Here are some different ways of depicting portraits...

These first two are by a street artist - 'Vhils'
The colours in the second and the use of close up, shadows, and dripping paint give the painting a realistic but expressive and powerful effect.




































These two are by another street artist named Jose Martinez Roca. he also does close ups of civilians pulling funny faces. He does many from Liberia and Sierra Leone, and also some from Israeli and Palestinian civilians. This gives a comic and approachable effect to people whom are usually depicted devastated and starving. I like this irony and although it is not as expressive in the painting or media as Vhils' portraits, the facial expressions make up for this.

And finally this is Antony Micallef's portrait. his Baconesque brush strokes and powerful monochromatic shadows and highlights give the prtrait an eerie and dominated tone. I particularly like the expression Micallef creates with the medium instead of the actual expression on the face, contrariwise to Roca's portraits.

I could experiment with merging these styles of painting portraits together, and come up with an original way of depicting someone's thoughts/emotions through this style of painting.