Stage 1

The outline was initially drawn on a separate sheet of paper until it was accurate.

Then I used a sheet of paper covered with Burnt Umber soft pastel powder to transfer the outline to my final pastel paper. I used the textured side of Canson Mi-Teintes.

Stage 2

Here, I started to work on the underpainting for the skin tones using light Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Permanent Red, and white soft pastels. I then blended with my fingers to achieve soft and gradual tones.

Started to work on the hat. I used black for the general tones and light Ultramarine Deep and a little white for the highlights.

I am using Rembrandt soft pastels and, occassionally, the harder Van Gogh square pastels for some of the details and edges.

Stage 3

Worked on the hat some more.

I have now added some greens and blues to the darker areas of the skin.

I have also started painting in the shirt using Ultramarine Deep. Ultramarine Light and white were used for the lighter areas.

Black was used as underpainting for the background.

Stage 4

Continued working on the skin tones -- darkening shadows and adding highlights. At this point, I am adding more detail and also paying closer attention to getting the likeness.

I have now darkened the eyes, added eyebrows, and worked a little on the lips and gums.

I decided to give the portrait a full background and randomly applied various greens.

Stage 5

Continued working on the head as well as the clothes. I have added folds to his shirt to give it a more natural look. Orange was used for the shirt's shadow areas.

I wanted to give the portrait a more complex background, so I added more greens which I then blended lightly with my fingers to produce a "blurry trees" effect.

Stage 6: Finished

I worked some more on the teeth and lips. Also, some of the hightlights were further lightened and the shadows darkened to give the portrait more contrast. And after a few other finishing touches, the portrait is finished.

I hope you have enjoyed this pastel portrait study. Thank you for reading.