Prom Portrait of my Daughter

Part 4

By Trisha Bond

Last Wednesday marked the end of session of art lessons.  During my last class with Cristian, we identified some more areas of adjustment.  The width of the face was much too narrow thus it was widened, the ear was enlarged, the neckline was thickened .

Eyes

During the past week I've been focusing on eye detail, beginning to add depth of colour, shadow lines, hints of light and reflective qualities.  I find working in thin layers helps to build the effect of depth. Although, patience is required to achieve the effect.

Hair

I found that I also needed to shift my focus away from the skin tone for awhile and tackle a different element of the painting.  Sometimes when I've been working on a particular element for some time ( in this case skin tone and main features) I begin to fall into the trap of not being able to see the forest for the trees.

Therefore, I began working on the hair, first applying the darker blond and then a few of the golden highlights. Still a long way to go , but it's moving forward.

Goal for Next Week

I have to admit I have been avoiding the teeth up until now.   My goal for the upcoming week is to add in the shadows around the interior of the lips and along the tooth line, while defining the individual teeth As well, I plan on developing the lips to their full brightness and colour with highlights, shadows and blending the edges into the skin tone for a more natural appearance.

Part 1

Prom Portrait of My Daughter

Part 3
By Trisha Bond

Modified the eyes

The definition of the eyes, to create more pop,was next on my list.

I began with reshaping the eyes to capture the hooded characteristic that I had missed in the initial setup.  As well the lower lid needed to be brought upward.  The inner rim and inside corner of the eye were established.

I began adding more detail in the gradients of the eye colour, pupils were properly sized and the light reflecting gleam was added.  The darker limbal ring of the iris along with lighter shades of blue-grey and brownish gold flecks were added to the eye.

The pinks, purples and blue-greys of her eye makeup were applied to better represent the photograph along with the eye crease being established.

Eyelashes were added and the brows were darkened creating a more dramatic and 3 dimensional look

Part 2
Features are beginning to come
together.  However, the mouth and
nose still need modifications.  The
jawline also requires some work.

Mouth

In the beginning phase I had positioned her mouth too far to the left side of the canvass creating a lopsided look.  After studying the photograph and taking some measurements I discovered the mouth needed to move to the right side of the canvas with the corner of her mouth aligned with the edge of her pupil.

Nose

The nose has been giving me some definite challenges in this portrait. This particular photograph demonstrates more of a 3/4 head position than my previous, creating a different angle to replicate.

Skin Tones

I. remixed the skin tones  to a pinkish base and attempted to even out the skin. In the next phase I will begin applying thin layers of paint to create softness in the blending of the highlights, shadows and midtones.

I will attempt to capture the highlights along the right edge of her face and nose and the sheen above her left eye, on her left check and along the edge of her neck.

Hair

I began adding the dark strawberry blonde tone to the hair to begin defining the chunks of directional flow of the curls.

Jawline

Part 3The mouth has been moved.
The curvature still needs some
adjustments.

The chin and jawline still require some subtle changes to better reflect the angles of her right side.

Background

More work is required on the background to obtain the blurred depth of field captured in the photograph.  As well, colours need to be more accurately depicted in the greenery.

Since my last class with my instructor is tonight, I felt the background was of less importance than the actual portrait.  Therefore, I focused the majority of my time on the face as I knew this was the most challenging part and wanted to be able to take advantage of my instructor's sharp eye and assistance this evening.

Overall

I've been feeling more confident in my ability to see the details of the photograph, find the discrepancies and correct the issues.  The painting is still a long way from completion and there are definite issues to be addressed.  However, I feel I'm slowly moving in the right direction and more likeness is emerging.

Time Elapsed This Session: 3 hours
Total Elapsed Time: 6.5 hours

Portrait of Daughter Part 2

Prom Portrait of My Daughter

by Trisha Bond

Part Two - Underpainting

The Beginning Stage:

Using the same process as previously in the Amanda Seyfriend portrait, I blocked in the image with a thin, diluted layer of acrylic paint to capture mid tones, highlights and shadows.

Maintaining the out of focus appearance of the background is taking some work to achieve the right look and feel.  However, its beginning to come together.

The hair color needs adjusting to a more strawberry blonde tone.  As well the eye colour needs to be more accurately defined as a steel blue-grey.  Her right side of her mouth is still not quite right.  So will tackle that in the next session.  As well, her left jawline may need a slight increase in angle.

Time Elapsed: 2.5 hours

Overall:

I feel I'm on the right track and progressing with a fairly accurate  likeness of my daughter. Only one class left with my instructor and then I'm on my own for the duration of this portrait - a bit scary but a challenge I'm ready for!

Challenges:

The goal of this painting is three fold.  

1. First, to paint someone I know personally 
2. Second, to paint an open mouthed expression exposing teeth.  
3. Third, to maintain a blurred depth of field for the background of the portrait to create a non-dominating contrast with the sharpness of the subject.

Prom Portrait of My Daughter

By Trisha Bond

Part One

This week I have begun a painting that is near and dear to my heart - a closeup of my beautiful daughter on the night of her prom.  One of my challenges for this painting was to try to paint someone who I know personally in order to pick up on subtleties of features and placement and to see how close I can get to the original. 

I managed to successfully render an image 2x the size of the photograph with careful measurements and reference points onto a 12x16 canvass (slightly larger than my last portrait of Amanda Seyfried).  

Original rendering, too close to the
left edge of the canvass.

However, after initially penciling the image onto canvas, my instructor pointed out that she was seated too close to the left edge.   So, I began transitioning the drawing about 2" to the right achieving a much more balanced feel.  

I also noticed the angle of her right cheek needed reshaping along with the position of her chin.  As well, her mouth was positioned too far to the  left side of the canvass.

Time Elapsed: 1 hour

Medium:

Again, I will be using acrylic paints; ultramarine blue, cadmium red medium, cadmium yellow light, magenta, and titanium white.

Although, I have a wide variety of paintbrushes, I am finding that I am mainly using a small selection;  two flats, one round and a small liner for finer details.

Handy Tool:

I'm a big fan of stay-wet palettes.  It allows me to retain the colours I've carefully mixed without drying out between sessions at my easle.  I find colour mixing is an art in and of itself and can be difficult to reproduce at this stage in my painting journey.  Therefore, this type of palette reduces my amount of frustration caused by trying to match a new batch of colour to those already dried on the canvass (which is now darker than it is when wet).  You can find these palettes at most art stores.  They're easy to use and I'm sure its save us me valuable dollars in paint.

Next Post coming soon... Part 2: Blocking it all in.

Portrait in Acrylic
Amanda Seyfried

by Trisha Bond

Before now, the idea of painting a portrait was intimidating and I shied away from the idea of attempting such a complicated task.  In the past I had made a few attempts, two of which were somewhat successful.

Under the instruction of  Cristian Aluas of Masterpiece Art School I dove in headfirst and tackled this project with enthusiasm.  With the guidance of an experienced artist, I learned a great deal about the details of the face and seeing the subtle effects of light and shadow.

After six weeks I developed a piece that I am extremely proud of and no longer fear painting portraits.

Week One

Working from a photograph, I enlarged the image two times onto canvas using a light touch with pencil.

I began the blocking in process of the face and basic features using diluted acrylic paints.

The main colours were blocked in with thin layers to capture  the highlights, mid tones and shadows.

Week Two

In week two additional layers of paint were applied to begin bringing depth the to the face.

The face shape was adjusted.

Details of the eyes including the inner rims, makeup shadows and eyebrows were defined.

The lips were adjusted and shadows incorporated.

Clothing details were added on the shoulder.

Shadows and highlights were added to the neck and chest.

Week Three

Adjustments to the face shape were made to soften the jowl, correctly place the jaw in relation to the ear and neck and the chin was fine tuned.

The nose length and angle were corrected.

The lips were more accurately adjusted for a more natural shape.
.
Eyelashes were added, eyebrows were more heavily defined.

Eye colours, highlights, shadows and colour of the white of the eye were adjusted/added.

The shoulder in the foreground was widened and the angle of the upper back was adjusted.

The reddish blonde hair colour was added and the hair line adjusted.  

The angle of the neck was adjusted.

Shadows and highlights of the neck and collar bone were improved.  Skin tone, blush on cheeks were also improved for tone and contrast.

Week 4

The background colour was mixed to a blue grey and cut in to adjust head shape along the hair line.

The chin was trimmed and the jaw line angle was improved.

The lips were developed to include highlights and deep shadow.

The skin tone was blended along the lip line for a more natural and soft look.

Hair colours were adjusted to reflect the lighter blonde in the photo.

Next, deeper shadow on the right side of the portrait was laid in and the actress's left ear was defined.
 The details of the left ear were improved.

Week 5

This was the most difficult week...I found the hair to be extremely challenging especially the area that was smooth and pulled back into the ponytail. Trying to capture the many shades of colour was almost overwhelming.

The highlights of the actress's right side of her face  and neck were lightened to create a more dramatic contrast as captured in the photo.

The earring was added.

Strands of hair colour were added to reflect the lighter colours.

Week 6

Finishing touches were added to the hair that extendeded beyond the cap of the head, sparkle and shadow were added to the earring, lashes were enhanced as were the brows, sparkle and shadow were added to the eyes.   More definition was created along the left side of the face between the ear and eye in shadow.

Clothing colour was adjusted and shadows and highlights were added to the fabric.

Cheetah In Acrylics - Step 1

Planning Stage & Blocking In
Canvas Size: 16" x 20"

This will be my first attempt at painting an animal, one I am sure will be filled with its own unique challenges.

I have reserved a 2 inch border that will later be painted with an African pattern to simulate a wooden frame.

For this painting I began with very few markings prior to laying in the paint for the blocking stage, relying on shaping the image with the paint brush rather than a pencil. I used a watered down colour to lay in the first shapes, then later applied a slightly heavier layer.

Goals for This Piece:

1. Depict accurate proportions in the animal's structure.
2. Achieve depth within the eyes.
3. Attempt to achieve realism in the texture of the fur.

Nude Man and Woman Embracing - Step 2

Step 2

After several months' hiatus, I have finally gotten back to the joy of painting.

During the second stage of this painting I have focused on achieving a more consistent overall skin tone for each of the figures, while bringing in more definition for muscle tone and skeletal structure.

Although this stage is not complete, I feel the painting has begun to come alive. The female figure still requires more work on the skin tone consistency over the abdomen area and more realistic definition of muscle tone in the arm, while the hand of the man requires restructuring of the hand.