More Color Pencil

Here is my newest color pencil piece in progress that I started yesterday ♥

Guess what came in the mail today!

And guess what my sister and I will be doing during Fall Break.....

Absolutely LOVE

A friend of mine posted this on facebook recently. I had to steal it, I am absolutely in love with this!! I think I need to paint one, and then I think I need one to wear.

Painting a Portrait, Part 2

Sorry it's been so long since I have updated on this portrait. I've included a few steps in this section...

Here I'm beginning to add skin tone colors. I normally start with the forehead and eye area- this normally sets the what the skin tone will be like for the rest of the face and body-how warm or cool, what hues I use for shadows and highlights, etc.

And here are the colors that I'm using and mixing on my palette to create the skin tone.

The hues for the mid range for the value of the skin is a mixture of cadmium red and cadmium yellow light. From this, add either zinc white or flake white to lighten the pigment to the mid range.

                            
I use alizaren crimson for the next value/intensity level below the mid range. So this would be the lighter shadows. To make a slightly darker shadow than this, I add cerulean blue.

For the very darkest shadows, I use a mixture of alizaren crimson and ultramarine blue. For me, this combination will always push an area back in space. I suppose if you wanted to go even darker, you could add phthalo green- or if you feel your shadows have more brown and green in them, you could replace the cerulean blue and ultramarine blue with the phthalo and a burnt umber or other brown.

Next I have finished more of the face with these colors.

And now the chest area.

And finally, at this point I will add some color to the hair. Right now I am using a combination of burnt umber and cadmium red, with some ultramarine blue in the shadows. I'm not sure if I want her hair to be dark brown or red, so I will leave the underpainting in these tones for now.

 I think the background will really determine what color her hair ends up being.

Updated Color Pencil

It's turning out very sci-fi... I think I like it :)

Any ideas for the background?

Color Pencil Work

So yesterday I decided that I wanted to start something in color pencils since it's been a while since I've gotten to do anything like that. This is just what I got done yesterday, so definitely not a completed piece and probably not as realistic as some of my paintings, but I think this was a nice change of pace.... And it went a lot quicker than I remember color pencil being last time I did it. I have no idea what the background will be... (haha, so unusual for me, right?) maybe inspiration will hit me as I go. It kinda reminds me of something sci fi -ish, which is different for me but I definitely like it :)
What do you think?

Thoughts on Taking Commissions

So lately I have been spending quite a bit of time considering how to best turn my art into something career-like. I love doing murals for people and am giving a lot of thought to doing this more often. But, what I am really excited about is another idea that I came across recently. I'm often asked if I do commissioned portraits, and typically I respond with "no, not right now," simply because I would not have enough time to do my own artwork-I need to be building my portfolio and trying to establish myself as an artist with my specific style of working. With that said, I've been thinking about ways I can still begin an art career while building my portfolio. Selling prints is great, but what I think I might want to start offering is Commissioned Fantasy Portraiture. Basically I would do commissioned portraits but in a fantasy style/theme. People could commission me to put them into whatever fantastical scene or idea they want or I could choose for them. So if you've ever dreamed of being a fairy or a mermaid or a warrior or whatever, I create you as that character.
I haven't worked all the kinks out yet, but I think I'm liking this idea. I could use these images in my portfolio since they fit with my body of work, and I could make some money doing what I love. And since some have been on to me about not selling my originals, this way some of my originals are out there.

So what do you think? Would you want to be in your very own Fantasy Portrait?