Profile Portrait (painting process)

#63

Painting a profile portrait, practicing face/head anatomy, check out the step by step process below.

I start with the darkest areas or contours to establish the base and then just fill in the shading. This way it's easier to quickly get the proportions and basic shading in. Painting is more about abstracting what you see and I found this to be the best method for me to see shapes and forms and indicate them easily.

I focused on indicating the shadow lines first and then on figuring out the more uniformly lit areas. Anatomy in general is pretty tough to paint because of subtle variations in shading, but familiarity with the human form makes it even harder because you just know when something doesn't look right even when you can't point it out. It's a brain thing. Here's the final, what do you guys think?