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