Little Girl WIP - Day 1

I'm beginning work on a new drawing, as yet untitled.  Thought I'd share this work in progress with you since I am again trying new things.  This time I wanted a subject where I could learn to do more with the eyes, work on hands and try out curly hair.  I just happen chanced upon a delightful photo and was given permission to use it for my next illustration.

So here is the photo and the tracing I made of the original sketch (original sketch being way too messy with erasures and smudges to get a good scan of) ....

 

I then took the tracing and retraced it onto a nice piece of Stonehenge paper (this paper is totally awesome and extremely forgiving) using a Prismacolor Verithin pencil in the color of Terra Cotta.  On my last picture, I had traced the drawing onto my art paper using a graphite pencil and had troubles with the graphite lead when I was applying my colored pencils.  Figured this should eliminate that problem!

I commenced to lightly draw in the wavy curls onto the piece of Stonehenge paper and began the slow process of applying my skin tones.  First I layered all the skin areas with a very light even layer of "Cream" which I then followed with another light even layer of "Light Peach".  I then used the "Light Peach" to begin setting in the areas of shadowing; this was followed with very light layers of "Deco Pink", "Jasmine", "Pink Rose", and "Beige".  Each being applied to enforce the shadowing and lightly blending into the original foundation colors of Cream and Light Peach.  

There are over 21+ hues within  6 color value groups that can be applied to the skin to create a realistic looking image, so you can see I am not even half way through the Six Value Groups that contain 21+ hues.  But, I am establishing a very good base.

Now, as I have said before, I am NOT a portrait artist but rather an artist who prefers to draw people ... ergo, this illustration may or may not end up looking like the original subject.  But I certainly hope it will end up nice!

Right now it looks a bit spooky, as you follow along on this "Work In Progress" (WIP) you will see the image grow and come together in this artistic process of creating a colored pencil painting.  Wish me luck!

Happy Day!

Karen Anne Brady

PS  I am using techniques I have learned and am learning from the book "Colored Pencil Portraits - Step by Step" by Ann Kullberg and my other favorite book, by Alyona Nickelsen in her book "The Colored Pencil Painting Bible".

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