And how much do you know of outstanding artists who never studied?
If you have a view of the painting in the traditional sense , that there are none, most likely.
Naive painting insane , Contemporary , etc. - That's another branch. There, you can not learn.
Simply, you need to understand what it is doing . Hoping to write a good traditional portrait never learned anywhere else would be foolish.

[QUOTE=Buscador .. I need to take a view of Notre Ladies . [/QUOTE]

Do not accept and understand that there are a huge number of points of view and ocean views .
One of them : "The world of art - ideally - it's all the real world , to push the creative thought in breadth, upward, inward.
If we imagine a model room of the art world , then the object of our current interest will have to be called mundane household accessories : furniture , walls , windows, and even a non-binding detail the interior, like a mirror.
So, mirror ...
I went up to him easily , familiar terms - and suddenly I notice , as it gradually expands, coarsened , exciting, downright suck more and more visible reality , attaching to it again and invisible . And now, it is not a subordinate element of another world , and is in itself a whole - from anyone and from anything dependent - the world .. " .
Abram Wooleys

Education is not the imposition of this contest . First exam and further competition with fellow students and others , to overcome ourselves . Imitate the teacher on their own. Usually nothing is imposed , and the teacher uvidesh not often. Learn to compete .
Van Gogh studied all my life.

That's why I do not expect to write a good, traditional, portrait.
My destiny - is as follows:

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Pavel, well, what is the competition ? If this is a contest /competition , then it is not art . Competition means " fast ", painting is a creation , and creation can not be " fast" . Note the quotation marks , the concept is exaggerated . Besides not overcome itself, and harmony included .
Van Gogh studied , yes, but not in the same school ? Samoobrazovalsya , uh ? I will not argue - I do not know .

Pavel, well, what is the competition ? If this is a contest /competition , then it is not art . Competition means " fast ", painting is a creation , and creation can not be " fast" . Note the quotation marks , the concept is exaggerated . Besides not overcome itself, and harmony included .
Van Gogh studied , yes, but not in the same school ? Samoobrazovalsya , uh ? I will not argue - I do not know .

As for me.
then slightly "far-fetched" element.
I wanted to write about the mirror - he took as part of the interior.
Though the mirror shows just what is, and not what you think you are ...

Buscador, good words about the fact that the figure is three -quarters of painting. The more I do painting , and not merely realism , the more I understand it .
 Van Gogh periodically studied here , there, plus communication short-circuited due to a family profession - the art dealership , with the major artists of the time , and , probably as a result of such communication , hellish work on self-education. He has all the money went to the sitters , who visited him could see a pile of drawings height of a table - try to draw as much from life. Almost every day , ready to canvas 70 by 90 , again with nature. He did not have genetic traits of the artist, but he has them . He had the talent of the writer , he wrote long letters , an artist's career that helped after death.

It said Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.

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And for me, so ...

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For me, this

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I do not know why, but can not upload portraits

And for me, so ...

For me, this