Sunday, June 30, 2013

Erich von Ludendorff bust - Update #1

I recently held one of my little figure painting classes at our local hobby shop "Section 8 Hobbies" here in Buffalo and as part of my demo I began painting this bust from Ulrich Puchala's line of portrait busts. I have been meaning to start on this for some time and this was the perfect opportunity.
 
As always a mix of Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Yellow Deep and W&N Permanent Red, with a touch of Yellow Ochre was made to start the flesh process. This is applied liberally to the face and hairline and the excess removed leaving a "stain" of the mixture on the white basecoat. Over this I began working my mid-tone highlights (Cadmium Yellow Deep and Titanium White) to begin blocking out the face. Shadows under the chin and around the eyes were started by stippling Indigo into the areas that require darkening. This indicates shadowing in the areas of facial hair growth as well as greying out the skin around his eyes. The results are in the first photos below.
 

After this had dried I began deepening the shadows using Burnt Umber and Brown Madder glazes along with a tiny touch of Alizarin Crimson in the cheeks. The Burnt Umber was also worked into the hair.


Further highlighting is done using glazes of Titanium White with a small amount of Cadmium Yellow Deep. These glazes both brighten the highlights and tone down the warmer tones of the base colors. The eyes were also started at this point. A mix of Titanium White, Mars Black and Burnt Umber was applied to the hair with each coat being made lighter by the white. This is applied in small lines, building texture and random highlighting.


The eyes are completed as well as further highlighting of the folds around his eyes. I also pulled back some of the whiter hairs in his moustache and eyebrows as he hadn't gone that far grey by the time of this portrait. Painting the uniform and Cap will help me to see if any further work needs to be done to get the desired flesh tones where I want them.


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