The Skagen painters were very good at drawing and painting pictures of people. Often, people would ask them to paint their portraits to hang on the walls at home. These were important jobs for the Skagen painters because they could earn money from selling the pictures.
They also made drawings of themselves and their friends. They wanted to draw so that their drawings not only looked like the person but also hinted at what the person was like.
It is quite difficult to draw a portrait. So, the Skagen painters practiced a lot – for example by looking at books with pictures of muscles and bones of the human face and body.
