this was a pattern in the paper itself. I prefer not to use paper with lines such as this because it can ruin a picture, however I had no choice this time because I left my good paper at home and had to borrow some.

"Portrait with curls" Charcoal pencil on art paper

Portrait with curls: Charcoal pencil on art paper
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal on art paper
Date
6 Sep 2005
Time
40 minutes

This is a nice simple portrait but I think it would have looked much better on toned paper.

"Girl with black hair" Red, black, & white chalk portrait on blue paper

Girl with black hair: Red, black, & white chalk on blue paper
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Red chalk, white chalk, black chalk on blue paper
Date
22 Feb 2005
Time
1 hour

This is my first attempt at drawing with red, black and white chalk on blue paper. I think it's going to take a bit of practice. I went a bit heavy on the black and it seems to have ruined the subtlety.

See more of my chalk life drawings.

"Old man portrait" Red chalk portrait on blue paper

Old man portrait: red chalk on blue paper
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Red crayon, white charcoal on blue paper
Date
15 Feb 2005
Time
1.5 hours

A portrait study trying out new mediums, red crayon on blue paper.

"Male portrait" Charcoal rendered drawing

Male portrait (black and white charcoal)
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal, white charcoal on grey paper
Date
14 Dec 2004
Time
1 hour

In this male portrait study I used white in a more subtle way and I think it works.

For a while I was using strong white on toned paper and using the paper color as the shadow areas, but now I've found that it's much better to put in the shadows with blocks of tone and save the white for just the highlights.

It gives a much more refined look.

"Asian girl portrait" Tonal charcoal drawing

Asian girl portrait Tonal charcoal drawing
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal, white charcoal on grey paper
Date
7 Dec 2004
Time
1 hour

Neutral grey with black and white charcoal is such a good combination of mediums to work with.

"Sai with messy hair" Watercolor & black ink portrait

Sai with messy hair
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, black ink
Date
1 Nov 2004
Time
3 hours

This is a painting of my friend Sai. She has very curly hair that's always a bit messy. She tries to straighten it but I think it looks a lot better when it's all crazy and untamed.

I love her hair in this image. In fact I think it really makes the painting work. Straight hair would not have the same impact.

Sai is also an amazing artist, follow her on Instagram.

"Female portrait" Charcoal pencil sketch

Female portrait: Charcoal pencil sketch
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal on art paper
Date
7 Sep 2004
Time
1 hour

A simple portrait of a girl done while studying facial features.

This would have looked much more interesting if it was drawn on toned paper with black and white charcoal.

"Subdued Crystal" Watercolour and ink illustration in muted colors

Subdued Crystal
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor
Date
31 Oct 2004
Time
2 hours

I painted this watercolor picture of Crystal to use as part of the design for a new version of this website but I didn't use it after all. I was inspired by the beautiful watercolor art by Arthur Rackham and his subdued colour schemes.

"Angela reading" Charcoal tonal portrait study

Angela reading (black and white charcoal)
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Charcoal, white charcoal on brown paper
Date
24 Mar 2004
Time
2 hours 15 minutes

This is a friend of mine reading a book drawn from life.

I feel like there are two focal points in the drawing, her face, and her hands holding her book. Perhaps it would have been better if I focused on just one?

"Teu Dream" Watercolor portrait

Teu Dream
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Medium
Watercolor, black ink
Date
9 Sep 2003

Teu Dream (pronounced 'to dream') is a character I was developing . My plan was to use her in short comics illustrating the many weird dreams I have.

"Crystal Glow" Color Vector Illustration

Crystal Glow
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Software
Flash
Date
15 Jun 2002

This is one of my smallest Flash pictures ever! Only 3k =) It's a picture of Crystal that I used for the front page of my website a number of versions ago.

See more of my vector art.

"Crystal the doll" Vector Portrait Illustration

Crystal the doll
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Software
CorelDraw
Date
4 Feb 2000

Crystal the Doll is one of my favourite characters.

"Björk Venus" Vector Illustration

Björk venus
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Software
CorelDraw, Flash
Date
30 May 1999

I redrew the cover art from Björk's single Venus as a Boy so I could change the colour scheme to pink rather than turquoise. This drawing was originally used in Flash for an older version of my Björk website.

There was such a lot of detail, I drew every single stitch in her jumper!

"Lyndal the Flower Girl" CorelDraw Portrait

Lyndal the flower girl
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Software
CorelDraw
Date
15 Oct 1997

This is Lyndal the flower girl - part human and part plant. Her hair turns into flowers!

I first drew this picture in pencil then inked it with black felt tip pen. Next I scanned it in black and white and turned it into a vector drawing with CorelTrace.

All the colors were added in CorelDraw.

"Crystal circle" Color Vector Illustration

Crystal circle
Artist
Matthew James Taylor
Software
CorelDraw
Date
29 Jun 1997

This was my first portrait drawing of Crystal the Doll, it has something nice about it.

Matthew James Taylor

I've been creating art all my life and running this website since 1997! During this time I've found many amazing tools and services that I cannot live without.”
— Matthew James Taylor

I highly Recommend:

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See more of my recommended design tools.

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Sepia ink life drawing

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Gouache Paintings (Still Life Illustrations)

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Vector Art (Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Flash & Inkscape)

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A charcoal life drawing of a female model

Charcoal Life Drawing (Examples On White & Toned Paper)

A black ball-point pen doodle

Doodles, Little Drawings & Sketches

AI-generated art nouveau portrait

Art Nouveau (Drawings, Vector Illustrations & AI-Generated Art)

Chalk life drawing with Conté Crayon

Chalk Life Drawings (Conté Crayon Vs Chalk Pencil)

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