Above all, painting real faces is precious,
especially when you make someone smile.

Or better yet,
when you make them the star they are.

Wherever you go,
distort their face as little as possible.

While painting a photo,
is a wonderful thing.

Photos are rarely perfect,
and often include things that do not add to you painting.

One example is the background,
after you finish painting the portrait...

You can blur the background out,
or create a better one.

This is where landscape painting,
becomes very useful.

If you are looking to improve your portraits,
use the portrait painting technique to paint landscapes.

You have to make sure,
that the colors in your portrait and in the background landscape go well together.

And then turn off your portrait layer,
stretch the landscape reference image you picked over the entire canvas.

And paint it in,
placing it behind your portrait.

Here you will have two mega layers,
the portrait and the background landscape.

The simplicity of just having a foreground and a background,
cannot be beat.

You make a person smile,
and enjoy the landscape that you painted them into.

But Hyperrealism is a powerful force
it will spin you around and send you to a different place every time.

You have to learn to control it,
and remember to be mindful of simplicity.

At first always return to a meaningful portrait,
with an interesting landscape in the background.

Once you had your fill,
and are ready to move beyond...

There is bit one consideration, that you must ponder,
before you enter the next world, which is the world of Surrealism.

You have to realize that the ability to create Perfect Portraits,
and paint perfect landscapes makes you a World Class Artist.

Here, the small minded,
will of course attempt to elevate themselves above you, anyway.

But that is only because they took the long way,
and the sunk cost fallacy is making them mad.

Just tell them that art is not a race,
therefore they shouldn't feel bad that they lost.

Now, surrealism is will alter your art,
and it will change you as well.

You will have to get in touch with your elder self,
and ask if this is a regret or not.

A life time of framing beautiful portraits in beautiful landscapes,
can hardly be called a regret.

Once you start putting unusual thing sin your paintings,
it will be hard to stop.

Surrealism is not about random strangeness,
but the creation of the silliest Broadway show that ever existed.

You will be creating a consistent world,
where years of paintings will come together.

Into a single book of philosophy,
and story telling.

The act of entering the world of Surrealism,
is also the act of creating a brand new universe.

That means, try to be consistent with your theme,
and have an evolving story to match your art.

Take simplicity of Hyper-realism,
and add consistency that you find in plays, movies, or comic books.

I gently recommend that the first universe you create,
is either funny, or silly, or cute.

If you must put enormous monsters in the back of your landscapes,
do it with a cute Comedy-Horror spin.

Both your clients and your future self,
will always appreciate sillies.

But that is just a,
gentle recommendation.

The worlds beyond Hyperrealism,
are yours to create.

In the Multiverse of Surrealism you are no longer just painting the person in the photo,
you are now taking them, and many others on an unforgettable adventure.