Artistic Realism Art Studio

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 6

Quite a big jump from the previous stage. Here, I’ve done most of the “underpainting” for the fabric she’s sitting on. Plus, her legs are almost finished — just a little more fine-tuning to be done in those areas.

DETAIL 1 - THE CHANGES:

• I have done some more work on her hair. The part I haven’t done yet is quite “messy” so I left that for later
• Finished drawing the other ear (viewer’s right)
• Viewer’s right eyebrow is now in place

I left the head area for a while and continued working on the arm down…

DETAIL 2
Finally finished her hand so I am posting a close-up of that area as well.

The fabric underneath her fingers is showing the start of the furry texture. I practiced on how to create believable and realistic fur before I even started the portrait. I tried a few different ways and tools but decided on using a stick eraser. I hope it does the effect I am trying to achieve.

Faith

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 5

Some more update on her hair. Also, more work on the nose, mouth and eye (viewer’s right). I really like how her cute little nose and mouth are coming along .

Faith

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• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 4

Worked some more on the initial tones on the rest of the face, arm and chest. Started drawing the hair and the other eye. Also began adding detail to the nose.

Apart from experimenting with the mostly-graphite-powder-skin-tones method, I am trying to lessen the darkness of the skin tones as well. I tend to go quite dark because I feel that I haven’t achieved the skin texture I am going for unless I’ve applied layers and layers of tone, which often leaves the portrait looking too dark. I wonder if anyone else is in the same situation…

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Faith

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 3

Just a bit of progress in this stage. A little more was done on the eye and I started working on the ear and eyebrow. This stage also shows the initial pencil strokes for the hair.

In addition, I worked some more on the background (smoothening it out and making the tones even) and darkened what she’s sitting on. I am actually planning it to be a furry sort of fabric like that of a teddy bear’s. I am not really sure what the correct term for that kind of fabric is but I researched and, I think, it’s properly known as “plush”. Anyway, please let me know if it’s wrong .

Faith

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 2

Here’s stage 2. Initial layers of graphite pencil have been applied to most of the drawing. I have also done quite a bit of her right eye in this stage but it isn’t finished yet. I included a close-up to show a larger view of the face.

In this drawing, I am trying out a new method for the skin tones which is quite different from what I normally use — it will be done using mostly graphite powder.

I used to do the skin tones with an “underpainting” of graphite powder and then layers of more graphite using mechanical pencils. In this portrait, I am trying to use the graphite powder as much as possible and restrict the mechanical pencils to the “finalizing stage” (filling out missed spots and adding sharp edges).

My application of graphite powder is the same as charcoal — brushing on light layers until I get the desired darkness and texture. This new method will, I hope, speed up the time I spend on my graphite pencil portraits while still retaining a detailed finish . Hopefully, it will also give my drawings a softer look.

Please stay tuned for the next stage !

From the Art Studio,

Faith

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Portrait of Baby Mary Rose - Stage 1
Medium: Graphite Pencil
Paper: Canson Grain
Size: 36 × 43 cm (14″ × 17″)

Hi everyone,

I haven’t been able to post anything for a long while now. I spent a good part of that time working on portraits which I can’t post right now as I haven’t asked permission from the subjects yet.

Anyhow, here’s a portrait that I am currently working on. This is stage 1 — the outline stage. Some of the reasons why this portrait is especially interesting to do for me are:

1. It is a baby’s portrait (they’re so adorable to look at )
2. This is the first time I will be doing a “serious” full-figure drawing
3. There are new subjects and textures for me to draw like shoes and lettering on her clothes

I am currently about a third finished with this drawing, but since I managed to scan it in between drawing sessions, I will post these earlier stages first.

By the way, this and all future image close-ups will be a bit bigger than what we usually post them. I decided to increase the size because I very much enjoy viewing other artists’ works up close to see and examine all the details that they’ve put in. I guess it’s a good substitute if I can’t view their works in person . Anyway, let me know if you would rather have the smaller close-ups and I’ll change them back to the original sizes.

Faith

• Website: Artistic Realism Drawings
• View other stages: Portrait of Baby Mary Rose Stages

Here it is, finally finished:

Title: Portrait of Ron Hontz
Medium: Pastels
Paper: Canson Mi-Teintes
Size: 28 × 36 cm (11″ × 14″)

The subject of the portrait is my good friend Ron Hontz. He (along with two other friends) introduced me to pastels so it was only fitting to do his portrait using the medium.

I experimented a lot on this portrait, one of which is on the background. I wanted to try a more “creative” and different background instead of a plain one or a simple gradient. I’m not sure I like this one better, but the cloudy effect has inspired other ideas, which I hope to use on other pastel paintings.

Also, the skin tone was based on other pictures as his was a little too reddish in my reference picture.

I am not too happy with the way this portrait turned out, however — a lot of the colors are dulled down and I would have liked a more realistic effect to it. Anyhow, I still have a number of pencil portraits that I’ll try to finish first, but I wish to practice and concentrate more on pastel paintings afterwards, particularly on portraits and landscapes.

Thank you for looking!

Faith