Thursday, May 7, 2009

Pastel Baby Portrait

With my spring projects about wrapped up I decide to go back to work. The universe kindly and quickly provides me with five portrait commissions, all children.
I find pastels to be a wonderful medium for children's portraits. Pastels convey the softness and luminosity of the skin tones so well. I like to work on a camel tan paper. The mid tones are already there and it makes a nice neutral background. The first portrait of this cute little guy I did a while back. Sadly it was lost in a fire. In the other portrait I did the hood in white, this time they ant it striped like the photo. I like it better and I think they will too.
After doing the sketch I start laying n flesh tones and establishing the values.

Then I work in more values add the eyes. If I don't have a good likeness by this point I start over.


Here I am getting close to being finished but the expression is not quite right. At this stage I let it sit for a day or two so I can get a fresh view.

A few more minutes and the corrections are made. I spray it with a fixative. This darkens the baby portrait slightly. An I'm finished with only four more to go. I'll have a busy week.

Portrait commissions available on my Etsy shop Lancaster Art :http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6068156




5 comments:

  1. Wow! it looks just like the baby in the photo.
    You really captured it!
    And thanks for sharing your process.
    Also thank you so much for your nice comment on my blog.

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  2. Hi
    Beautiful baby portrait. They look so similar, you are a great artist. Keep up the good work.

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  3. Thanks yall. He is such a cute guy and fun to do!

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  4. Wow, just beautiful, Diana!!

    Happy Creating

    ~ Dana Marie

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