[BAS Newsletter] Technical Notes - Emil Nikolla Portrait Demonstration

[Adrian Fowle]

Emil Nikolla - Portraits - demonstration.

Held 04/10/2019 at Ripley Arts Centre by Bromley Arts Society.

Emil wanted, unusually, on this occasion to start his portrait with a 
charcoal sketch, as he wanted to additionally to demonstrate his drawing 
techniques (which he also teaches). He normally likes to start his 
portraits by applying colour directly.

Unfortunately he forgot to bring his can of fixative but was rescued in 
the nick of time when Maggie was able to nip to the local shop and pick 
up a can of hairspray for him to use instead.

The volunteer sitter was Maggie’s husband who for this occasion donned a 
panama style hat and wore thin-framed glasses. He was lit with a strong 
light coming from an 10 o’clock position.

Emil started his 15 min charcoal sketch with a light “ghostly” image. 
The space around the image was important to him and he did this by 
placing, or “anchoring” the top of image 3 fingers down from the top of 
the canvas and, as the sitter was facing to the left, leaving a slightly 
larger space for the background to the left of the canvas. He prefers to 
keep the image no larger than life size.

Emil works primarily with imaginary horizontal, vertical and occasional 
diagonal lines to work out the placement of the features within his 
portraits and concentrates firstly on the shadows or dark tones and then 
adds the light and middle tones. The light highlights in his charcoal 
drawing were created by using a rubber.

The charcoal drawing was then fixed with Maggie’s hair spray.

Emil explained he usually takes just over two days or 25 – 30 hrs to 
complete a portrait before beginning his demonstration painting over the 
top of his sketch.

Throughout he kept to a limited palette. His medium is 1 part linseed 
oil to 2 parts turpentine.

His preferred brand of paints is Rembrandts or Windsor and Newton but he 
does recommend CASS arts own paints as a more economical alternative.

He began with yellow ochre for the hat with a little cadmium red to 
soften. For the shadow area of the hat he used a mix of burnt umber and 
yellow ochre and a little grey.

For his flesh colours he uses a mix of crimson, red, yellow ochre and 
plenty of white. He uses crimson and black to create the darkest tones. 
He explained that he thought it was OK to use black but it can have a 
flattening effect if used too much. From his mixed palette he uses the 
greys in mid tones and receding areas. He also uses crimson and cerulean 
blue for very dark shadows.

He continued by framing the portrait by laying down fairly bold boundary 
lines i.e., the jaws, lips, ear.

The nose, which contains the most blood vessels, was painted with a 
little crimson, red and black. The transparent areas of reflected light 
was painted using white and a violet. For the light areas he used white 
with a little lemon yellow (which has a brightening effect) and red 
leading into the shadowy areas.
A little cerulean blue was used to portray the stubble on the lip and 
chin. The sitters light striped shirt was painted with white, light 
mauve with some green and blue for the shadows and the reflected light 
of the surroundings.

Burnt umber with a lot of turpentine was applied for the background and 
some of it was left to run. Later he softened the background by wiping 
it with a cloth.

Throughout Emil uses his brush as a measuring stick to gauge length and 
width as a guide to placement and is continually comparing tonal 
relationships. He ensures that the stark whiteness of the canvass is 
covered.  Emil “draws” with his brush as he refines his shapes.

Although Emil initially used only one brush and later used two smaller 
brushes as he started bringing out the details he explained that this 
was only for expediency as he normally uses quite a few brushes filled 
with different colours and tones.

During the demonstration his side tips were:

     • Eyes are not actually white. They are more often than not a skin 
tone.
     • Don’t be afraid of mud greys – as long as the painting has its 
highlights.
     • Never use straight lines, even if they are there, to avoid a 
contrived, mechanical look.
     • Like Rembrandt and other renaissance artists the forehead is 
painted with the thickest paint.

Emil “finished” the painting by emphasizing the importance of mid tones 
in a 2d image as a means to show shape. From there he darkened 
backgrounds and shadows to bring highlights forward. Finally with a fine 
brush brought out the details of the eyes, eyebrows and mouth and 
brought back some lost highlights.


Paul Stringfellow
06/10/2019


I am grateful to Paul for providing these notes in my absence!

-- 
Adrian Fowle
Chairman, Bromley Art Society