Brown ink and watercolor in Moleskine large watercolor notebook
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A few days after I posted the drawing of Dane I received an email from Aileen, the beautiful woman in the photo below, who sent me her photo and asked me to draw her too.
I planned to do a quick sketch of her today as a warm up before doing some “real” painting (I put that in quotes because it’s silly of me to think that one kind of drawing or painting is more “real” than another). But instead of it being a warm up I spent all of my painting time today working on sketches of her.
I drew the first one at the top quickly in ink and then painted it. The drawing was goofy so I decided to do it again, using pencil and eraser, still working in my large Moleskine watercolor notebook and came up with the this one:
I wasn’t happy with the way the ultramarine blue I used in the shadows looked and the drawing still wasn’t quite right so I did it again, this time using the last page in my Moleskine notebook:
In this one I did a fairly dark pencil drawing first, planning to leave it mostly as a pencil drawing, just adding just a little paint, but I got carried away and forgot my plan.
The funny thing is now that I’m done, I like the very first one I did the best. It may not look like her, but it was the most fun to do and is the most Jana of all of them.
Which do you prefer and why?
Jana Bouc, Artist 
11 replies on “Another portrait sketch request”
I like the first one too. I think the eyes are more expressive and it’s altogether more lively. This could take off!
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I prefer the top one too. It’ s got so much more character and is very lively. Much more “like” her too…
Love your work Jana. I check by regularly.
MD
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Goodness, you are going to have to start charging for these portraits! They are great!
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nice portrait!
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I agree … the top one. It shows you… you know, your style. I also agree … time to charge a fee. She’s a very pretty girl, and you clearly show her beauty. Nice job.
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I think I like the first one best as it’s got a sense of freshness. I think watercolour is so terribly difficult because it’s so difficult to keep that ‘one shot freshness’ when doing one.
I’m glad you enjoyed the link to the RI exhibition. I’ll let Sue Rubira know that she has a new fan! Did you see the post before that one which concerned the Royal Watercolour Society – lots of additional links to ‘premier’ watercolour artists there too.
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Jana–
This idea of painting from email photos submitted by your admirers is an interesting one. You do your thing and also show the photo. I really like the technique you use on portraits. Hope you get a lot more requests so you can continue this theme.
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brown ink and watercolor – is my choice, they are all Great, but that one seems to combine the best of them all. I have no idea why 🙂
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I have to say that I actually like the third one. The top one is fun, but I like the naturalism of the final painting. I think I’d be more into the first one if it embraced the distortions even more. It feels like it is straining to go surrealist or even cubist, but not quite ready to do so yet.
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Hi Jana,
Since I am struggling to do likenesses in my people drawings, I like the middle one of your paintings best since I think it is the closeest likeness. All of them are very rich as paintings–lots of nice color laid down very skillfully, so for me, it was the likeness that decided it!
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Lovely…I too prefer the first one. It’s more loose and flowing. The one with the most character. Very nice work!
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