p tutorial

In this post I will show my progression on her hair. As you can see after I've rendered about 50% of her hair, her face now appears to be framed, giving her a much more three dimensional feel. Colors that I used to render her hair are: periwinkle, 90% cool gray, dark umber, light umber, and peach. My initial layers were layed down with a light touch. I started with periwinkle, then dark umber, 90% cool gray, then I lightened areas that needed it with light umber and peach. Once all of my initial layers were down, I started to

burnish with dark umber and then 90% cool gray. In the lighter areas I burnished with light umber and peach. It helps to have you light, medium and dark tonal areas mapped out before you start. Again, it will help you tremendously if you have a gray scale print out of your subject in front of you while your working. This is a portrait of my wife, so I was able to have her sit for me when I needed her too. It's always best to work from life whenever possible. The lightest highlights in her hair were rendered using peach.

As you can see, I have a pretty good start on the face. I usually start with the background first but on this piece I've started on the main subject first just so that I can get a better feel for the colors I will use in the background.

The colors I'm using for this portrait are: clay rose, rosy beige, peach, white, periwinkle, beige sienna, light umber, olive green, cool gray 90%, and dark umber. Stay away from using black by itself when creating your work. Using black by itself will make whatever your doing seem flat and lifeless. It is much better to either mix the black with other colors or use other colors to create black. Indigo blue and Tuscan red will make a nice black.

Since there are many different skin tones in human beings, it's important to study your subject first before deciding on your palette. If your working strictly from a photograph and do not have your subject in person, It may help to ask a friend or family member who has a similar complexion to sit for you so that you can better determine what color palette to use. When I do this, I get out all the colors that I think I will likely use for my palette and with my subject in front of me, I will do a color study on paper. I'm not actually sketching their likeness, I'm simply just shading my paper with different colors until I think I have a good representation of their skin tones. Once this is finished then I'm ready to start on the painting.

In this portrait I started with the eyes first and then worked my way out. Just like with the wolf tutorial, I complete one section at a time and then go back once I have two or three sections complete and make any necessary adjustments if need be. Once again, it will help tremendously to have a grayscale print out in front of you so that you can better determine the different tonal changes in your subject.

Again, just like all of my other work, I will burnish everything in this image (if you are not familiar with burnishing, please refer to my wildlife tutorial). The colors that are rendered above are pretty much complete. Once I have more rendered around this area, I may decide to tweak it a little more. I will not be sure until I've completed more of her face. When creating a portrait, it is very important to take your time with what your doing and study your subject well. If you do this, you will have a much better chance of really being proud of what you've accomplished.

This portrait's actual size is 17" x 24". So at this size, I will probably have close to 100 hundred hours invested before it's complete. Using color pencils the way that I do is a slow process to say the least. That why it is very important to plan everything out ahead of time before you start so that no time is wasted (although when this use to happen to me, I chalked it up to practice and not a waste of time....it helps to try and find the bright side whenever possible:)

The darker values in the face were created using a combination of periwinkle, rosy beige, and 90% cool gray where needed. It is important however to try and involve your entire palette in as many areas as possible so that your have a consistency throughout your piece. Of course though in your lighter tonal areas you would not want to use 90% cool gray:) Completing one section at a time will allow you to see your art come alive right in front of you much faster than if you created it the standard way. I've never been much of a fan of "standard" things anyway. It is ok to do it this way just so long as you keep a good grasp on what your doing and go back when necessary to make any adjustments. Colored pencils are a very forgiving medium so don't be afraid to make adjustments as you go along.

In my next post I will show you my progression on the face and explain in detail how I render a realistic mouth and chin.

After a week I've rendered almost the entire face. Now that I have enough of her face complete, I can go back and make my adjustments. The lips will have to be softened with rosy beige in order to tone down the red a bit and the left side of here face (the darkest area) will have to be darkened quite a bit. The eyes actually appear darker in this photograph than they really are so I'll find a way to correct that the next time I go to photograph this portrait. The colors I used on the lips are the same colors I used on the rest of her face. Unfortunately, I used a little more red than I should have, so to correct that (as I mentioned earlier) I'll use rosy beige and white to tone that down.

After her forehead is complete, I will start on her neck and chest area.

On this update you can see that I've now completed the face and neck area. Now that I've gotten this far with the skin tones I will go back and make my final adjustments. You can see where I toned down the red in her lips and worked my dark values in her face and neck a little more.

I think I still need to darken the values on the left side of her face (viewers left) a little more to add a little more depth to her appearance.

You can also see that her face has allot more warmth than in the previous post. I accomplished this by burnishing more with peach and rosy beige. After I go back and check all the light, medium, and dark tones in her face to make sure they are correct, I will start the background. Usually it's a good idea to start the back ground first, but like I stated earlier, I wanted to make sure that the colors I was using for the skin tones were going to work like I expected because I am going to be using those same colors in the background to help give this piece a feel of unity. Much of her dress is going to be blue (periwinkle) so I'll also will be using that color in the background. Unity is of the utmost importance in any work of art. Without it the art is confusing to the viewer.

I hope your enjoying this tutorial so far (I still have a loooooong way to go:) If you have any questions, please feel free to write.

Until next time...I hope everyone has a great week.

In this post you can see where I've almost completely rendered the background. The colors I used for the background are: periwinkle, cool gray 90% , light umber, peach, and white. I pulled these colors out of her face to use in the background, I wanted the background to be cooler that the subject matter. By doing this, it helps to bring the main subject to the foreground. before the background is complete, I will burnish a final layer of periwinkle and then burinsh over top of that in the lighter areas with white.

As you can see, I've started on part of her dress. The reason I did this part first instead of her hair is because this part of her dress will appear underneath of her hair. I always try and work back to front whenever possible. On this part of her dress I used Crimson red, peach, light umber, and periwinkle. Crimson red would have been way too stark for this portrait if left by itself (you don't want her dress to compete for attention with her face and hair) so I toned it down with periwinkle. Periwinkle stays consistent throughout this entire painting to help give an overall unity.

Next, I will render her hair. On the next post I will let you know what colors I used for her hair and show you how I get my results using colored pencils. Thanks for hanging around for this tutorial. I know it's a long one. Were almost done:)

This portrait is taking longer than I expected. Mostly due to it's large size of 14.5 x 24". Although, I enjoy working large in colored pencil so that the work will have more of a visual impact, you definitely pay for it with the extra time it takes to complete a piece. I've been flirting with the idea of trying soft pastels for my next artwork. We'll see how it goes:) Until the post, I hope everyone has a great weekend

I apologize for not having updated this tutorial last week. Unfortunatley, I've been a little under the weather and wasn't able to get much accomplished. The good news is I'm feeling better and I am back at my drawing board. I should have an update on this tutoral

on September 30th. Thank you for checking back and for your patience. It's appreciated.

Scott

Finally, I have an update for this portrait tutorial. Sorry for the poor image quality this time around. The final post will be professionally scanned so you'll be able to see everything clearly.

As you can see, her hair is complete and I've started on her dress. The colors I'm using for her dress are: periwinkle, 90% cool gray, light umber, and white. First I layed down the periwinkle with a soft touch so as to define my dark and mid tones and used 90% cool gray to enhance the mid and dark tones. Once this was complete, I put a thin layer of light umber over the entire area and then burinshed with periwinkle first and then 90% cool gray where need. I continued doing this until the area looked like I had invisioned. Next I used white for the highlights. The dress area you see now is not quite finished. I still need to go back and smooth some areas out and then give it a final burnish.

This portrait is finally finished. I think I put close to 80 hours into this painting. I hope this tutorial has helped you understand a little better how I construct my portraits. If you have any furthur questions, please feel free to write.

Medium: Colored Pencils - Prismacolor

Paper: Strathmore 500 series (Vellum) White

Blending Stump (various sizes - from small to large)

Drafting Table: It's important to keep your work at an angle, this will help you keep your perspective.

Kneadable eraser: For lifting color if necessary.

Masking Tape: This is for holding the paper in place on the table. It is best to use painters masking tape so that when you pull the tape off after the art is complete, the paper will not be harmed.

Electric Pencil Sharpener: I always use Boston (they last forever).

Patience and Time: These are sometimes harder to find but with a little effort you will succeed:)

I am a big fan of Renaissance style portraits. In this portrait, I will do my best to give this image a renaissance feel. When I began this portrait I started with a pencil outline just like I did in the wildlife tutorial. When you start your outline use a light graphite pencil to sketch in your image (2h). Since colored pencils are transparent, it is important to use a light pencil so that your outline does not show through the colors. You can take it a step further if you think it's necessary and gently blot your outline with a kneadable eraser, being careful not to completely erase your image. Just leave enough of the pencil so that you can see your outline (guide) clearly.