It's All In The Details...

Here's the next layer - remember, these are still just underlayers so some of the colors I've added won't be quite so intense, or will be covered, in further layers.  This layer went quite fast, only about 2 hours work here, as all I'm doing is colorizing the previous white layer.

The red skin tone is a wash of alizarin crimson, and the greenish cast is naples yellow+ultramarine - this is just to act as a toning mechanism to give the skin a translucent quality once further layers are added.

A wash of french ultramarine+burnt umber has been added to the background also.

I've started a study of Bouguereau's Portrait of Gabrielle Cot, we're at the pre-underpainting underpainting stage right now. :)  This is just a couple of hours work so far. I like to add white to all areas of the skin before shading, that way they are unified in color initially.  Shading will come later.  

The background won't be all blue like that, I just did a background wash of pthalo turquoise so that the background will have a kick to it when I add browns on top of that.

Oil on Gessobord, 11x14.

Well, there's several things I'm not satisfied with, but I'm going to call this one done, so I can move onto other projects.  I may do some touchups later on.

Here's the next stage, I did some work on the hair and eyes, and added some freckles (not nearly as many as I really have lol, that would turn it into one big blob!) and so I think it's a recognizable portrait now.  I wasn't intending to add so much "makeup", but was trying to get the eyes a decent size.  I still have to finish the shirt, and will probably mess with the hair and eyebrows some more and clean up various areas of the skin.  I see some other things that could be corrected, but I'm not going to bother with them, as this is only my first real "portrait" and I'll get it the next go around.

Some of the areas that may look like the colors don't mesh are actually a lot more subtle color changes IRL, I had to amp up the levels to get it to show correctly.

I've added more flesh tones and some highlights, still have to work on the hair and the shirt and clean up various areas.

Here's the next level of glazing - remember, because this is going on in layers, things might look funky because I have to prepare underlayers for glazing - there's a lot of pre-prep. So, areas might look a lot whiter or brighter than they will actually end up being.

I know the proportions are a tiny bit off, but this is very very small, the head is only 4 inches high, so it's very hard to get the details as exact as I like - also, because this is my first self-portrait, it's more of a learning exercise than anything else.

I have been planning to extend the hair in the back of the head, however, I needed to lay in the background first and didn't want to overextend the hair into the background while it was still in a rough state. I will be working on the hair once the skin form is completely laid in, and it will probably cover most of the ear and a good part of the shoulders anyways.

I've added a bit of color to the verdaccio, this is only about 45 minutes worth of work, but I wanted to let this dry and also show progress pix.  This actually goes really fast, as you already have the value map and are just applying color.

Most of the colors I'm using right now (naples yellow, white, venetian red) are actually opaque colors, so what I'm doing is dabbing the color on in the correct areas, and using my finger to scumble.  This way, I can get the layers much smoother and thinner than with a brush.

I have to be careful about which colors I apply where, as some parts of the face are more red than others, and some are more yellow.  Because I'll be blending optically, some parts are more red now than they will be later.  The verdaccio layer is already providing a good shadow color, but I can see the shadows will need deepening later.

Again, this is just the first glaze of many. 

Here's the verdaccio, there's several things I'm not satisfied with yet but they should all be correctable in the upper layers.

The hair is probably going to be falling in front of the shoulders and around the face, but I wanted to get the form correct first.

This nearly went in the trash a number of times, but I think it's on the right track now.  This is very small, only 8x10, so trying to get the details exact is horrendous.  :p

Aaand... Done!

Kit Fox, v.2

Oils on Gessobord, 9x12.

Here's the next layer - note that this is still only the value map, I haven't started on any kind of flesh tones yet. All I'm using is a mix of burnt umber and white for a basic grisaille.
I plan to do at least one more layer of grisaille before I start adding color. The eyes are white to prep for glazing later.