As before, I started with a more or less detailed sketch in pen and ink using a Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen with an
Extra Super Fine .01 mm nib.I left the neutral mottled background of the panel rather than painting it over before starting the drawing. That background color came about accidentally as a result of the HDO panel's (high density overlay plywood) prior use as a form base for some architectural cast stone production use.
Extra Super Fine .01 mm nib.I left the neutral mottled background of the panel rather than painting it over before starting the drawing. That background color came about accidentally as a result of the HDO panel's (high density overlay plywood) prior use as a form base for some architectural cast stone production use.
Early colors used were neutral tones in magenta and purple neutralized with Raw Siena and/ or Yellow Ochre. At this point I'm only interested in covering all areas of the panel with a beginning base of color, and establishing only basic areas of tonality (relative brightness), and very basic color temperature. The right side will have a cool source of light and a warm source will spring from the left.
In the next step the cool tones on the right side were slowly built up using Naples Yellow and Cerulean Blue and white. The left side was kept subdued but slightly warm, using various neutral reds like Burnt Siena and English light red neutralized by a Dio Purple where necessary deeper in the shadows and, in the lighter transitions, Cadmium Red Light and Naples yellow, becoming more intense where the small area of direct sunlight will evolve.
In the final stages nothing really new is introduced; just the smoothing of transitions and a continued slow build up in the intensities in the lighter areas. The direct sunlight on her right cheek (our left) is defined more purposefully. The tonal transitions are “smoothed”, not by overblending, but by braiding and interweaving complimentary and contrasting hues (such as orange with violet) that are tonally similar (same brightness value).
The lighting scheme here is from dual sources, a cool light coming in from the right and a warm direct sunlight type light from the left. Since the two light sources are contrasting hues and temperatures, this can make for a an interesting mixture of color contrasting reflections in the face, for example, both cool and warm reflections under her right eye (viewer’s left).
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