Portrait Commission, Man With Kitten. Brush Strokes and Attitude.

[@kirkpatticalma7911]

Cesar is the gold standard. He has such a classical sensitivity to his work that, in a disposable world, is refreshing and inspiring.

[@jeffhreid]

The warm notes in the reflected light under the kitten also drew my attention. Such a simple tight in composition with limited reference, Cesar did little bits to make it compelling. Good lesson there. A difference between a chef and a cook is what they can do with simple ingredients

[@rogerpalmer5483]

Cesar once again thank you for another enthralling invitation into your studio and unselfishly sharing your total mastery with your viewers!

[@Noonesbusiness]

You can also mix cadmium yellow and rose madder lake for vermilion. Best of both worlds. Sort of like the titanium and lead white mix

[@RobertF-]

Great painting. Portrait commissions are one of the timeless traditions in art. It will always be a part of art.

[@artistvishalvashu6929]

For me it's a spiritual experience to see your every single video 🙏.

[@michellelittle9184]

Fabulous portrait! Cesar, you are such an inspiring artist!

[@drpreethampai7564]

Beautiful painting.like the way how the skin tones merge in the end and the portrait looks complete and beautiful. Thank you for showing us how you did the painting in stages. So generous and unselfish of you sir. Always enjoy watching your video. So much to learn from you.

[@emmanuelugwu4758]

Your mastery of colours I will love to achieve one day santus

[@johnmburu3495]

I love hearing you talk about art. Thanks for sharing!

[@vitin25]

Hola Sr. Santos, hace un tiempo atrás le hice el comentario, porque no mas videos en español , y en realidad, su talento es tanto y tan completo, que se puede disfrutar , hasta silente. Gracias por su sencillez de dejarnos la fortuna de su ‘ARTE’.

[@lanayashina]

I'm a big fan of vermilion, it's my favourite red to use in portraits. I find it has a more natural feel to it.

[@frederickletterblair]

Simply transcendent

[@evanlane1690]

"Tell me about vermillion. I always want to learn more!" There is absolutely NOTHING I could teach you about painting. 🤣 I'm sure there are people who watch your videos that operate on the same level as you, but it's not me, and I really enjoyed the earnest "lemme know what you think!" question. Imma go back to my finger paints as if I'm a old master.

[@mrkauffman]

lol i thought the exact same thing

[@beenasibi5971]

Wonderful!!!!!!

[@kevinnoel9024]

Mr. Santos good evening to you. As a West Indian, Caribbean native, watching your videos has helped me a great deal with building my confidence in drawing large-scale artwork which was for me what kryptonite is to Superman. Thanks, Mr. Santos for sharing your knowledge of painting and drawings with us out here in the public. God bless

[@richardoakley6560]

I like the looseness of the block-in. What went over it seems a totally different painting. It’s too bad they were never meant to coexist.

[@DomingoFreire]

Excellent process

[@panosdimi4713]

Thank for the leson we love you keep teaching as please to see you man

[@qanaqa33174]

lovely piece

[@dylanswint4762]

Really beautiful work, Cesar! The subtlety and control of color temperature and value is what really inspires me here

[@Srvent]

This is insane. I thought his skin was like, peach coloured. You’ve got the whole rainbow there to draw it out! 😦

[@neilknox2587]

This is a lovely lovely beautiful piece, there so much feeling in this this piece, great art man!

[@joelq.tabuena4469]

now your my teacher... 🤗 God bless to you Teacher😉

[@TheLoveweaver]

Exquisite!

[@severinoarriola3757]

great work of arts,youre great artist cesar

[@kengilly867]

Thanks for a really good video.... very clear about the colours and the process... I'm sure it will be a great help do a lot of people including myself...👍👍

[@jamescrabtreeartist8898]

very resourceful . Love all of the info you share with us in these videos

[@permit40]

Excellent. Thank you so much Cesar!

[@satishdev7628]

Beautiful sir ji ❤

[@jimqartworks]

awesome,

[@ArningEchanoPH]

He looks like the guy from Leon The Professional! ^^

[@marcofontolan6592]

I love zecchi vermillion , so delicate and a little bit neutral. Perfect with lead white

[@otariiobidze3648]

Simply amazing

[@jeffhreid]

Very interesting to watch. I liked the little bit of cobalt in the catch light of the eye. I feel Cesar approaches commissions differently that pieces for shows or museums, I find that fascinating.

[@art-levanartsgeorgia8259]

Positive music is good to shoot it's good 🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪👍👍👍🎨🎨🎨

[@Kaalokalawaia]

Amazing as always

[@nikkiswenson54]

Fascinating, Cesar!

[@GMammanoArt]

Amazing portrait cesar ! Perfect!

[@mariodonkartworks]

I think the concern with vermilion is that the old type was a product of Mercury and could for reasons not clear, sometimes go black. I don't think modern vermilion has this problem.

[@Thesamurai1999]

Mercury? Doesn’t that make it extremely toxic 🧐

[@mariodonkartworks]

@@Thesamurai1999 well most professional artists paints are somewhat toxic. If used correct you will be fine. You could add lead oxide and cadmium and Chrome's as something you should not be eating I have used all my whole life and at 67 doing fine. No medical issues. However I try to keep the paint on the end of the very long brush lol. You have noticed they are long

[@artistankit8945]

Wow.... It was so soothing to see one masterpiece getting ready... The way you hold the brush with long tip and the strokes.... Omg.... Loved it...... From India ❣️

[@Nathaniel-MOK]

pure master

[@jeffhreid]

The composition is unusual . Larger than life size, but slightly so. Cropped and angled , adding tension. Looking as if coming through the frame. I wonder how Cesar decided to make the individual choices for the composition.

[@AyanRoyArts]

Excellent

[@matijavuk2857]

master of painting :)

[@arslongavitabrevis9032]

Thanks Cesar for lesson

[@alefuentes9058]

Amigo impresionante 👍🏿

[@anilkatta2283]

Very nice portrait & teaching as well...I do appreciate Artist in replying the viewers...I left spellbound... Best Regards .

[@lacanvas]

Perfeito!!!!

[@rajeshbidawat1616]

Very nice

[@chandranichakraborty709]

very amazing sir

[@artistvishalvashu6929]

As always amazing video 🔥

[@writingfinearts]

Very good video

[@SuperRuss26]

You are a true master Artist in my mind, awesome work as always 🙂

[@jimmiesutton8468]

Cesar, all of your lessons are priceless, including your portrait cd! What i would love for your address sometimes your use of Raw Umber! I use Vandyke brown and black for most applications. The use fo raw umber escapes me. Will gladly accept any help from anyone!!!

[@shreedevart]

Always great sir 🙏🙏🙏

[@Racheedean]

You're amazing

[@wileytrade]

NICE JOB MAN👍

[@DannySabraArt]

I loved this portrait and this video! Cesar could you talk about how you use reference sometime? Its cool that you used a video for this one! I would be fascinated to see your system utilizing (what looks like) photoshop and just generally how you use the photo reference. Like you I paint from life as often as possible however for portraits and such it is difficult and most people will only tolerate using photo reference... Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@armandomattiaimperatore3192]

it went from a still painting to a living thing

[@williamh123456789]

Nice

[@shuvoDhar.5537]

Great work sir😍😍😍❤❤❤ 👌🏻

[@shivambangar1859]

Sir will you make a video on degree of art and uses of degrees for career in fine art

[@gadolin619]

El problema con el bermellon es que se usaba el cinabrio como componente principal (contiene mercurio) de hecho el mercurio esta conformado principalmente por cinabrio de hecho lo mas cercano al tono bermellon es el rojo cadmio y devido a la toxicidad de este color se ha promovido mucho hoy por hoy el uso del cadmio.

[@art-levanartsgeorgia8259]

Bravo Bravo is a masterpiece drawing brother as I know you participated in boxing before 😁👍👍👍🥊🥊🥊🥊🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪🇬🇪

[@lilianaledesma8058]

Hola , me encanta tu trabajo, soy argentina y no sé inglés 🙏 incluye subtítulos en español. Gracias maestro🤗

[@KatarzynaOleskaArt]

I love the skin tones in this painting! I do wonder however if using retouching varnish instead of oiling out and then mixing it into medium is a good idea for longevity of the painting?

[@santocesart]

I normally stay with just linseed oil, but in this case (last layer and many hours to work) I thought adding the varnish would keep a steady saturation throughout. It will last though.

[@jakovj.m.5139]

👍

[@عليعلي-ع4م5ف]

روعة

[@shadowtheory7500]

What was the music during this video? I really quite liked it!

[@bharathk416]

Grate work sir👏👏👏🥰, Love from INDIA 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

[@kevinnoel9024]

What reference notes you've garnered over the years can help a beginner to draw and paint portraits that you can point out in any past books or DVDs you've created on the market that can be purchased on Amazon or another online site that carries your work, please 🙏 share it with us. Thanks

[@mortraven626]

That terre verte looks like a sap green almost.

[@yulart]

You draw the outline before you paint?

[@neilcramond_fineartist]

Cesar, I was very interested in the medium mixture of linseed oil, damar varnish and liquin fine detail. From reading Traditional Oil Painting Techniques by Virgil Elliot, who advises against this mixture in order to help the longevity of the painting. But I know you were trained at the Angel Academy who also learned direct from Annagoni, so I completely respect your process too. What is the benefit of adding varnish?

[@michaelangelo5580]

I suppose drying faster is one of them

[@neilcramond_fineartist]

@@michaelangelo5580 I know that liquin is an alkyd which speeds up drying, liquin fine detail does not dry just as fast as liquin original, but it's the use of damar varnish that I don't understand, especially as Virgil Elliot advises against its use in order to prolong the life of the painting.

[@richardoakley6560]

With all due respect to Mr. Elliot, he is simply a purest. It’s true that the old masters used very little in the way of additives, and that is why their paintings have lasted. Though, it’s best practice to be very sparing in what and how much you add to your paint film.

[@PrincessAloeVera]

AWESOME ! Question: Do you frame that with a rough edge? ie Do you leave all of that white, just some of it, or none of it, around the image when you frame it? thanks. I love it!

[@tizianocerutti6217]

Hallo, please for flesh colour do you still use Light Red or did you definitly abbandone? Thanks

[@oskar1862]

Mercury is very toxic, especially for the brain. Once it reaches our system, it is very difficult to eliminate. the vermilion oil paint has been replaced as it has little resistance to sunlight turning black the most similar brands to the original are scarlet tone MH Napthol red PR188 chinese vermilion senelier PR48:4 PY83 both the scarlet and deep red versions are completely permanent.

[@untildawnstudio7152]

You did a commission for Jean Reno? lol

[@Upwangupta782]

No matter how much you are good in art...but you can't beat Leonardo da Vinci...he lived in those era where your camera and internet was not invented yet. He lived without KZbin, Facebook or any social media world. Today Artists are forgotten as the whole digital world overtaken the natural world.

[@richardoakley6560]

There’s always a contrast to that modernist mode if thinking.

[@robertdegeanadal6958]

What type of lighting do you use to paint and to take photos of your artwork? In photos I use to have the difficult of the reflexes in the painting. Thanks!

[@artistankit8945]

I also scare of using vermilion hehehehe

[@MrPummy]

Sir how to win painting competition

[@drpreethampai7564]

Sir, I have a doubt. When we do commission work, should the portrait look exactly like the ref photo? I had come accross this problem recently ,when I did a charcoal drawing,a commissioned Portrait . There was likeness to the ref pic but the person wanted the Portrait to look exactly like the ref photo. What to do in such circumstance? Your opinion sir.

[@santocesart]

That happens, tell them to print the photo then! Lol The art is handmade, it's an experience🤷‍♂️

[@dickbudig6693]

I once had a lady return a portrait because "it just doesn't look my husband . . . there's something wrong with the nose." So, we put the painting on the easel and started modifying the nose. After an hour or so, she finally said we had gotten it right. The funny thing was, it was exactly the same as it had been. I know because, when trying to modify previous work, you can see a faint ghost of the original image. When I applied the stroke that returned the nose to it's original look, she said okay. Yikes!!!

[@drpreethampai7564]

@ Cesar santos .thank you sir.

[@jeffhreid]

@@dickbudig6693 I bet this is as old as time. Whoever commissioned the first cave painting probably had the artist rework the nose or some other bit. It is the community aspect of art. The “joy” of commissioning a work….

[@jaynepaige5702]

Why do you add the varnish to the linseed. What effect does it have?

[@jeffhreid]

When painting indirectly layers are allowed to dry between stages. Some colors (typically earth pigments used for dark passages) will get sunken in as the oil is absorbed loosing sheen , making it difficult to discern details in the darks and relative values. Adding retouch varnish unifies the sheen and brings back detail to the sunken sections. Retouch varnish is used as the underlying layers are not totally cured and need continued exposure to air to oxidize (i.e “dry”).

[@jeffhreid]

Oh, sorry after re-reading your question I see you were asking about the addition of Damar varnish to the linseed oil for his medium. Pure linseed oil as medium is very fat and slow drying. Many artists add items to medium such as stand oil, turpentine, galkyd or other mediums to change drying time, decrease fat content, improve flow or otherwise change consistency of the paint. Many artist use no medium and paint as it comes from the tube (pigment and oil binder).

[@bbab212]

Cesar, Why do you say there is a current taboo regarding portrait commissions??? Please explain, thanks 🙏

[@malcolmlindsay6421]

I guess its because of the camera and photography getting dominant now. People don't really seek to get commissions now instead they turn to photography

[@santocesart]

I said it because contemporary art is so personal that it doesn't apply when it comes to accepting commissions from outside entities. Classical art on the other hand, thrived under teamwork. So the taboo is that because of this, lots of artists feel uncomfortable nowadays doing commissioned work, which I understand as well.

[@bbab212]

@@santocesart I’m not sure I understand what you are saying but for me I make the commission personal. I learn about the person and their motivation for doing the commission and for choosing me. I have always had a very rewarding and beautiful experience although I do tend to create some stress for myself but that’s my own perfectionism.

[@santocesart]

@@bbab212 good! That's all

[@jeffhreid]

@@bbab212 I believe Cesar is saying contemporary art is so personal as applies to the artist . introspective “naval gazing “ I would call it. Whereas classically speaking artist required a symbiotic relationship with a patron which led to collaborative approach

[@mithatkorler7070]

You have trolled me for years with titanium white and now you mixed titanium with lead . You said lead dries faster and then you added liquin into your mix. Contradictions everywhere. Even so I respect your art. :)

[@ams9449]

people who provide a selfie asking a good painter to make a portrait out of it should be put in jail.

[@thenoodledog]

Cesar please paint more animals

[@shivambangar1859]

Please 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@joychatterjee3666]

You should maintain a rhythm of brush strokes, THATS NOT THE WAY YOU ARE DEMONSTRATING.

[@paintapps6293]

Interesting that you took time to defend portrait commissions. Probably because you realize it’s a cheesy subject with the cat? At least it’s not as cheesy as a portrait of Jordan Peterson 😂