Commission Part 3

First of all, I feel the need to apologize to anyone who has looked at my blog within the past few months.  I've been trying to organize and separate my personal and artist accounts.  I have been using my personal gmail to write this blog.  I thought it would make more sense if I was using my artist gmail account. So, I moved all of my images from one account to the other.  I had no idea that if I deleted the images from my google account that it would delete them from the blog as well.  So, instead of writing new posts, I've been going back to the blogs, reading them and finding the images that I once had.  I am nowhere close to being done :(

But I am still making art!  I recently finished my largest commission.  It was another portrait commission.  This time there were 18 people in it.  Because the painting was a surprise, my friend had to give me photos of everyone in small groups.  I took all of the photos into Photoshop and did some editing so I could arrange them in a good composition.

Once we agreed on an arrangement that my friend liked the best, I began working on the outline.

I used Derwent Inktense Pencils for this artwork.  I love the vibrancy of the colors.  I especially love that is dries like an ink, so I am able to work in multiple layers without worrying about lifting previous layers.  With 18 people there were a variety of skin tones to match.  I began playing with various colors creating a skin tone chart.

Beginning skin tones always terrifies me.  I think it is because it doesn't look anything like the person at first and it takes a few layers for the face to begin to resemble the person.

 Each face took me around 2 hours to complete and they were about 2 inches in size.

There were a few faces that I had trouble with.  I had to "erase" them and start all over.  Mr. Clean magic erasers are amazing and are not just good for cleaning around the house.  They are great at removing the intense color.  It won't remove all of it and depending on the color you first used determines what staining may occur.  You can see the color stain left on the 2 faces in the middle.

But in the end the painting turned out wonderful.

It was an intense commission, but I enjoyed working on it.  I liked the challenges that were presented along the way.  I like drawing and painting portraits.  There is a fear (a good kind) that comes with it.  Will it look like the person?  Or will it be a disaster?  I like that it is such a different style from my Mizzles.  It helps my skills stay fresh and prevents me from becoming board with my work.