I used burnst sienna on cold press for the original portrait. Burnt sienna lifts, so you can correct mistakes pretty easily on cold press. To darken values with burnt sienna, just add French ultramarine blue, burnt umber, or another dark color to the burnst sienna.
For a second attempt at this portrait, I tried hot press. It is not as forgiving, nor is it easy to lift paint from hot press. However, I wanted to try GLAZING COLOR over it later to see how it turns out. (like we did for the grisailles paintings) Hopefully it will be ready to show next post.
One of the things I wanted to discuss is hair. I hate hair. I am not very good at it. But, with help, I've learned a few tips about painting hair. If you've been following the blog, you'll see I've changed the hair on the final painting for several reasons. The first is that she has pretty long hair, and I wanted to show it. The second is I didn't like something about the shoulder area and I wanted to cover it.
Below is the finished painting. You can learn from my mistakes here. After I was done, I "played" with a new toy, a glass pen, thinking I could soften any lines. And I inked in a few lines in her hair, only to discover they would not blend like I thought they would.
One thing I ALWAYS do when painting hair is to PAINT THE SKIN COLOR clear into the scalp. Otherwise you run the risk of the hair looking like a painted on wig.
Then I wet the hair area all over and decide where the highlights are going. I'll paint light values, thinking of it as areas of light, medium, or darker values. I paint in some of the darker values, also while wet, and, with a thirsty brush, keep pulling out those lighter areas. Try to paint shapes and not individual hairs at this point.
The areas of fine hair close to the facial skin need to look like they are truly growing out of the skin, so you have to keep them light and soft where they connect to the skin. At this point, it's done by using a thirsty brush to keep it soft.
Let this first pass dry. Then you can go back and darken other areas that need to be darker. IF DOING A CHILD especially, be aware of the pattern of light that often shows up on shiny, blonde or dark hair, particularly if it is straight. It will almost be like a halo across the brow. There are patterns of light on the part area also.
HERE IS A TIP FOR PAINTING FINE LINES IN PAINT, INK, OR MISKIT
If you want to make the line look smooth and not have a definite "point" on the beginning where you first set the brush or pen down, you can do this. Set a scrap piece of paper next to the area you are painting a line. Start the line on the scrap paper and continue it where you want to place it. That definite point will not be there.
This is particularly helpful if you are using miskit on fine hairs, whiskers, etc. It saves softening after the miskit is removed.
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