Francis portrait

This is great Frank, so much character ! And wonderful colours - I am very envious, I just posted a watercolour of a little girl, asking for help with skin colours, maybe you have some advice for me !

Wonderful portrait and beautifully captured sparkle in Francis's eyes.

ta for your comments, Sharon, I have posted a reply about colours on your portrait of girl. But all artists use there own style and yours is very delicate. But I use the underpaint style of the base background colour to show through the overpaint. This may not apply to your style, but the burnt umber under paint gives a warm top colour....thanks....just keep drawing in your own style

Thanks Frank for your valued feedback. I took a long look at your gallery, its really stunning. Most of your work is done with pencil or pastel - I guess with watercolour, as I can't add highlights afterwards, I might start with a basic underpaint for the midtones and darks, carefully avoiding any highlights, and then add the darker shadows as a second layer. Layering seems to be the solution in any case. I shall perservere !

superb pastel portrait Frank, lovely tonal work

Sharon...I mainly use acrylics as a base, because they are fixed when dry, and I can work over without the tones mixing...highlights, can be put over...but a little trick you may try, is to use masking fluid over an area you don't want acrylic wash to go over, then that will be clear of paint...this only works on Art board like watercolour line board. But in this portrait I simply used the colour board as my base, so no need to mask...just work over with pastels...light last. I do use watercolour pencils and the new Art bars which come as like oil sticks, but after mixing with water blend as watercolours and are fixed...so again I can go over them...hope this helps with some ideas....but your own style is great and very delicate...so don't change too much eh!

Beautiful portrait Frank

Thanks again Frank for taking the trouble. I am working on a cropped version of the original photograph, just the face, and taking all the tips on board - although I must admit I really don't like using masking fluid, I find it far too harsh for anything but the thinnest of lines. I'll be posting the result, whatever the outcome, so if you're interested, watch this space ! Cheers.

Sharon, I will look out for your new work with interest...I agree masking is too hard but there are times when you need to wash over a large shape as in my pic of nude girl 'resting' or the bird head in moolight hunting.all the best