Some portrait painting during my time in Wainui. These were used as demos to show Michelle how I digitally painted.
Here we go:
Since I only have the laptop currently I used one monitor for this. The reference was placed on the left side and I worked in the line on the right.
Regina Spektor. 
I was explaining to Michele about how I don’t use the smudge tool. I decided to show her the tool and this is the result. We compared the smudged to the non-smudged. She liked the smudged version better. Personally I like the non smudge. Being about to see the brush strokes and use them as part of creating the form. 
Color. Showed how I use a limited amount of colors but a range of tones of each color. New color for the shirt.
Reference for this were photos on the shelf. I drew the characters, the frame around them, and the mantel piece they sit on. Turned it into a landscape work with the clouds in the back and scaling of the photos. 
Black and white. Focused very little but instead just gave the impression. In the background I defined the land. The characters are lighter than usual. Black frame septrates them from the landscape scene. On the left is square tiles. I like these for the ground. Above this a character is erupting from the land.
Color. I said in a recent post I wanted to use more browns in my work. Here I’ve done this with the land. Experimenting with the saturation levels of the brown – interesting grays appearing on the right hand center. For the water I used the green – exploring a range of brushes. I like the center area green – it has a flow to it that works. Building up those tones is helping.
That’s all for today.