Portraiture has grown and expanded since its original purpose by capturing a person's likeness, often of royals or individuals of high standing. These artworks have expanded in their use as fun expressions of a person's personality to capturing a moment or a memory in time. Now portraits are not always large, elaborate paintings, but can be expressive, capture an important memory, or even be a fun way to put ourselves in a story. Here are 5 ways portraits are used in today's day and age.

1.) Classical Portraits

Portraiture still remains a traditional art that can be used to capture a person's (and sometimes animal's) likeness. Now, you can have an artist create a portrait of yourself or an original character with any theme! Some artists can even recreate a person and put them in a story or paint them in a scene where they could be any kind of fictional character.

2.) Caricatures

A fun way of using unique details about how a person looks and the personality they might have caricatures are the first fun way of capturing a person's personality. Artists can also show emotion in these artworks, but they are often fun ways of seeing ourselves the way other people do. They can also be fun activities to bring out a person's features and laugh about their appearance.

3.) Selfies and Self-Portraits

Generally, in photography, selfies are a popular and timeless way of capturing our own likeness and expressing moods and feelings with others. In the art world, selfies are more commonly referred to as self-portraits and often reflect the artist's inner thoughts and feelings if they choose to express these.

4.) Expressive Portraiture

Expressive portraiture shows the deep feelings and emotions of a person rather than what they may look like physically. Often in fine art, the artwork is meant to evoke feelings and thoughts than show you what a person looks like on the outside. It can be used to help explain what might be going on in the subject's head, or to bring out emotion in the viewer.

5.) Wedding Paintings

Generally, as a traditional acrylic or oil painting, couples want their happy day to be forever recorded on a canvas. Artists recreate the moment with all of the happy emotions so that the couple can look back on the painting and remember this special event. While a photo may more accurately capture the scene, it takes a talented artist to fully capture all of the emotions in a painting, allowing the viewer to recall their memory anytime they look at it.

Portraiture is no longer just used to represent how a person looks, but can be used to tell a story, remember a memory or express emotions of the viewer or subject. While modern portraits of a person's likeness are not used as often, this art form continues to change as people want to capture different moments and feelings in time.

Where have you most seen portraiture art used?