Step by Step

 This past week, when I drew YET ANOTHER Crowley portrait, I decided to take more photos of the process--just because I could.  So if "step by step" pics of work in progress is something you find utterly fascinating, do read on.  If not, skip to the end where there are cute dachshund photos--which are always the best part of a blog post, right?  

Right.

The reference photo I chose comes from a scene where Crowley is wondering where he can go to escape the coming Armageddon -- he has taken photos from a book of astronomy and is thinking about zipping off to Alpha Centauri or somewhere equally exciting. The pages float around him as he ponders his dire fate.

Here he is looking at a nebula -- when Crowley was an angel, he helped create the stars, and he says here, "I helped build that one." I wanted the nebula in the drawing, but he never faces the screen while looking at it.  Drat.

This is the best shot I could find of him looking forward, so I went with it, and I'd just switch out the photo near his head with the nebula one.  

Here is my setup on my whiteboard drawing surface.  A sheet of Strathmore 400 Series Bristol Vellum taped down, and the reference photo held with a magnet.  The ruler is used to do some basic measuring of head height and width, and location of the main facial features, as this drawing will be done on a 1:1 scale.  (When making a drawing larger or smaller than the photo, a grid system is usually best.)

Here is the pencil sketch with the major planes and features blocked in:

Next, I map out the darkest areas using Burnt Umber, refining the features as I go along:

Next, I map out the medium and light tones.  The Faber-Castell colored pencil colors I use for skin tones are Beige Red (lightest areas) and Cinnamon (medium).

Then I add solvent to smooth everything out -- I used to use Gamsol Odorless Mineral Spirits, which are toxic and need ventilation, and careful handling, but during the Big Smoke from the wildfires, when I couldn't open any windows, I switched to baby oil, which gives a similar result, though it is non-archival.

At this point, the portrait doesn't look that great, but there's a ways to go.  Detailing comes next -- the eyes, nose, and mouth need a lot of fine lines and subtle shading of skin tones.  You can draw right on top of colored pencils that have been blended with solvent -- it dries almost instantly, and the surface is smoother, but Strathmore is a great, highly durable paper that can take multiple layers such as this.

Crowley's eyes are golden-yellow with a black snake-like slit.  I use two yellows -- Cadmium Yellow and the slightly darker Naples Yellow for his eyes.  Lips are usually done with Medium Flesh (light areas) and Pompeian Red (darker).  After working on the details, I start working on deepening the shadows with Nougat (medium shadows) and Walnut Brown (darker areas).

Having drawn a lot of Crowley portraits by now, I've got his hair pretty much down.  First, I cover the entire hair with Burnt Umber, using light pressure:

Then I use stronger pressure to add highlighted areas with Light Yellow Ochre, and quite strong pressure to put Burnt Sienna over the whole hair.

When I add solvent to it, magic happens!

Okay, that's enough of the step-by-step stuff.  Hope you enjoyed it.  I didn't take step-by-step pics of the background, so you're off the hook there.  The walls were simple (three shades of gray plus a light ochre).  There's a statue in the far back which I left indistinct so as not to distract from the foreground. The nebula was challenging -- I used a lot of different blues and some ivory, cream, and a yellow-orange, using multiple layers of color, solvent, more color, and burnishing.  His clothes are always easy -- lots of dark gray and black.

I'm pretty happy with the result:

Now for the puppy pics!  Hoorah!

Pippin Pup turned three years old on October 1, when I snapped this early morning shot:

He is a very sweet dog.  Here he is as a puppy, just a few months old, letting Truman know that his world has forever changed:

As you can see from this photo from a year later, Truman got used to the little guy:

Such sweet boys.

So that was the week that was, and I imagine the coming week will be much the same.

Have a good one, and stay safe out there!