Look how beautiful her teeth are! I think I spent more time on her teeth than anything else and actually, it was fun. The photo reference below is from the 30 days in Gouache and Watercolor series on Sktchy. I didn’t like the warm color scheme or the teacher’s approach (Instagram link) so I went about it my own way, changing the background color and choosing a limited palette as you can see in the color samples above.
Below is my initial sketch and the reference photo.
Before I tackled the portrait above, I tried and failed repeatedly on the portrait below.
I tried to follow along with the young, talented Siberian artist teaching the class whose painting technique (Instagram link) I loved. I think the problem was the flat lighting on the subject, which I find much harder to draw and paint than when there are shadows that create or delineate structure.
Here are two preliminary sketches and the reference photo. I didn’t get the head angle right in Sketch #1 so I started over.
Jana Bouc, Artist 