I think this is the last watercolour portrait I want to do for a while, as my other painting projects are falling way behind now. Anyway, this is Acey Thompson - my latest work for JK's portrait party on Flickr. I've done her as a WIP here.
In the first picture you can see that I've laid down the first wash for skin tones, eyes and lips. All the edges of this layer were softened, as this is a beautiful young lady and I wanted to keep the complexion fairly soft.
In the second picture, I've added another skin tone layer and extra darkening in the shaded area of the face. The lips to have been darken and shaped, as have the pupils and eyes.
In the last picture, it is all brought together by the addition of hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, as well as the dress. Like most people, I do find it difficult to know when to stop - there's nothing worse than fiddling with a painting, but examination of the photo and checking your work, there is always that little bit of detail that is begging to be attended to, but it has to be small at this stage, as there is a very real danger of overworking it.
I'm really pleased with the likeness on this one - I think my freehand drawing has come along in leaps and bounds over recent months, but I am not happy with the hair - I'm pretty useless with hair for some reason. Maybe one day I will crack it. You can see the source photo here:
Acey Thompson
If you want to comment on this work, say what you think and don't worry if it is criticism , as I do not offend so easily these days!
I like your new ID photo Frank.... no bull !
ReplyDeleteI am impressed with the mouth and skin job on this portrait ... and the hair, well yes, maybe it does look better at the white paper stage, but it's all progress. :)
Sorry Alice, I toned that sentence down a bit, as maybe I might be the one offending! The new profile pic is part of a much larger one that my son took of me steering a barge of all things. Maybe a painting of our canal boat trip will appear on these pages some time, who knows.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the constructive criticism. As I usually leave the hair till last, I probably rush it too much. Am I trying to paint too many strands? I don't know what it is - there is something about hair that I am not learning from.
I like it too - and I couldn't criticise because I probably couldn't paint it myself with watercolour! You are really vey good Frank! :o)
ReplyDeleteI think you probably could paint it yourself Sandra - give yourself a little more credit. My wife is my best critic and she can't paint at all (well, I've never seen her paint), but she can tell me just where something looks wrong, so go ahead and give me your criticism!
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