Portrait Character Studies A character study involves trying to paint someone, particularly their face, with the deliberate intention of bringing out a particular side of their character or personality. This might be a penetrating intelligence, a relaxed kindness, the crusty old artist, a grisly doggedness, or a flamboyant energy. Of course this is something that probably every portrait does to some extent whether intended or not. But here the artist is specifically trying to find, express, and portray a facet of someone's nature. One can capture an essence or summary of an aspect of a person. Although without exact control: where one acquaintance may see the glare of penetrating intelligence, another sees only aggression. But the artist instinctively knows what he is trying to portray and whether he's achieving it. With the "feeling" of the character calmly in the background of one's consciousness, using a palette knife, paint, different brushes, each mark concentrates on serving this one purpose. And for sure a mere millimetre of varied placement or particular splay of brush hairs can completely alter the look of a person. And so the illusion starts to form in front of our eyes....