For our second portrait challenge, Renee and I decided to paint each other. In retrospect, this was a bold decision at this stage of our progress. As if we weren’t precious enough about our paintings already. Go here to see Renee’s painting.
We started with taking photos. Realizing also this has a steep learning curve. What is good lighting, a good background, angle, expression? I decided to go for the slightly melancholy picture below. Another interresting decision, as Renee and melancholy don’t really have anything to do with each other! We are talking about miss chirpy here. I think this photo had too little contrast, and it’s too flat. She has her head turned, but still face on the camera. Her hair is hidden away in a pony.
Melancholy Renee
Fun stage, adding color and collage as a background
Ready to start adding the portrait, starting with Paynes gray and Titanium white to get the shading in place:
Wouldn’t want to meet her alone in a dark alley
A layer of raw sienna and then modeling the face with a mix of raw sienna and white, after adding some green around the eyes for the panda eyes effect:
Sculpting the face, with a very small paintbrush. Beginners mistake!
The finishing touches of this painting took many stages. I wish i had kept more of the collage background. I was indecisive about the hair, perhaps the fringe was making it difficult to decide. But i also think it was tricky to decide because i know the subject so well,so it was hard to think outside the box. It had to look like Renee’s hair, right!
The bubblegum afro stage.
The sloppy sheep horn stage.
The oldschool pearls and headband stage
Final result to be posted!
What did I learn?
- Get great reference photos, with contrast, interesting angles and good details.
- Keep more of the collage, think more before covering it up
- Use larger brushes for sculpting the face.
- Use more raw sienna for the initial face wash, gives more dark shade to work with when sculpting.
- Isoprophyl alcohol can remove some layers of paint if you change your mind, but its not perfect, so think more before I make decisions.