Defining the Midtones
Wow, doesn't this look a lot better than the previous step? You can start to see why I am not afraid to start out really dark because I can always lighten it up (it's a little more difficult darkening up a painting when starting out too light). A trick many painters use to create light, is to be sure they have lots of dark. I've begun to "flesh out" the facial highs and lows. I want her brow, nose and lips to "come out" from the painting, and I want the eyes to slightly recede into the sockets. I never make the "whites" of the eyes, white. No one has purely white eyes. Eyes, like skin, are reflective, and they cover over a myriad of blood vessels. Here, I've added a gray-blue to the shadow area of the eyes, and I've added a touch of very pale pink to the corners. I've also added some nice mauve color to her mouth. Notice how I am not concerned about keeping my colors within the sketch lines. This is because I want to quickly lay in color, and I don't want to be distracted about perfection - not yet. Besides, all the color outside the lines will be covered up later...