Skip to main content

Xander Watercolor Portrait Tutorial

HI all,
I would like to introduce you to my youngest boy - i couldnt resist trying to capture the toothless grin that he is famous for.
This started out ok with the line drawing and the diox purple underpainting - but now it has got to the ugly stage and i am forcing myself to work through it. His skin tones were painted using rose madder and yellow ochre. Way to yellow for him so i am going to add a layer or 2 of perm rose just to try and tone it out a bit. If there are any portrait artists out there I could really use some help trying to correct these issues.











The next installment of Xander is here. It is starting to pop, I started this session by masking out his eyes and a few highlights in his hair before i proceeded to start adding a large wash of his skin tones focusing on transitions between the yellows and reds. After a few layers to build up tone, I went back in with a very light wash of cobalt blue and started "carving out" some shadows. Still looking pretty ugly at this stage but I can see how it will all come together very soon.

Special note ** purple underpaiting is not the most suitable for infant portraits as it is very hard to neutralize. Im probably going to go alot darker then intended once all is said and done, but this is for my own personal collection so ill have to live with it. ;) This installment consisted of adding a whole lot more perm rose in the transition area where his face is just starting to turn into shadow. and a little more cobalt in the shadows to try and cool the tones a little.

What a difference a glaze can make. I wasnt pleased with the brightness of the purple so i went in with a bold wash of hookers green deep which greyed everything out on that side. I still have some blending to do around his chin area to try and get rid of the harsh shadow. Also I have removed the mask and i can now see wher i have to add some color to blend and soften some features. As well I have to go back in and do a whole lot of work on his eyes.

Stage 12 and ive had to improvise on his hair a little - as he has just the slightest peach fuzz on his head at this age- no eye lashes and no eye brows so in order to soften his big melon ive added a varied combination of raw sienna, burnt umber and a little violet;) . Also ive worked a bit more on adjusting his skin tones in soft thin layers of color. But the biggest difference you will notice is the start to the addition of some texture in the background. This is now starting to "sing". The masking is still on the right side and will be working on the left side in the next installment
Image size 11.5" * 11.5"
Watercolor on 140lb CP

Yeah I am finally done.. and I am happy enough with it that it is in a frame and hanging proudly on my wall. :) LOL
Labels:

Comments

  1. DianaJanuary 22, 2010 at 1:13 AM

    I think your doing great...this is the stage I usually overwork something.

    Can't help much with the flesh tones, but I'll babysit!
    Such a cutie!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eclectic Studio TammyJanuary 22, 2010 at 1:38 PM

    Thanks Diana, I am working on my clown piece at the same time, so i am getting to know the glazes i need to use as i go. I am learning the hard way that using this mix can get dirty looking fast if worked to much.
    ps.. we could alwys use more sitters - lol
    he is much sweeter in person :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DIY Crayon costume for Halloween

Halloween is my favorite time of year. We spend weeks getting our yard and home decorated all for the night when the little ghosts and goblins come out to play. ;) B started school this year and within her school, they don't do a Halloween per say, they have an orange and black day. So in order to kill 2 birds with one stone, we decided that she is going to be an orange crayon. So with an old t-shirt and a little black felt fabric, this is what I came up with. I think it turned out Awesome! And the best part is that it was a no-sew project. Supplies needed:  1 t-shirt in the size required. 1 box of orange fabric dye (because they didn't' have any orange t-shirts in her size) 1 wooden spoon 1 large container for dying remnant black fabric. I used black felt because that is what I had on hand. 1 pattern for the Crayola font - I used this one Crayola pattern  and made the size adjustments accordingly when I was printing it out. For the crayon label banding, I just wi
Post a Comment
Read more

Halloween Haunt - DIY Rotting Flesh/ Corpsing prop tutorial

Here is one of the techniques I use to attain the rotting flesh look on cheap plastic dollar store Halloween props.  Supplies you will need: plastic body parts or skeletons cheap plastic wrap - it doesn't matter what brand  heat gun or high-temperature hairdryer wood stain ( I used oak because that is what I had laying around) spray paint ( red and black) craft paint (red, black, dark brown, white, grey and green)   First, wrap your cheap skulls or bones in a few layers of plastic food wrap. It doesn't matter what brand. Then take your heat gun and melt areas away until you get your desired look. Some hairdryers may not be able to get hot enough to do this. Then take your wood stain and start adding a little colour.  Color choices are completely up to you but i used red, flesh, dark brown, black, white, grey. On the skull, I added some black spray paint in the hallows of the eyes to add a little more dimension.  Hope this inspires you to try a new prop id
Post a Comment
Read more

Sailboat at sunset watercolor painting tutorial

Just a quick demo on how I painted this sailboat at sunset. Colors used: Indian Yellow, Napthol Red, Alizarin Crimson, Royal Blue, Burnt Sienna and Brillant Orange and permenant ink First draw out your image and mask off your sun spot - dry. I chose to use ink as a base to this painting applying it both directly and using it as a wash to add some shadows. Next wet the entire sky area. Working around your sun spot start by adding a graduated wash of indian yellow from the bottom to about 3/4 the way up, then add in alizarin crimson, and at the top work in a band of royal blue letting it run down a little. DRY The sky is not holding the weight I need it to so I wen over it again using the same colors and technique. This time adding a band of brilliant orange along the bottom. Looking better but still not quite there. So lets dry and move on to another area so that I can come back and judge the values. The sails were added using a mix of BS, brilliant orange and indian yellow. D
Post a Comment
Read more