Blog
Mainly a way for me to track progress, work through my thinking, and give myself space to reflect -- writing it down here tends to spark the next idea too.
All posts
Two Master Studies on the Zorn Palette
Two gouache master studies on Zorn, one after Cedric Peyravernay's Lord Pendleton and one after Ahmed Aldoori's Face Practice: no tools, a bigger sheet, and the difference between pulling colour out of the mixes and pushing it in.
Wet-in-Wet Gouache: Two Gradient Studies
Two quick technique studies in gouache, a plain sky and a rock, to practise wet-in-wet gradients and find out where dry layering on top starts to undo them.
Four Complexions in Gouache: From a Triad to the Zorn Palette
Four small gouache heads across four complexions, the first on a three-colour palette and the next three on Zorn, and what shapes, value strings and a bigger brush did for the colour.
Two Colours and White: Four Gouache Portraits on a Limited Palette
Four gouache portraits, each on two colours and white chosen before the first stroke, testing the ear post's rule of picking a palette and sticking with it. Three of the four held to it.
Painting an Ear in Gouache: Three Primaries, Then Four
The last of the four feature studies: an ear in pencil, direct ink and gouache on a fixed three-primary palette, and what happened when the palette wasn't enough.
Painting Lips in Gouache: The Values Held, the Hues Didn't
Two sheets of ink mouth studies, a value wash before any colour, and a gouache lip study planned with Paint Mixing's new saved palettes. This time the darks held and the hue became the problem.
Drawing the Nose: The Wrong Person Under the Right Light
Nose studies in pencil, ink and gouache, planned with Shape Simplifier and Palette Extractor, and why a gouache study that fails as a likeness can still work as a lighting study.
Eyes First: Ink Without a Net, Then One in Gouache
The first of four feature studies: eyes in pencil, then in ink with no underdrawing, then one eye in gouache planned with Shape Simplifier and Palette Extractor.
Reading Value Beyond Portraits: Five Studies in Alcohol Marker
Five small alcohol marker studies, a house, a rock, two landscapes and a portrait, to see how the studio tools hold up outside portrait work.
Six Heads, Three Sheets: Pushing Past My Comfort Zone in Coloured Pencil
Six heads on three sheets, with a deliberate push into different complexions and ages, and what colour layering showed me about the drawing underneath.
Testing the Zorn Palette in Coloured Pencil
Testing whether the Zorn palette holds up for a coloured pencil portrait: palette swatches, the pencils, four small studies and a mid-sized piece.
Notan for Portrait Design
I usually judge light and shadow by eye. This time I ran every head through the Notan Generator first, working the design out in two flat values before inking.