Stages

These shots show a couple of the stages that a painting might go through, from the drawing, to the poster study to the underpainting. The poster is a little sunken in, I did it yesterday, but it helped me to get a handle on the skin tones and modulations. Andre is pretty dark skinned but he doesn't have an ounce of fat so he gets these really cool purple lights that react with his warmer body tones. My instructor at GCA gave me some tips on what colors to use and after that I was able to nail it. I spent this morning tubing up my colors so next session I'll be ready to go. I had meant to do the ebauche from life but the poster took up most of my time so the instructor suggested I do a simplified version at home using the study as a guide.

The still life drawing is for another 16"x20". It's just about ready for transfer. I'm including a peek of an interior in the background. I got the idea from looking at the paintings of Gerome where he sometimes shows a courtyard that unexpectedly opens up into a little slice of a vista.