Wax Bloom

And now we come to that difficult and critical point in any portrait of an infant where the decision must be made whether to render the top of the head as a transparisteel dome containing the glowing, super human brain of a future arch-villain, or the more traditional wispy pate.

What to do … what to do.

[Read more →]

Colored Pencil on Pastelbord | 10 x 8"

Yesterday’s post on skin tone palettes has made me much more conscious of my color choices as I work; I usually just grab what feels right and don’t give it a lot of consideration. I’m honestly surprised by the amount of purple I’m using on this one. I’ve also added “Rose Madder Lake” to the mix, a very hot magenta from Lyra Rembrandt.

I’m pretty happy overall with the modeling in this one, though I still need to get the shadows darker without making them cold or muddy.

[Read more →]

Colored Pencil on Pastelbord | 10 x 8"

[Read more →]

A gift for friends and their newborn daughter.

10 x 8"

[Read more →]

Colored Pencil on Pastelbord | 6½ x 14"

[Read more →]

Colored Pencil on Pastelbord | 6.5 x 14"

I know it doesn’t look like much more progress since the last update, but it’s several hours worth of additional detail and layers to what was already there. And, more importantly, I’m starting to like it.

Here is the same photo at a higher resolution if you are interested in all the layers and colors.

[Read more →]

I’ve been working on this piece of my father-in-law for the past week or so, but have been largely unhappy with it until today; which is not to say I am completely pleased with it now.

Colored Pencil on Pastelbord | 6.5 x 14"

This is my second start on this particular drawing, the first being a small 5×7" piece similar to my last drawing but I quickly realized there was no way I’d be able to achieve the level of detail I wanted at that size. I’m still not getting the details I want, so maybe I should have gone even bigger.

Technically what you see here is a third start, because after the first few layers of color I put down, things got muddied and blurry and I ended up pulling about two hours of work off the support with packing tape.

I feel like I’m starting to get a better feel for what needs to be done now, though, and I’m really appreciating the oil pencils I’m using in conjunction with my usual wax based pencils as they layer nicely over the wax pencils even when things get thick.

[Read more →]

Colored Pencil on Pastelbord | 5 x 7"

Apparently watching the construction of your own face can be unsettling …

@SGChipman have I told you how much it freaks me out to watch this from over here?

[Read more →]

Colored Pencil on Pastelbord | 5 x 7"

[Read more →]

Colored Pencil on Pastelbord | 5 x 7″

[Read more →]