The greatest charm of painting lies in the following four points: shape, light, color, strokes.

Firstly, modeling is the basic of painting, that is to say, whether it like the prototype or not. Next, paintings often use light to represent three-dimensional and sense of space. Throughout the history of western painting, the effect of light mainly reflected in two points, which is real and ideal. The so-called “real”, in western painting, is the construction of an expression of the “real” world in the use of light. While the so-called “ideal”, refers to the expression of the “ideal” world in the use of light. Thirdly, Color is the most attracting part of painting, so it mainly relies on the beauty of colors that the paintings impress the readers. If a painting has little colors, it may unattractive. Painting chromatolysis is the essence of modern painting, especially after the impressionist painter Claude Monet, painting theories and methods are widely used by modern painters. It particularly emphasizes the inherent color, illuminant color and ambient color of the object and their mutual relations. In short, the color of the object is not entirely inherent color, but it also has the effect of the reflective of light and surroundings. That is why the painting looks particularly realistic.

What’s more, brushstrokes are the traces in the canvas that represents painter’s ideas and thoughts. No matter it is unrestrained or delicate, calm or warm, they all reflects the artist’s feelings and mood. In the modern paintings, painters always use strokes, and even some of them piled the pigment to make it thickly, that is what we should also pay attention to when we appreciate the paintings.

In this work, Paul Klee pulled out a line from the fish, with the red arrows pointing to the cluster’s head to express brain boosting. In addition to a fish in the dish, other things were represented by the symbols, such as “the moon”, “the sun”, “plant”, “fish” and “figures”. Paul Klee was not only one of the earliest modern painters, but also a musician and a poet. The connotation of words, letters, numbers and symbols in his works was often alluded to the music and poetry. He was able to freely transfer between the concrete and the abstract, lines and colors, large and small, and watercolors and oil paintings. Sometimes Klee used the Fauvist colors, but he had removed the stinging jerky. The red and green with the soft sense made people reminiscent of the beautiful moonlight which itself was the dream of the sun dominating the dreamy world.

Compared with the portrait paintings, drawing half-length portraits is more difficult, because the involved factors are more abundant than the portrait paintings. When we practice the half-length portrait, we not only make the relationship between the character’s head and the background fully embodied, but also pay attention to the harmonious relations of the rest parts of the body, neck, shoulder, chest, abdomen, back, arm and hand caused by the changes of clothes lines. Figure’s half-length portrait can cover a broader social background. Many paintings with complete conception and connotation can be regarded as the extension of half-length portrait or being evolved from it. Thus when we make the half-length portrait and learn how to manage and perform the characters and objects, we should try to explore and experience the deeper charm.

One, action setting

Character’s action setting is one of the most important contents for half-length portrait. Because such operation has basically possessed some characteristics of people’s social life, it is obviously not easy to design a natural and everlasting action that is consistent with the personality and avoid giving people the sense of familiarity. Hand performance is an important content in the design of half-length portrait. Because of the complex and rich motions of the hand, people always regard it as the body language and the second face which is an expression of inner world. Therefore the design of hand movements must not be casual. In the treatment of the dynamic process of hand, we should pay close attention to the relationship between hand and wrist, even for the hand covered by the long sleeve. We should also feel the shape of the hand and beauty of movement from the corresponding drapery changes. A large proportion of the head, neck, shoulder, chest, waist, and abdomen and the relationship of movement combination must be right. Any error will make the local deviation of the aesthetic movement affected, so that the whole oil canvas is not natural.

Two, clothing selection

Clothing (including props) plays an important role in half-length portrait. Characters with different gender and personality should be treated with different colors and texture clothing with its characteristics, and formed the organic combination in line with the environment, which provides creative foundation for half-length portrait.

Three, drafting and coloring

The first step is still drafting and coloring. Drafting also uses several monochromes and focuses on the solution of the basic motion and the proportion of human relations and temporarily ignores the other details. Coloring should emphatically solve the opposite and united relation among the human skin, clothing and environment. Although the head and hand are people’s skin color, the gap between the two is actually great. Because there are many capillaries on the hand which usually seem to be in bloodshot condition, this is the deep purplish red that we often feel. Dealing with the relationship of the other parts should also do so. In clearly differentiating different types of colors, the close colors should also be sensitively taken apart.

In painting the half-length portrait, we need to emphasize the plans and steps of drawing. After solving the large colors, we can draw from the head and attach great importance to the specific gravity of the painting. In general, the hand should not be painted from each finger and make the movement of hand into several decent turns and the draw the finger based on this. The performance of clothing lines must embody the transition relation of motion and shape of the human body. It should emphasize that which part is closed to each other and which place is placed in a vacant state. Try to avoid performing the texture of objects when coloring and early performance of the texture will weaken the volume in the significance of the shape.

Four, in-depth characterization

Further characterization technique also requires a variety of attempts. Pen, knife, and the hand can cause completely different feelings. Direct painting with local transparent cover can also make the painting with some special effects. In the process of in-depth characterization, some details that are omitted at first should be gradually added, such as the elder’s face wrinkles, some exquisite ornaments, fabric patterns, in order to enhance the painting’s rich administrative levels. Due to the information required in half-length painting, apart from the great efforts to solve all sorts of objective factors with the natural attribute on the painting, we should also strive to show the intrinsic feature conveyed by the objects.

Five, the overall adjustment

After a number of steps to complete the oil bust practice there are also many conflicting details listed, boldly cut all the unnecessary parts to make the subject more prominent, resulting in an expressive art effect.

Death and Fire was made in the last years of the Paul Klee’s life when he was seriously ill. The whole painting was filled with a strong bleak and sad atmosphere and full of artistic appeal.

The genre painting was permeated with a strong atmosphere of desolation and sorrow. This was not a subjective speculation, but the painting’s artistic appeal. The heavy black lines hided a heavy load. The pale character comprised of symbol languages in the middle was like a skull, making people feel an omen for death. If carefully observed, the eyes and mouth of this character was composed of three letters T, O and D. And the word “tod” consisting of these three letters meant death in the German. Paul Klee made a very special processing of this image: on the one hand, he adopted the combination of pictures and words, which looked new and interesting; on the other hand, this image looked like the figure facing the left from the contour, but faced everyone in the facial treatment. This abnormal processing made the painting full of wit and humor and also reflected the painter’s unique sense of humor. This distorted image was like the painter’s involuntarily helpless and irony for the life or the death. This wonderful treatment also highlighted the artist’s joy of life, artistic talent and personalities.

On the lower right of the painting, there was a small figure consisting of thick lines, constructed as the hieroglyphic villain, which was stinging the head. It was the symbol of the virus or disease. The figure’s left hand held a circle which was both the symbol of the sun and the time. It meant that the death was an inescapable outcome and a process, so that the artist was able to easily face it. As the painter wrote to his friend, “Of course, I am not casually walk on the road which leads to the death, all my works have at one point and declared that the final period is approaching.” Because of the deep understanding of death and life, so he calmly faced it without losing the last joke and humor for the life. The color of the expressionism painting had a depressing feeling of terror. The red background had a smell of death and the image of white figure was like the patient sitting in the blood. The entire colors had stale tomb murals of the gas and various symbolic languages also had a color and a mysterious taste. Klee’s works had the fantastic color which was not purely abstract or realistic, but a kind of comprehensive art: the art of self under the painter’s unique control. His painting language and style influenced many later artists.

Desiderius Erasmus was originally a Dutch and people used to call him Rotterdam’s Heras Erasmus. Because he liked Basel as an international cultural city, he decided to settle there. He was fluent in Greek and Latin, and had a profound knowledge. He had the strong anti-church and anti-feudal ideological tendency. Hans Holbein had long heard of his performance and admired him very much and painted his portrait before meeting him. Later Holbein saw Desiderius Erasmus that he admired long in a friend’s place and Holbein immediately drew Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus, which was one of the most Europe’s outstanding portraits.

The artist depicted the figure sitting and writing with his eyes looking down. This momentum was very difficult to draw, because it needed to rely on the half of the face to portray the spirit. As the soul of the window gazing down on the eyes, undoubtedly it was very difficult to portray the characters. But as the master, Holbein broke the conventional portraiture, and focused on the depicting the scholar’s writing swiftly and tried to portray the high nose, focused eyesight and firm lips. These details were very personal, showing the courageous, brave, brilliant, stable and reserved inner world. With the eyes of the figure painting, people gradually focused on the writing posture. As the second face, the hand expressions were particularly rich: skilled, free posture and the noble left hand pressed on the paper to form the second visual center in order to attract the viewers and cause people’s unlimited imagination.

The painting’s image was very succinct and the composition was very simple with changes. The painter used three levels to treat the color tone. The face and the hands were treated as the light part and the contrast was more prominent against the thick fur coat and hat. The simple background had a few changes to set off the scholar’s quiet, deep and intelligent face. This was a portrait with the unique composition. Desiderius Erasmus spoke highly of this painting and he thought this was quite similar and more importantly, it showed the essence of character’s personality.

Hans Holbein completed Charity the Family of the Artist between 1528 and 1529. Here the painter described the figures that he was most familiar with around him. This painting was also one of his most successful portraits. In this painting, with the delicate brushwork, the painter expressed his deep feeling for his family which was hard to find in the rest of his works. The artist’s wife was Elizabeth Bzhnstoke, a middle-aged woman who lived a very simple life and dealt with all the housework. Although she was not young, her face was still elegant, delicate and pretty. As her husband’s art activity was busy, the burden of the family seemed to make her whole body and mind haggard.

Two children nestled around the wife: the big boy was called Philippe, who was Holbein’s eldest son and seriously looked at the distance. The juvenile innocence and implied his desire for the future life. Between the wife’s knees, there was a little daughter called Katerina. Although her face was full of childishness, she seemed to also feel the adult’s worries. The figure’s head was as big as a person in the real life. According to some scholars, from other reproduced drawings, the original background of this painting possibly had some buildings and the right side was also cut off a piece. In the upper painting, there was originally a title. Now it was gone. It was his wife’s sick period when Holbein would go to Britain soon and have stayed for a while in Basel that the painter drew this painting. Seeing this scene can not help but make the painter’s tears trickle down his cheeks.

All of these were expressed in writing by the painter and the image was very touching. This painting was originally painted in the paper with four thick layers and then cut along the contour of the characters and mounted on board. It measured about 79 x 65 cm, which is preserved in the National Art Museum of Basel.

The king Phillip ordered the palace painter Diego Velazquez to create the history painting The Surrender of Breda in order to give himself a niche in the temple of frame. This was a real historical event. In 1625, the Spanish forces attacked Holland fortress Breda. Due to the military gap of both sides, the fortress commander Youjinsi Na Sawusiji surrendered to the Spanish army commander Sibinnora and handed over the the key of the fortress city.

This was a battle victory of Spanish troops and neither save its fast fail nor stop the independence of Dutch. The painter was not happy with this task, since it was a shameful aggression which had passed on for 10 years. The Dutch had recaptured the fort and there was no significance for showing. But the king’s court painter had to accept this order of the king. On the other hand, commander Sibinnora was the painter’s friend and patron, so the artist had to draw.

As the true representation, the history painting must comply with the history and the main historical figures must be true. But the painting was an art which should reflect the artist’s political and ideological tendency and artistic ideas. From the painting, we could see the painter is standing in Spain’s position to perform this historical event with humanitarianism. Looking from the painting, a battle had just ended. The background had the open space and floating air, filled with the smoke of war. In the prospect, the both sides reached an agreement to end the war. Obviously the painter was for the winner and created the mighty Spanish sergeant with javelin in dignified neatness. But Holland army was loose and disordered, like a group of motley crew, which formed a strong contrast with the former. Although the Spanish commander Sibinora and the Dutch leader Nasawusiji shook hands, in the image shaping, the winner had the tolerant proud dignity and the loser did not lose the brave and resolute personality. These different images showed the painter’s ideological tendency of standing in the Spanish national position. In the Velazquez painting, the Spanish army soldiers were very strong, but the Dutch army was unconcerned with the battle. The painter did not deface the image of the loser and the Dutch soldiers still had good self-esteem, making the both sides in equal status. The painter intentionally concealed the justice and injustice of war and processed a war of aggression into a war of peace.

In the summer of 1651, Diego Velazquez returned to Spain from Italy and the king promoted him to the Director of Royal Art, which made him fall into the complex art affairs. The painter felt very depressed because he was unable to paint. At the same

Sleeping Venus. But this twisted and elegant curve beauty, the youth surging that was back to the audience with the life desire and the secular and ideal beauty performance were imaginative, which also Venice school lacked. This painting showed the awakening of the Spanish artist’s humanistic spirit in the 17^th century and also marked the unique display of Spanish humanistic spirit in the painting.

The painting depicted Venus laid in front of the mirror and the little cupid held the mirror for her. Venus was turning her back to the audience. The implicit composition was obviously influenced by the Spanish religious asceticism. Venus was the goddess that many painters loved to depict. The painters tended to borrow the goddess to express their social and aesthetic ideals. Different nationalities and different painters showed the different Venus. This Venus depicted by Velasquez was dainty, cute, dignified and noble. Her incomparable beauty showed the aesthetic concepts of Spanish people. The painter used the rhythmic flow line to form the female body beauty. If the body of Venus was carefully seen, her changes of curves fluctuation were like the melody music with strong and sonorous in the upper and peaceful and soothing in the lower. The master always used the transparent and concise colors and precise brushworks to depict the complex skin changes and delicate body full of vitality and youthful spirit. This was the artist’s praise for the human aesthetic beauty.

Some painters may focus on the five senses of organs and deal hair simply in portrait painting. Hair expression is truly difficult, it has not obvious structure like senses or features, lays on the head, hard to find the point to paint. But hair has a large part of the head, even occupies a large outline. Besides, hair can reflect one’s personality. So, painters should pay attention to the expression of hair.

(1) Hair should reflect the main physical features. Whatever hairstyle is, pay attention to its sphere characteristics. Hair and face are an integral whole, both have light and shade, reflection of light and highlights. Due to the smooth of hair, so much bended hair go together and appear highlight. Notice the forms of highlight expression, otherwise the hair would become “hickie” or gray-white head.

(2) Pay attention to the change of hair’s outer contour. Different hairstyles have certain effect towards outer contour. Simple hairstyle, out contour’s change is simple too. The tone of hair is vital, so, the change of outer contour mainly uses ideological and practical ways of sketch to deal with.

(3) Pay attention to the join ways of hair and face. The part of temples is one join way, and hairline part should have certain thickness, this thickness would bring a shadow to forehead.

(4) Hairstyle not only reflects the gender of character, but also a important factor to express the features of character.

The expression of hair is important in head sketch, hope the learners can regard the hair as five senses, and take care of the primary and secondary relations in the whole head.

Gare St Lazare was Impressionist painter Claude Monet’s real impression for Gare St Lazare, which exhibited in the year 1877. For Monet, the theme has nothing special significance, but just an approach to achieve his goal. What he really cared about was a visual experience, and relationship of color between the steam and the train’s surrounding.

The entire picture was in a cold tone, but it also in unity and rich color variations. The smoke exhaled by locomotive rising into the pale blue sky, and diffusing over the whole sky that presented color blue, purple, light red and white. People and nature in this genre painting were harmonious blend, and they were completely integrated in the landscape, the sun and the air.

And all this fusion in brilliant, gorgeous harmonious colors that belongs to Monet’s unique style. In the railway station, the siren hooted, the steam rushed to the glazed roof, but the roof blocking the smoke, so that the whole station enveloped in the smoke. The sunshine shined through the glass on the water vapor, countless small drops were under the blue sky and white clouds that made the train and roof truss obscure to us.

The composition of this impressionism painting is also quite noteworthy, which adopted wave-shaped rich changes. Monet skillfully combined the objects with different shape together, the oblique lines towards different orientations and linked to the locomotive, all of these elements combined with white smoke increased the hustle and bustle of the image and depicted varied environment. It seemed that you can hear the steam engine roared when it went through the railway station, and see the dense smoke rolled under the huge garage. In this painting, we are fortunate enough to see a poetic station.