The SFUMATO Portrait Technique

Here You can see me painting the commissioned portrait of a girl, using oil colors and the Sfumato technique as used by Leonardo Da Vinci.
You can find all my lessons at my Patreon Page:
/ paintingthelight
Thank you so much,
Antonis Kosmadakis

[@Flyingrabbit2222]

Your accent is not a problem. Thank you for this demonstration!

[@oaktharas]

Yeah, accent is not, but I do have my reservations on the techniques. Cause we aren’t really sure if this was the correct process. Most were lost in time

[@Leemac--gg1]

it's not a struggle to understand you plus your accent is lovely.

[@deetleskeet]

Don’t apologize for your English. Your English is much better than our Greek.

[@atlantic_love]

Your Greek?

[@hc3021]

Yes!! And you have a very soothing voice while describing what you’re doing and why. You’re a great instructor!

[@crayolaclouds2696]

​@@atlantic_love it means he speaks our language better than we speak his language

[@atlantic_love]

@@crayolaclouds2696 And that wasn't what I was referring to.

[@Herr_Vorragender]

Bro, your english is so wonderfully clear that I easily watch and listen to your video at 2x speed

[@digitwidget]

Well done. A fine demonstration of how little color is actually applied in the highlights and transition areas. And don't apologize for your english language usage. English is a difficult language to master, even when born in countries where it is the primary spoken and written language. My 2nd language is Hungarian, but I would fear to be suddenly transported to Budapest and try to be understood. Too many years of not using it. Fortunately, your art can speak for you. Don't stop learning.

[@patriciozazzini8302]

nahh english is easy, try to learn spanish or french with so many words and verbs.

[@ElenaRoche]

Your English is good enough for me. You made it very clear that your video is on how to imitate the Sfumato technique, not how to do the actual Sfumato of da Vinci and Caravaggio.

[@2degucitas]

I stood in front of an awe inspiring DaVinci painting at the Scottish National Museum. The blending of light, dark and color was flawless. It was better blended than Kim Kardashian's makeup.

[@leeboriack8054]

Kim K . and Leonardo DeVinci should not be used in the same sentence. Ha ha

[@dianecourtney2724]

No way was DaVinci as good as Kim Kardashian !!

[@MossyMozart]

@2degucitas - I hope you are trying to joke.

[@2degucitas]

@@MossyMozart yes

[@etsugradlib]

And just as thick.

[@brucetidwell7715]

This was very educational. Thank you, so much. Your accent is completely clear and if people can't understand you, it is their problem!

[@Chaotic313]

I love the way you speak - no apologies necessary! Thank you for this wonderful lesson.❤

[@Asraakramawan]

Beautiful work. I love how charming you are. It's delightful to hear your voice. Don't worry about the haters. You are precious and so is your art.

[@judahnjeru1057]

I really appreciate you for doing this video in English. Don't apologize it's perfect. Thank you 🇰🇪

[@ThomiBMcIntyre]

Such a lovely portrait. I love how you can lean so heavily into historical technique, yet still have your hands and eyes shine

[@DavidDickerson-i8s]

You speak better English than most Americans, in my opinion. I am surrounded by a litigious bunch here in the United States. The English I was taught starting seventy years ago hardly communicates art and science any longer. Thank you, my friend. 😊🙏

[@lcox6468]

WOW the way you explain and show this technique is fantastic. I’ve heard about it but you are the first one I’ve seen do it and now I understand it better. Your accent is fine, no need to mute😂😂. Thank you for this I am not as scared of it now, not ready for it though. Your work is Magnificent.🇦🇺

[@andrewsices]

My heart is soaring! Thank you for sharing this technique.

[@JWMCMLXXX]

I draw. And I make digital artwork. I never felt like I needed to learn to paint until now. Wow. Thats magic.

[@MossyMozart]

@JWMCMLXXX- Painting will teach you so much about form, light, and color, whether you use oils, acrylics, watercolors, gauche, tempera, flashe (vinyls), pastels, or wax. There are some good videos on KZbin that teaches various mediums, color, etc.

[@rebeccamd7903]

I didn’t know this was a technique for painting, but this is the only way I can paint. It feels like 2d sculpting and is so nice to be able to add depth to light and shadow in a more natural way.

[@Ty-1452]

Thank you so much for pointing out that not every smooth transition from light and shadow is sfumato. I don't know why so many amazing painters don't get this ! Also, English is not my first language either, yet I understand you perfectly. Usually, I have a problem understanding other people who speak English as a second language, but certainly not you.

[@Dita66]

Didn’t know the name for this technique. Thank you for showing. Very interesting. I can understand your talking perfectly. English is also not my first language.

[@ANAHATAJADE]

Beautiful technique! Very useful tips and advise you give in this video. Thank you!

[@shreyasshankar4109]

Your treatment of eyes is lovely! Comparable with Da Vinci. I am an artist and trust me when I say you are getting the technique better than most.

[@javierasensio2269]

Well, being Spanish your accent sounds great to me and pretty clear. Actually I've always thought that every English accent is good for every speaker but native English speakers who nobody understands but themselves. Anyway your work is excellent and thank you very much for the videos. They're being really instructive for me!

[@beepbeep-m6m]

The thumbnail was so stunning I had to click. You are so talented, wow!!

[@steventyreman3642]

This is the best explanation of the technique i have seen,excellent thankyou 😊

[@barbarahenn-pander5872]

Love your technique, your beautiful accent, and your understanding of light is astonishing!!

[@howitlookstome]

A deeply human portrait. Your colors, the pose, placement, technique-timeless. A pleasure to watch this come to life. Thank you

[@thehealingpathway]

Your English is more than adequate as you explain and demonstrate this process so beautifully. I recognised your distinct Greek accent immediately, with a Greek Athenian mother, and thank you for sharing your gift and skill in such a thorough way. Your work is a masterpiece with mystical presence as seen in some fayum portraits, except this young girl is brought to life more profoundly with expression as with the deeper appreciation of this timeless portrait revealing the layers and dimensions, Your painting is a language of its own. Truly impressive.

[@meomeoox]

This has been helpful and informative. English is not my first language either but I understand everything you said with no problem at all, your accent is perfectly beautiful. Thank you for this video! I will come back again and again whenever I need help in oil painting. Thank you again!

[@alfonsoamador958]

I've been painting for 50yrs. Evertime I use this technique it's a new experience. You must practice continuously... patience is key.

[@DarkForestAtmosphere]

Wonderful painting. Thank you so so much for your detailed explanation. It's fantastic and very helpful. Please please, do not apologise for your accent or that you are struggling for words. Most of us struggle to explain ourselves in normal conversation, let alone trying to explain something so complex, something that is more about the 'feel' and the 'look' and many years of experience, and to do so on camera, AND to do it in a second language!!!!!! Are you kidding?! You're doing an incredible job, and honestly, you speak English better than my mum who has been in Australia for 54 years. You should be proud of how fluent and dynamic you are. Almost as good as your painting skills. Thank you for your dedication to Art and for sharing your hard earned experience and knowledge. Efkaristho (not sure how to spell that)

[@genevievedolan1288]

I love your accent and your work. Your voice is very soothing and your demonstration of this method is excellent. I have spent hours staring at da Vinci’s work, especially Mona Lisa’s hands, now I have a better understanding of how he achieved such beauty.

[@bastadimasta]

A fellow Greek artist. I salute you from Turkey. You are always our friends and at the same time malakas.

[@marinasmith7113]

Amazing technique! Great demonstration, thank you!

[@GEOGigalot]

Your English is very simple to understand for people, who's native language is not English. I can easily understand almost everything. Thank you for this great tutorial!

[@kkupsky6321]

Your English is awesome compared to my Greek. Great show mate. Lovely.

[@janineboguslawski535]

Your English is beautiful! So is your artwork.

[@JustinsDreamArt]

Stunning portrait! I'm excited to switch back to oils after struggling with acrylics for years.

[@bojanalukic8515]

Your artwork is beautiful 😍 Greetings from Belgrade

[@HorstramWieljentic]

Leonardo's sfumato is very similar to the process used for Byzantine sacred icons. You are very good and I bet that the monks of Mount Athos were your teachers.

[@59jaguar]

Nicely executed and explained. Basically you use the zorn pallet then. Any suggestions if using older photo references particularly ones with flash lighting indoors at night?

[@heleneculioli-atwood6997]

You are right. I learned to paint icônes the Russian technique. Very similar.

[@Brice23]

Excellent work! Always a great pleasure to observe and learn through a fellow lefty painting and explaining..

[@bleesome]

please don't apologize for your accent! your art is beautiful and your voice-over is very insightful. Thank you!!

[@dt_turner]

I appreciate you sharing these insights along with your process in painting this beautiful portrait

[@Faradenza505]

The underpainting was beautiful as well, I would've never thought it was painted from a photo, gorgeous and very "alive" work!

[@MaxMut.]

The Art of pigmented oil Pushing “ Absolutely enjoyed the painting and the talk.. Beautiful work!

[@tamibonestudio]

Thank you for the beautiful painting demonstrations and the excellent explanations. Also, I’m from Texas and I understand everything you say perfectly. Your voice and accent are very easy to listen to, and actually makes the listening experience more enjoyable. Just wanted to say this because absolutely no apology is necessary. I look forward to following you and learning more. Again, thank you!

[@catherinevigouroux2624]

Thank for this sharring you are not only one Best teacher in peint but absolutly also in in french because I Can understand you 😅😊

[@nightynightshade]

Your English is VERY good! I’m learning how to speak German and I hope to get this fluent one day!♥️ your work is incredible!

[@VAPIDISM]

Great video, lovely to watch you do this technique. Also as others have said, your English is fine and perfectly understandable. Thank you for posting

[@stephanierising4368]

Don’t apologize for your nice accent. I really appreciate this instruction

[@Bonita.ch1]

Επιτέλους , ένας άξιος ζωγράφος. Love from Australia 😃🇬🇷💙

[@potarnica]

Thank you for the video。 I find your description and your voice very relaxing。 Unlike many mother tongue who don t care to speak clearer， you are totally understandable。 Wonderful job。 Thank you

[@annushkahs9317]

This is INCREDIBLE explanation of sfumato! Thank you 1000 times! Can you please do a tutorial on Tamara de Lempicka?? It's so complicated to figure out how to get her style correctly. ❤❤❤

[@endertheawkwardemoji280]

Beautifully shown and explained your english is as good as many english speakers, well done 👏👏👏

[@chels9634]

this is just lovely!!! the way the portrait popped when you added the red to her cheeks and eyelids was incredible!! Besides that, your english was super understandable, I'm im glad you chose to speak it for this video, thank you!!!

[@masnamkrow8059]

Incredible. Thank you for making this video! What a beautiful painting!

[@lupitalupitaart]

What a great video. Thank you for this view into how you apply this technique :D

[@inteldogg]

Very informative 🙏 With thoughtful words and demonstrations, you communicate more effectively than most native english speakers. Don't worry about your accent!

[@katinthekno7]

Beautiful. Thank you. .very helpful. Wonderful presentations and technique. 🙏💜 🌿🌺🌿

[@Juliana-Bub]

What a helpful video and stunning portrait! And never apologize for your beautiful accent. I only speak one language, so I'm always impressed with anyone who can speak multiple languages.

[@ArtisanBD]

Nice Drawing

[@Mononkey]

Doing a little art study for a contest, watching you paint was very very helpful

[@imlistening1137]

I understand your English perfectly! The portrait is absolutely beautiful. It was a joy to watch you paint.

[@MossyMozart]

@imlistening1137 - I agree. His painting seems so effortless.

[@nadyamoscow2461]

A wonderful work and a great tutorial. Thanks a lot for sharing!!

[@JamesTolliver0708]

Magnificent demonstration! I appreciate you for taking the time to show us how to paint portraits.

[@anniebeanie710]

Thank you for so much information on dust ... i have recently started using oils and my first 2 paintings certainly have issues with dust ... and trapped hair ... you get the idea :*).

[@kikikoko3266]

Πολύ βοηθητικό βίντεο!! Ευχαριστούμε!!

[@homemadeillustration17]

Cool! Very beautiful!!!

[@PhoebeCamui]

His voice is so soothing. And the vid really motivates. Beautiful piece, great info, thank you!

[@j_fenrir]

Just wanted to say, your accent is very charming! I find it very admirable when anyone learns another language.

[@KateCarew]

Truly beautiful and informative. This is an impossibly hard technique, like you said, it’s easy to think you need specific items, the best oils, the best brushes…because to accomplish this seems like a far away fantasy. You described things very well and broke down some of the mystique. I can’t imagine how hard you worked to understand what seems simple until you try to recreate it yourself. Sfumato isn’t anything I’ve ever even tried. I was confident that it’s beyond me, but now I’d like to try…and fail, but try again and maybe do better. Thank you for being a good teacher. 🙏🏻 Also, please do not apologize for your English, you spoke very VERY well. Your accent isn’t really that strong and every word you used was correct. I am a native English speaker who had French spoken at my grandparents, so truly, just two languages do I know. I lived in Turkey and Italy at different times in my life and I understand how it feels not being confident in a language, but trust me, you did an excellent job and I felt sort of sad when you said we could just turn the audio off!! :( You said it at a time I was thinking how nice your accent was, how you have a calm and peaceful voice. I know how easy it is to say things without meaning them but I’m sincere. Your English is great. When I had to maneuver myself around France and Italy I was EXTREMELY insecure, I had no confidence in my ability to use other languages and French I’ve spoken my whole life! Italians were very kind about my bad Italian, the French were far less kind if I made a grammatical error. The Turkish people were extremely grateful and enthusiastic I even tried, I will always love Turkey because of how welcoming the people were. Americans aren’t truly bothered by accents, a lot of us have family that speak other languages and if someone doesn’t have empathy or an appreciation for trying to learn then they’re the idiot, not you. Please don’t feel bad, it hurt my heart sensing your discomfort…and truly, you said it at a moment I was thinking “what a nice voice”. Edit I googled you To see your work And I love your Illumination series! I read a bit of your CV, Byzantium and iconography etc, but your personal pieces really are amazing, I’d love to see you talk about those here. I think a lot of people would.

[@PaintingtheLight]

Thank you so much for sharing this!!!! I'm humbled!

[@b.comeau2597]

Beautiful and fascinating technique! Thank you for sharing!

[@Izibi_milk]

This is very intriguing to watch in real time take place. Thank you! And your English is fine, we need your commentary!

[@BettyButterflyDarbyshire]

Just wanted to say- no need to apologise for your accent at all!! You are completely understandable and very helpful!

[@CaraRamzi]

Sir, you spoke and worked beautify✨👌

[@dimitrispogkas613]

Beautiful work!

[@tanyadecastella4770]

So lovely, thank-you for sharing.

[@masoodakhtar1937]

Many thanks for sharing the process... Love your accent ❤

[@cutediy848]

You are amazing thank you for the video for the lovely helpful Explanation I enjoyed listening to every word your said ,even the painting process just amazed me ❤️❤️❤️✨️good luck I wish I can do master pieces like yours 🥹❤️❤️❤️

[@zuzannanowicka6348]

Thank you! The video is absolutely amazing, showed me so much and explained everything I should know!! Huge kudos!! ❤

[@drigga_dre14]

Your English is perfectly understandable! & your work is beautiful 🙏🏽

[@william3589]

It's nice to be early to one of your videos! They are always great

[@April-tx2wk]

Very good! Thanks for uploading. I love this technique.

[@miketsila9546]

Ang galing po ng gawa ninyo!... I love it... :)

[@BelindaShort]

Please don't worry about your accent, you speak how you speak. This was so educational I've always wondered how sfumato was done when I learned about it in college.

[@TocharaehD]

What a wonderful demo, and I was actually wondering what this style of painting was called... and then your video magically popped up (while I was researching alla prima), and your video did not disappoint! I'm a charcoal/soft pastel artist with plans to break into oil painting very soon, and this demo really hit the spot!

[@Rubiastraify]

It's magical how you begin with black and white, and end up with this! Wonderful to watch and learn from. No need to apologize for your English; the accent is charming. Besides--you speak better English than many English-speakers can speak Greek!

[@starneko]

Thank you for this video. I am currently reading a book about Leonardo Da Vinci and the Sfumato technique gets mentioned a lot, but I had a hard time understanding what it actually was. Never apologize for your accent. You were perfectly understandable and should be proud of knowing a second language.

[@blackplanet-f5o]

As a painter that also plays with makeup for long years, this technique feels very familiar! Also, your English is great and perfectly understandable. 😊

[@maudale]

I had painted Da Vinci's Saint John the Baptist and it was trial and error to get the technique and glazings look right! and your accent is wonderful by the way :)

[@Wendy8888]

Great video. Thank you for the demonstration!

[@patriciawhite619]

Thank you so much sharing this lesson.. I’m learning so much from you…

[@Adriana-nk7kk]

Amazing job! Thank you for your explanation, it is truly inspiring!

[@melissalabrecque5163]

That was perfect! Love the accent 😍

[@shagwaaone1432]

I truly enjoyed this video lesson!! I will watch more of your videos!! God bless

[@mariapilarme]

Sfumato are light glazing with oil and a very little bit of color like blue to create atmosphere. They are very light transparent coats of oil and pigment. Let it dry and apply another one. Until it creates the smoky feeling.

[@velvetchiharu]

Thank you, I couldn’t tell his technique esp. since he said that there were many theories. I thought he was dry brushing :/ although perhaps he is and your description is a different approach, it seemed like quite a lot of pigment he was using.

[@palnagok1720]

​@@velvetchiharu...Leonardo used thin films + his finger tips. He hardly ever used white...see faber birren book_ colour in the history of painting.So a highlight with a mixed white is most likely incorrect.

[@susannehakanlind2942]

I completely understand your accent. Beautiful work and very well explained! 👌❤️

[@WhiteFyre]

Wow! You are incredibly talented and skilled. A lovely painting. Cheers from Australia. 🌸🐨🐚

[@leonebritt4879]

Stunning

[@sphblr3767]

its so good ! thank you ! your English is great.... regards from NYC

[@MrKongatthegates]

I see some of the really good painters using green in the shadow of the face. I understand it is the complement of red and pink in the flesh, and it neutralizes, but I have such a hard time to use green on a face

[@mattzart]

what you surround that green with will change how one perceives it, so have some fun with it. no need to worry, because if you somehow mess up, you'll still have learned something, you know?