Portrait #3

Check here to view Portrait #1 and Portrait #2, if you'd like more details.
(I fixed the last two scans in #2 so you can see them better, if you're interested.)


I've been putting off portrait #3 forever.

I may have mentioned that I tend to get bored with an art idea very quickly. Well, I'm on 3 of 13 for this project, and I'm sort of wishing I was done. Maybe once I get further into this one I'll have some fun with it? Here's how it started out:


Thoughts at this point: At least I didn't have to draw this one over five times like the last one. I hope she really looks like this and its not just my drawing that looks odd. (Is that totally rude?) Her thin, light hair is going to be hard to draw over her forehead. I'm pretty sure her left eye is over too close to her nose, but I don't want to fix it. Maybe they won't notice.

I set down the eye color along with a few details, and as always it starts to look a little better right away:


Thoughts: I like the color of her eyes, but I'm not sure this face is looking like the photo. At least the eye placement isn't so distracting anymore. Okay, it still is, but I'm ignoring it. I think I need to change the shape of her nose, and maybe her mouth. I hope its not too late. The light bangs look odd over her darker forehead and I'm still not sure how to make it look good. Maybe it will even out later. A green background might look good with her eyes.. but she has a ruddy complexion and it might make her face seem too red.


The two other portraits I was able to finish in three or four sittings, but now that the weather is nice, I've been taking the kids outside and finding it much harder to schedule big blocks of time. This also makes it harder to "get into" the picture. Still, its slowly getting done. I successfully changed the nose and mouth a little, though the inside of the mouth needs work:


Thoughts: The light green is working well so far, her face doesn't seem too red yet. But it makes her forehead look too greenish-yellow, I'll have to fix that. the ribbing on her sweater might look good detailed or left vague, I'm not sure which I should do. I think her expression is happier in the photo..hmm, not sure I can do anything with that? Maybe her upper lip needs more "fixing". Along with everything else. Why is one eye always messed up?


Here is the next step, a few days later:




Thoughts: Ahhh jaundice! Now that green is making her whole face look too yellow. I can either neutralize the yellow with more purply colors (the compliment to yellow) or I can change the background to more of a bluish green. Or both. Her hair is the weirdest lemon yellow. I need to see if I have a better light yellow that I can use. Yikes. The colors on her face don't seem to be blending together well yet. I think its because I'm working on this in short spurts.



After fixing a few things:



Thoughts: I'm comparing her hair to the blonde hair from the last portrait. Why does the last one look so much better? I think because this girl has thinner , whiter hair. I couldn't erase all of that lemon color, obviously, but I found a bluish grey that toned it down. Her face looks a little better, but still doesn't seem finished. Am I over working it? At least the sweater looks interesting! The background looks nicer too. I think I made her look too old. Almost done.



Finally, the finishing touches:


What did I do, lets see. The background is a much darker green, which helped it feel more finished. I also put some spots of red in it, so it went with the girl's outfit and coloring more. I did a little more detail on the shirt, but not much. A touch more color in the hair and just some overall darkening of the colors on the face. It looks more finished to me, though this is still my least favorite of the three finished portraits.
Thought: I might even out the background a little more before I send this off.