Day 1
Gotta start somewhere. Faces are hard enough. Hands are just as hard. The difference is that you can mess up someone's hands and be forgiven. Messing up a likeness is unforgivable... unless its your own.
Day 2
If there is any improvement, it's quite subtle. I like how the hair turned out... though it is probably a happy accident. Like last time, I've crammed eyes into glasses that are way to small... also, why does that arm look like a mannequin's arm?
Day 3
My ability to paint lips is as tenuous as my ability to kiss them. Takes a lot more confidence than I have. There are very few things harder to paint than faces... those things are eyes, noses, lips, ears, jawlines, eyebrows, hairlines... and god help you if you include glasses.
Day 4
Watered down gouache looks watered down, diluted, and superficial. A portrait is meant to evoke the idea of depth and gravitas... or at least capture the mood of the moment... which wasn't as diluted as this appears. The glasses look better though!
Day 5
I know, the hair is blue, but I've been let down by black pigment so many times (yes, I know, grey)... how do you paint dark hair that's greying? It's all in the brush strokes and I'm finding the 5X7 canvas may be limiting. I'm cool with that!
Day 6
So I took some time off... not intentionally, just life comes at you hard sometimes... so this might be a few steps backward. But I tried a new technique by first sketching over the source photo to get an idea of the general shapes and how each facial element interacts with the others. Still, I need to get back on track!
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Video