This was challenging. First, the skin tones, then the odd angles, then the thought that Wayne is my harshest critic. Oh, well... And I can see now I need to make my own pastels. I need 'em EXTRA soft for velour. ...
In the first photo you can see I used the traditional grid method for the layout, after a quick freehand study. I figure if using a grid is OK by the old masters, it's OK for me. lol... (Modern portrait artists often actually use a projector, and simply trace the contours.) ...
It's always interesting to notice how much a contour drawing DOESN'T have a likeness, often. ....In the second photo, you see the transferred image on the velour. From that point on, it's just pastels and my eye.
And another note about using the grid method. I am fully aware that, as a budding portrait artist, I'll be working from photos mostly, and, often, from photos taken by the client, who "just LOVE" their over-exposed flash photo of little Bobby and his sister Wendy, or whoever. And that's FINE, but I DO need to know how to take that photo (or ANY photo) and rather quickly turn it into a full-size portrait. This is, basically, what I'm practicing here.
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