The Making of Deena

Everything I know, I learned from PBS.
I loved, and still love, watching people make stuff. Even if it's things I don't make (quilts, scrapbook pages, pasta). So many of the shows on PBS gave me a glimpse into the life of an artist (anybody remember the making of a saxophone on Sesame Street?).

Here is my small "Making of." I'll demonstrate how I create one of my paintings. The one I will show today is called Deena.

I started this piece with the basic idea of drawing someone in a plaid shirt.

First, I took a picture of myself posed in a plaid shirt. As many artist know, sometimes your best model (or at least most convenient) is yourself. I pose for most of my pieces, no matter the gender, height, weight, ethnicity. I just need a general idea of how the clothes will fall on the body. Or, how the body's angles should go.

I then drew a sketch of the illustration. Next, I took the sketch to my printer and reduced it to half of its size. I did this so that the picture can fit within the confines of my projector, as you will see later on.

A canvas was prepared earlier. The canvas is a discarded bookcover. I glued on a page from a lesson plan book to add a background. Next, gesso was applied over the canvas.

Now, it is time to transfer the sketch to the canvas. I slid the half-sized sketch under my projector. The design was traced onto the canvas with a 2H pencil.

My former art teachers would kill me for this, but I never do color studies or drafts. I just dive right into the paint.

I like adding bright colors in the background. So, I begin by laying in a bright blue. I didn't color all the way to the edge. This gives a nice poppy expressionistic feel.

After, scrubbing in the background, I moved on to Deena's skin. There is a paint called Fleshtone that, in my opinion, doesn't match any person's skintone. I use the Fleshtone paint in conjunction with various shades of brown and sienna to create a much more natural looking human.
If you look closely at your skin, you will see more than just one color. Go ahead look!

No detailing, yet. Just general color blocking. As the skin was drying, I began painting the basic color of the shirt.

As the shirt was drying, I went back in and did some details in the face. I used a sienna mix to add the details.

Time to separate Deena from the background. This is where I brought in black linework of various weights.

I added just enough strokes within the shirt to give the illusion of plaid. I don't like to add more detail than necessary.

The last thing I did was outline the black outline with white. Signed, sealed, and done. Hope you enjoyed a brief look into the making of Deena.

Found at: The Pairabirds