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.