02413: Josephine Lucero (In pinks and greys)

[Pochi 11324]

Here is Josephine Lucero. I have been wanting to paint a pretty girl using pinks and greys for quite awhile. There are birds in Australia called galahs and I just love them. Grey bodies with pink bellies and heads. They aren't the brightest colored birds here but there's just something about them I like.

 

I knew I needed a girl wearing a cloak so I could do her dress in pinks but the cloak in greys. The Josephine figure is perfect. I have renamed her Galahni.

 

Anyway, advice was given to me to work on my highlights and shadows. I have been afraid to highlight too much. I found a tutorial in the Painting Tips forum on layering so decided to try that with Galahni.

 

I was also advised to thin my paints which is what this method depends on so thought I would kill two birds with one stone. (Maybe not the correct phrase since this is inspired by birds?)

 

Her face was already done before I got the other critiques but I did tweak it a bit to try and add a bit more shadow and highlight. I did the dress today. She is a little sloppy because I found out sometimes I thinned the paint too much or had too much on my brush. I had a few Oh ____! moments!

 

Ok, do I need to take the highlights up one step further?

 

Comments and critiques welcome!

 

 

[pcktlnt 36180]

You could push highlights some mor. If you want to highlight, go with an off white. But I'd say you may obtain the same by shading.

 

Great work on the face.

Edited May 13, 2015 by pcktlnt

[Ted Kord 441]

I would put some silver or gold on that chain around her waist.

[Pochi 11324]

Ok, going to try and get a higher level of highlight. If I bring the highlights up a bit more, are the shadows dark enough?

 

Ted, yeah, I am going to do the jewelry and everything. All I have worked on as yet is the face and dress. Trying to get the hang of layering shadows and highlights.

 

Will work on her a bit more after I fix dinner.

[fanguad 7065]

You're definitely headed in the right direction.  Thinning your paints and loading your brush are skills that take time to learn but are well worth the effort, so keep practicing those.  As far as highlighting and shading, you can [almost] always stand to take things one notch higher, but I'd say that because you have so much light pink it would be more effective to darken the shadows.  Take a look at the area near her left shoulder (our right) - that's a good color to use for shadows.  You'll need to paint that in the deep folds of her dress where light would have a hard time hitting.  Right now, it kind of looks like her dress is glowing because the shadows are very bright.  Another thing you could do is mix a little blue or purple into the red when you create the shadow color - shadows tend to be a bit blue so this will help them look correct to our eye.

[Pingo 109315]

It's a nice face.

 

If I were painting this I would use a creamy pale yellow mixed with the palest color on her gown for her dress' highlights. I would use a warmer color because adding straight white to colors tends to shift them towards the blue end of the spectrum, causing highlights to look a bit cold. This isn't as much of an issue here because the pink color is already pretty cool and rosy.

 

I would probably use some sort of mauve in the deepest shadows of her gown.

 

An intense color like that is going to reflect off nearby surfaces, so you may want to consider mixing just a bit of the gown's color into the grey of the cloak's lining where it would reflect.

[Pochi 11324]

Fanguard, hehehe, her left shoulder color is the color in the folds of her dress, it seems darker because it actually is in shadow. I understand what you mean though. I went to the paint store tonight and bought a purplish blue color because I was thinking that might darken the shadows and I didn't like the tint of the dark purple I had already. Nice to hear my instincts seem to be on the money!

 

Pingo, thank you, I think this is probably the best face I have done so far. I will try your tips, I am especially intrigued to try the hint of yellow mixed in for highlights. That might look cool! Your stuff always reminds me of watercolor paintings. Very pretty!

 

And just think, once I get the dress figured out, I get to do it all over again with the cloak! This is a lot of fun though. Hopefully it won't be raining tomorrow so I can get more pictures taken. (Have been taking them outside to use the natural light).

[Pochi 11324]

Ok, I took bits and pieces of your critiques and here she is again. I added purple to the darker shadows. (Too much?) I added a little pale yellow to my mixture of pink with a little white for the second to last layer of highlight and the last highlight is a tiny touch of watered down off white.

 

I like her but am trying to decide if the shadows on the front of the dress are too purple. Under the breasts and cloak I think are fine. I am liking her and there is a huge difference between using this method and how I usually do them.

 

Without further ado, introducing the still half painted Galahni!

 

 

[fanguad 7065]

Looking much more natural now!  She took a large turn towards purple, which looks fine but isn't what you set out to do.  You've added lots of highlights and shadows and now you need to reclaim some of the middle area with your midtone (whichever shade of pink the fabric is supposed to be) so it looks like a pink dress.  It looks like you're getting the hang of thinner paints as well.

[Pingo 109315]

She looks great. I agree with fanguad about reclaiming the pink in the middle tones, assuming you want to stick with the pink.

[ub3r_n3rd 152256]

She looks great. I agree with fanguad about reclaiming the pink in the middle tones, assuming you want to stick with the pink.

 

/agree fully with this

[Pochi 11324]

I added some pink back in and shaded her cloak. I am very pleased with how she is turning out. There is a little pockmark in the back of her cloak that I'm not happy with but unless you are holding her an inch from your nose (or photographing her) it isn't noticable. I didn't notice it until I started shading but it sure stands out in pictures.

 

I am going to do her hair next. I would do the belt and jewelry but wanted to ask opinions on what I am thinking for that. I do not think I can handle trying to make regular colors look like shiny metal yet, especially on tiny ornamental bits. So, my thought was to paint it with a gunmetal, put a dark wash over that, highlight with silver (possibly mixing in a tad bit of pink to highlight the edges where the dress would reflect), then highest highlight with touches of white. Am I overthinking this? Is trying to do a pink highlight too much on such teeny bits?

 

 

 

 

I feel like I am being really needy but I appreciate all the feedback. This is the prettiest thing I have ever painted. It is turning out how it looked in my head!

[pcktlnt 36180]

If you have brush on sealer, you can paint a little of it into the pockmark, wait for it to dry and apply paint over it.

 

Depending on how deep the mark is, you may need a few applications.

[Arc 724 18318]

Looking really good, Your layering is nice.

 

You may also want to take your mid-tone for a section, water it down, and wash that section to create a little better blending.

[fanguad 7065]

Excellent work on the cloak.  Your plan for the jewelry seems solid.  And don't worry about asking for advice - people here love to help.