Theresa, 2017
Balance
As an artist, finding a balance between maintaining my style, realism, and pleasing the person being painted has always been something that's kept me thinking. Often people get upset when their portrait isn't absolutely realistic. Or people might get upset when they feel self-conscious or insecure about themselves, and want it to be abstracted. Others find realistic art more valuable, while some find abstract or more creative styles to be more interesting. Some people just love art in the way it's done and some don't, that's okay. I actually prefer that not everyone likes my art, it's what make the ones that do more special to me.
I usually don't show my processes, and it's usually out of my comfort zone to explain them to an extent. I believe that this is my first real try at it, so I hope everyone enjoys it.
Take a look at the video of how this digital painting was made.
Completed Image
Red Hair
Her hair was created in layers by using several shades of color. Oranges, yellows, and red to top it off and give it a desirable texture. I think with hair, creating a unique and desirable texture is the goal. These streaks give dimension as well as just something additionally artistic to the painting. Because of her wavy hair, the brush strokes have lots of small curls which helps actually bind everything together.
Eyes
Her eyes were created with a shade of lightish greyish purple and sky blue. It's a striking color, but the fade in the eyes is very subtle. I wanted to have it be something that was special but not necessarily thrown in your face like some of the eyes I've painted in the past.
Lips
Lips are just so important. I find myself spending a lot of time shaping the lips to be something beautiful. Also, women almost always have a defined color in their lips and it's important to me to make it show through. This one was done by small brush strokes. I went over the lips a few times, and added some hints of shading. Again it's not a realistic portrait, but the shading elements actually help add some abstract definition. I added the lines on the lips to show both imperfections of the cracks, but also how there's another dimension of curve.
Nose
It happens frequently when I'm drawing that the lines that make up the noses look like noses from further away, but are actually very roughly done. I like the lines to be very sketchy and scribbled for the noses, since it's such a cool feature that pops off of our face it's only doing it justice to make it just as artful but interpreted in a different way. Some people don't like that I tinker with their noses in the portraits, but others really appreciate the creativity and style.
Necklace
This was rather spontaneous, but I used a gold acrylic paint and dabbed on in little circles each of the beads. The inside of the necklace's main piece is a darker purple colored rock, so I wanted to make sure that some of the purple tones were coming through.
Exit
Exiting of the painting is where people's eyes leave the painting and leave the final impression. The red fade at the bottom represents the color of her sweater, but more so how I want you to feel while you are finished looking at the portrait. Often I'll have more edgy ways to get out of a piece. This is a very gentle slide away from the portrait, and is meant to be very subtle and soft.
