Painting A Portrait With Dan Gerhartz

Reviewer: Kelli T.

WHAT A TALENTED & GENEROUS ARTIST! I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS DVD!

Reviewer: pr g.

As a new painter, I was disappointed with this video. The artist demonstrates his skills in front of an audience, thinking out loud in a stammering, conversational fashion. His gestures to the model as well as the flash from someone's camera were frequent and distracting. I was expecting something a little more structured.

This may be a good video for someone aspiring to imitate the artist's style. His skills with a brush are impressive.

Reviewer: April P.

I enjoyed this video. He symplifies the portrait process and I like the painter-ly results. There's a lot of helpful information about technique and quite a bit of focus on color.

Reviewer: April P.

I enjoyed this video. He symplifies the portrait process and I like the painter-ly results. There's a lot of helpful information about technique and quite a bit of focus on color.

Reviewer: Larry S.

I really enjoyed this video, but make no mistake it is not for the beginner. I recommend a good understanding of oils and especially portrait painting if you are to understand all it has to offer. Dan Gerhartz is a living master oil painter and defines the word painterly in his technique.

Reviewer: p. b.

Dan Gerhartz is good at talking and painting at the same time, explaining quite clearly what he is doing. This is a valuable workshop that emphasizes color temperature. I am interested to see more from this artist because he is very generous with information and he makes many suggestions that make perfect sense.

Reviewer: Phillip W.

One of the best portrait demos I've ever seen, couldn't stop watching. No need for No-Doze with this one.

Reviewer: Sandra M.

Gerhartz is a very personable painter. I enjoyed listening to him as much as watching him paint. I learned so much in such a short period of time.

Reviewer: Els S.

Well organized and informative video. Els

Reviewer: Marti M.

I watched the video twice.....all the way through. It was very informative for me, almost by osmosis. It was especially good at helping me see warm and cool shades on the model. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to paint portraits.

Reviewer: Marianne E.

I loved it! Dan Gerhartz is a very talented artist and it was great to see him at work and hear his ideas and tips for the student artist.

Reviewer: Tonya V.

This was very good. You can even see how thick he applies the paint which is always a question of mine. What a fabulous painter...if you are looking for an ala prima style. Wonderful video, I thoroughly enjoyed it! Cheers,

Reviewer: carol l.

Very good demonstration of live model portrait painting. The artist takes his time and in quite lengthy with all of his explanations from lighting to values, temperatures, how to check shapes, etc. Talented and creative, Dan Gerhartz is not only a fine instructor but very good artist! CArol Lavoie

Reviewer: Nicole M.

Mr. Gerhartz demonstrates his portrait painting method very clearly. Good visual explanation of how to structure the head with light and dark shapes. Would recommend it to professionals as well as beginners.

Reviewer: Diane H.

This was a fabulous DVD. Dan is a great teacher as well as a great painter. He makes outstanding points in it on a lot of things. However, I found his points on temperature changes and their value to turn form and edges to be discussed at length more than any other DVD I've found. I highly recommend this DVD.

Reviewer: barbara s.

I am a fairly new painter with "lots of raw talent." It's hard to know just what that means. I don't have any confidence that I know how to paint let alone be consistent. Well, this video is amazing. I watched it over and over because what he starts out with is something I can do! Then he takes me a few more steps and I realize that I can get there with a little work. By the time I finished watching (over and over again I admit) I understand the process so much better. Be sure and watch how he turns his brush while he paints and which ones he uses. Other painters often clean their palette and put on new paint when the space gets tight. (Richard Schmid) Not Dan! He uses it all and shows you how to do that, too. By using paints he's already mixed and that are already part of the painting, he brings a harmony to the other colors with just a stoke of the leftover paint in the next color mixed. A great money saver and an unconscious element to the harmony of his paintings.

Reviewer: Vyacheslav O.

Dan Gerhartz is a great painter and 2 hours is not enough to finish the portrait as he usually does. But it's still good one. Not much color mixing explanation.

Reviewer: Eva A.

Excellent video! For anyone interested in portrait painting, this is a must. Dan Gerhartz, a master with the brush, paints a portrait with step by step explanations of his thinking process, color mixing, and philosophy sprinkled in between the brush strokes. In 2 hours you see a blank canvas transformed into a dazzling portrait of youthful feminity and grace. Bravo, Dan.

Reviewer: jean g.

This was a great video for me, a more advanced painter and colorest, so I really enjoyed it.

Reviewer: Nathaniel E.

This DVD is low quality production value, it's all shot by a hand held camera on a tripod and is not stable, it makes all over the place quickly and it gets distracting. Daniel is a great painter and explains his insights rather well but seems to get distracted easily.

This DVD is nice to see for someone just beginning, but I wouldn't recommend it for an intermediate painter.

Reviewer: Charlotte E.

There are always things to learn from others, and Gerhartz's approach is just that, something to take, mull over, and implement in your own personal signature or not.

Reviewer: beatrice d.

I'm sorry but palette was very distracting i can not work like that. - bea doone-merena

Reviewer: Millard S.

Incredible DVD. The artist Dan Gerhartz has extraordinary sensitivity to color temperature and saturation. A well produced DVD, the presentation was even more informative than I expected from this terrific painter.

Reviewer: Nora K.

My first rental DVD and it's great. I'm anxiously waiting for my next DVD set to arrive. Nora Kasten

Reviewer: Michele G.

I would highly recommend "Painting a Portrait With Dan Gerhartz." It is not for beginners yet they would greatly benefit. I would recommend watching it over several times, taking notes. I would like to own it but found renting it encouraged me to get my money's worth which encoraged me to watch it several times. If I owned it I might have put it off. It was worth the time and money. Mrs. Greene

Reviewer: Charlotte M.

This is an interesting and informative DVD. It is easy to follow and he obtained an excellent likeness. Every artist has a different way of painting and I enjoy viewing the various ways. I learn something from each DVD I rent.

Reviewer: John B.

Helpful if you are already somewhat familiar with the premier coup (aka alla prima)painting technique that many portrait artists use, such as the very successful J. H. Sanden. Careful observation of Gerhartz in action is more helpful than the audio portion. I recommend watching it once straight through and several times on fast forward. If you have it, use FF with a split screen on freeze from time to time. Also keep in mind that this is not the only approach to portrait painting.

Reviewer: kim g.

Dan seems like a nice fellow but the dvd wasn't at all what i was expecting/hoping for in the way of painting instruction/inspiration- maybe better for an absolute beginner... i jumped forward, made it through a total of about 7 minutes.

Reviewer: Carol M.

This is a very good DVD. Mr. Gerhartz clearly knows how to paint a portrait-I was impressed with how closely it resembled the model-yet looked very painterly. He is a bit slow getting the session started, but he has a lot of great technique to offer - his pace of teaching is very comfortable.

Reviewer: Vicki S.

Great video, very worthwhile, and Dan is as cute as a bugs ear! His method of painting faces is awesome and I hope someday to be able to do faces like that. It is really hard to get out the of "smoothing" mode for me when doing a portrait.

Reviewer: Dorothea J.

He paints terrificly. He seems like he is bored with having to explain stuff. I could hardly understand what he said.

Reviewer: Barbara W.

I truly enjoyed this video. Dan Gerhartz is an amazing painter. I highly recommend this video.

Reviewer: Barbara W.

I truly enjoyed this video. Dan Gerhartz is an amazing painter. Highly recommend this video.

Reviewer: Diane L.

Dan Gerhartz has a generosity in the way he shares information about his approach to portrait painting and watching this, even several times, is inspirational. So far, I have seen this DVD and also the longer one of "Her mother's locket". Although he shares the same basic approach, they both emphasize different things. In "Her Mother's Locket", there was more time to emphasize his use of edges (sharp/soft) where he went into depth about color with "Painting A Portrait". Especially helpful was his discussion of the warm/cool transitions. Where the longer video gave you footage of him actually mixing each c

Reviewer: Cheryl F.

Dan paints truly ethereal portraits. I would enjoy just watching him paint. As a teacher...I really had trouble staying with him. He taught and talked as he painted...here, then there and back again. Hard to follow. But again, creates lovely images.

Reviewer: Marjorie J.

For many years I've been confused by the simplistic statement "warm light, cool shadows; cool light, warm shadows" because the information pretty much stopped there. Finally, an instructor who has explained and demonstrated in detail how to apply this concept. Thank you, Mr. Gerhartz.

Reviewer: Judy N.

So much valuable information! Especially about color, color value, color temperature. Dan is an amazing teacher even if the commentary is far from well scripted and well delivered. I would highly recommend this DVD for portrait artists.

Reviewer: Brett D.

Easily the best DVD I've seen so far on portrait painting. He explained almost every stroke and what he was thinking about as he put it down. Some artists just expect you to watch and learn, but he taught as he painted. He seemed nervous and stammered a bit, and maybe not as good as some of the portrait master-painters, but he is a far better teacher than most of them.

Reviewer: Jackie L.

Dan Gerhartz appeared to not know what to say for a good portion of the time, it would have been more instructional to me if he had made some notes and covered more ground. However, the portrait was delightful and I did learn quite a bit.

Reviewer: Carol N.

Incredible! I am a huge Dan Gerhartz fan and thoroughly enjoyed watching him create such a wonderful portrait.