Update- Commission of Emily, Nearing Completion

Here is the image from my last post:

This is the reference I decided on for the background. I found it at a geocities website- Places of Refuge, but have no idea who the owner of the original image is. If he/she stumbles upon my page or someone out there might know, please contact me so I can give an appropriate credit to him/her. I started shading in the background as seen in the photo reference, but decided that the leaves on the right weren't going to work well with this drawing. It was at this point, where I started blocking out the rays of light, that my ruler transferred the sticky substance to the drawing (see previous post). Because of that, I had to change my approach and go much darker with the background than I intended in order to "hide" the stains.

Layering, layering, layering!

Added a bit more detail to her blouse so it didn't look so two dimensional. Went a little too dark with the background on the right so I'll have to add another layer on the left to keep this in balance. As you can see, I still have to finish laying in her hair too. And her teeth are just a bit too bright. I read somewhere that the whitest part of a portrait should be the hightlights in the eyes. Not the whites of the eyes, but the highlights- the "sparkle" in the eye.

I'm also considering removing the heart shaped necklace and giving her a cross necklace to keep with the "theme" of this portrait. I know Emily from church. She's a sweet young lady, very active with the youth ministry. I wanted to remind her through this portrait that, over seas, forests and mountains, no mater where on earth her life travels take her, our Lord in Heaven is watching over her.

Update- Commission of Emily

Here is where I left off yesterday and where I am today. I believe I'm starting to get somewhere now. I had to fix Emily's eye on the left, the shape was wrong- too much of an arch in the eyelid. I've always had a problem with staying too close to mid-tones and my drawings would always look flat. That's not a look you want when you're trying for realism! But I think I'm finally getting better at putting more depth into my portraits.

I'm kind of working from the center of the face (eyes/nose/mouth) and outward on this drawing. In the past, I've worked mostly from upper left down to bottom right just because I'm right handed and that's what I've seen done so often. I'm learning, at least with portraits, that it's best to work on the key facial elements first.

I have some minor adjusting to do on the shape of the nose/mouth, it's not quite right yet. I think the mouth needs to be just a bit wider on the right and the nose seems slightly off to me. Overall though, I believe Emily's face is starting to take on some life now!


Key tips to remember:

• Make sure you have strong values to create depth (I've found that working in layers and building my values slowly - leaving my top layer unblended- works best for me, but there are other methods that may suit your own style better)
• In all drawings, shapes and proportions are extremely important but that is especially true in portrait drawing. Pay particular attention to the eyes!
• Don't get caught up in doing what you've always done. Try varying your techniques a little and you might be surprised at how much your drawing improves because of it.