The Making of March and Secret

A short photo journey of the making of March and Secret.

The initial sketch was done in my Moleskine. This is where I do the clean line art. Anything in 2H (light pencil) may or may not be in the finished piece.

After transferring the linework to illustration board, I start the painting portion. I (very) rarely do color studies (sorry, former illustration instructors!). The general color palette of the piece is in my head. Yeah, this foregoing of color studies has bitten me in the ass a few times. But, it didn't this time!

Anyway, I use really loose acrylic washes. Skin tones, in my paintings, mainly consist of a yellow base, burnt umber, and shades of red.

The hardest part is waiting for the washes to dry completely. You do not want to draw on damp illustration board with a sharp pencil.

Once the paint dried, I did the linework with graphite (HB 0.7mm lead).

Results:

March Portrait


Secret



I now have this portraits available at my Etsy shop.

UPDATE
Now available as a print at my Etsy Shop.