Except for the final varnish, Petey’s portrait is done. Let’s look at the final steps.
Petey – work in progress acrylic, 8″ x 10″ © Xan Blackburn 2012 |
This step doesn’t look too much further along than the last step I showed you. The work is mostly deepening the shadows, and adding detail to Petey’s features.
Time to add some more color!
Petey – work in progress acrylic, 8″ x 10″ © Xan Blackburn 2012 |
Keeping the couch loose, so the focus stays on Petey, I laid in a hot red, then some warm gold, and burnt umber, bringing up just a few areas with some white mixed with raw sienna.
On Petey, I used all those same colors. I always love working on the eyes, making them glow or deepen into complexly tinted shadow. At the last minute, I decided his blue-ness was just a bit more blue than I really wanted it to stay, so I washed back over some of those areas with some burnt umber to give it a more complex and warmer feel.
Petey acrylic, 8″ x 10″ © Xan Blackburn 2012 |
While I had the pallet handy, of course I dinked around with the whole thing a little bit more, adding some red tones to the inner ears and the eyes, adding some more detail around the eye on the bright side, and bringing down the shadow under his jaw on our left. I think the glaze of burnt umber really did help to bring him into reality.
Here’s a detail view, just for fun.
Petey – Detail acrylic, 8″ x 10″ © Xan Blackburn 2012 |
I kept this portrait a little more soft-focus than some. I don’t know why. Just the way this one spoke to me, I guess!
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