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I begin by creating a quick sketch to define
the composition. At this point, I already imagine the final composition
pretty clearly. I don't concern myself with the details, but just
try to catch the pose of the model and get the foreshortening correct.
In this work I wanted to convey the femininity and beauty of the
woman while hinting at the private ‘world' she keeps hidden. In
this case, my limited drawing skills meant that most complex part
for me was to correctly show the turn of her head carelessly resting
in her hand.
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I roughly outline the ears, eyes, mouth and nose,
gradually determining the placement of each element.
I tweaked the nose, eyes and ear to ensure they were properly
placed. At this stage I could barely see my wife despite all my
work on the sketch. All the same I was still satisfied with the
composition. The anatomical details were not perfectly replicated
in my sketch, but as a whole it generally corresponded to my wife's
features , which was fine. Now I had finished enough detail in
my work and to be at the point where the fun starts – painting
the light, colors and shadows.
Step
3 – Coloring &Shading
I create a new layer under the sketch and roughly plan the colors
for the image by filling shapes with colors. In this stage the
detail is not important and you shouldn't focus your energy there
because you can change the details later. Rather, you should focus
on defining the mood of the palette or the general color composition – the
balance of colors in your palette is no less important than structural
composition.
At first, in the lower right corner, I wanted to make the background
considerably pale , but later I came to the conclusion that the
dark-toned arm in shadow would contrast too much with the background
and draw the attention from the face. Overall, I wanted to achieve
a warm tone and chose a red-brown scale accordingly.
Step 1 – Initial Sketch (above
left); Step 2 – Outlining (left); Step 3 – Coloring & Shading (above) |
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