Chloe...

...just a glimpse of Chloe...

Well, I started on Miss Chloe... and made the hard decision of making her look a little older.  I don't exactly know why, but I wanted to try it out.  I was done practicing in the sketchbook, so I just went for it.  My initial intention was to do a tutorial on how I go about shading my face, but since I learned the technique from Monica, I didn't think it was right.  If you want to learn more about creating a realistic face PLEASE TAKE HER CLASS!! (I'm taking the Mixed Media Faces, but the Pencil Drawing class is also fantastic)

I use a combination of Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils, and Derwent Watercolor pencils.  I prefer Prismacolor, but I'm use specific Derwent colors... you can buy them individually, instead of paying for an entire set.  I start with Prismacolor Sunburst yellow and then use Burnt Yellow Ochre, Pink Madder Lake, and Deep Vermillion (all Derwent colors)... in that order.  The last color I use Prismacolor's Burnt Sienna, a dark brown with a reddish undertone.  I reserve this color for shading the darkest areas, after I have blended out the first 4 colors with acrylic paint... more on that later.  Working from your lightest color, to your darkest color, allows you to reshape your face and features as you go.  You can also control varying amounts of shading that occur naturally on the face.  Monica suggests working off a picture of a real face, and I agree this helps a great deal.  There's no guessing, just draw and shade what you see.  Here's my progression of shading, as I work through my five colors.

sunburst yellow

Sunburst yellow & burnt ochre



yellow, ochre, and pink madder lake

yellow, ochre, pink madder, and deep vermillion



...let's  start her hair...



...reshaping her Princess Leia buns with Terra Cotta...

I like working on the Gessobord, it's textured surface is similar to what I'm used to, but alas... I miss my watercolor paper.  It's making me think I should just draw my face on my favorite paper and glue it on using gel medium.  Hmmmmm.  Let's try out the Claybord, and then we'll attempt the other option.  Another thing I noticed was the PVA glue acts as a resist, so the watercolor pencil doesn't transfer very well over the collaged areas... no bueno.  I wonder if it would make a difference if I used gel medium, instead of PVA glue... or apply clear gesso over the collaged areas.   Something to keep in mind.

I used a light hand with the watercolor pencils because I wanted Chloe to have fair skin.  However, when I blended out the pencil with fluid white acrylic paint, her skin was a little to fair, for my taste.  I will add some more color with flesh tone acrylics and terra cotta pencil on my future layers.  Here's what she looks like now.

...still needs a lot of shading...

Like I mentioned before, the PVA glue acted as a resist, and I wasn't too happy with the results.  Good thing I do multiple layers on my painting, even the hair... we will find a way to fix it!!

...PVA glue acts as a resist...

Let's talk about blending.  I use the same color on the face and hair, but get different results when blending because I use white fluid acrylics to blend the face, and only water to blend the hair.  The white paint "pastels" (not really an action word, but what the heck) the pigment of the color pencil pigment.  You maintain the true pigment color of the pencil when you blend with water (or mineral spirits, whatever you prefer), so the terra cotta color I used makes a beautiful version of red hair.  Here's a couple sample swatches I did in my sketch book.  You can play around with the amount of color saturation by varying the amount of white paint you use.

Well, I hope this was helpful.  Miss Chloe is not even close to being done, but my days off are upon us, so I plan to finish her up and show you my progress.  Talk to you soon!!