Things I did differently with this painting:
1. I used the base color as background;
2. All harsh lines were muted by running over the dry lines with a clean wet brush;
3. The final outline was softened;
4. Using green as base color for both models, not just blue; and
5. Uhm.. a #5 would be nice.
I realized a few things though:
1. I might need to use a darker colored pencil. It is best to use colored pencil for pets and regular pencil for portraits.
2. With the 200 gsm paper, there was much wrinkling. With the 300 gsm, it is minimal. However I did put masking tape on the sides. I might need to buy two wooden boards to flatten these out.
3. I really need to spend at least 24 hours away from the painting before coming back to it to put in the final details. I get to see more dissimilarities when the light is better [I paint at night] and after I’ve scanned the image. I realized this is something that can’t be rushed.
4. I do need to keep copies of my paintings. I did a comparison of my old and new ones and can see how much I’ve improved and the problems I am still having.
5. Painting the entire thing takes about 2 hours. What I am not adding into the equation is the sketching process, planning process and the 15 – 30-minute after-edits. All in all, ONE portrait takes about (an aggregate of) 4 hours to complete.
