Für Elisa

.... and Mary

Everybody hum: de,da,de,da,de,da, de, da, dummmmm, de,da, de dum, de dum de dum. Repeat, etc.
OK, now....

Some of us were talking about quick children's portraits. I did one this evening, not quite in the manner I had talked about, but in a simple way. Note that I don't know this little boy, so am guessing on his character and personal look. Also my computer has been less than cooperative, so my references are anything but ideal. But the likeness is not that crucial here.

Here are the steps:

Find a cute boy. Decide on crop of image.

Enlarge sketch with grid method. (You see I was just using scraps from around my desk.)

Thus. Note that the head was at an angle, which is crucial to note to get the proportions lined up.

Scribble pencil on back of grid drawing and trace sketch onto watercolour paper, in this case.

Dig out the watercolour palette from under the stacks and see if suitable colors are on it. Yes. Good. Find a brush, too. Always keep a container of water handy. Paper towels, too. Check, check, check, ready.....

Put down some tones to suggest form and background. Let them blend. I used four colors here: a yellow ochre,  a random red, a blue and a cadmium yellow. And a touch of burnt siena with blue in the eyes. That needs to dry-

While it did, I did a lot of other things that moms do, plus I found a piece of mono print paper from some weeks ago (more on which another time), added some stamping to it, and cut out a horse shape. This probably will turn into something later.

Then I collected some coloured pencils in skin tones. I did not end up using the pen. That will be for another method, another time.

One by one I added colors to model the features. Ochre.

A peach tone

Pink - always necessary at corners of eyes, on ears, temples, upper lip, and half tones of shadows.
These pictures seem to have been taken foreshortened, so the head looks compressed. This boy actually has a relatively long narrow head...... 

.... more like this. The pencil is a warm blue

Tuscan red

Getting closer. Adjust tones.

Call it done. In the original picture the boy was squinting and slightly frowning in concentration, but I changed that, opening his eyes and adjusting the look. Now if one could SEE the subject, it would be more helpful.

Who is next?