Painting again!

I finally have started painting again! I haven't found (or more accurately: made) the time to do any serious oil painting since I finished classes this past Spring.  But then we had an all-day blizzard about a week and a half ago!  My work was cancelled and so I had an entire day stuck at home with nothing to do.  The conditions were perfect for finally motivating myself to break out the paints. It was a little hard starting up again after such a hiatus, but it was really enjoyable.  I decided to stick with what I'd last been practicing: portraits!  I even took some progress shots of the second, smaller portrait I did (a pseudo self-portrait) so you can see my process.  In addition to the paintings I also have done a few sketches and some more Sketchbook Pro digital coloring.  Enjoy!

There's nothing quite like painting while watching your favorite movie during a blizzard.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out (especially for my first one after so long)!

 Here are the progress photos showing my process for the second painting (the final picture is the finished product):

 Sketching on colored background

Laying in a flat skin tone, refining outlines, and starting to define general cool light/color shapes

Adding warm light/color to the other side of the face, starting to block in the big shadow shapes in the hair

Smoothing shapes in the face, painting in the hair and collar, refining detail in the eyes, and adding some background color

                                                     

Here are some recent drawings from my sketchbook!

A teen I saw while working at the library

A quick doodle of a woman I saw at the store where I work (there are definite benefits to working in places with a wide variety of customers/patrons)

A little idea sketch for a project I'm working on

This is the colored version of that Classical Indian/Ancient Egyptian dress I posted about last time.