The "Ugly Stage" - Defining the Darks, Part II
EVERY painting an artist creates goes through the "ugly stage". Beginners may tend to become discouraged at this point, but keep at it. It is a normal - and important - transitional phase of a good painting. I have added some reds for the cheeks, chin, and neck, and made indications for her eyes and mouth. Although the subject has very dark brown eyes, I used a dark green as the base eye color. This helps later on when adding color to the eyes to create the browns. Also notice how the upper lip is typically darker than the lower lip because it's in the shade of the upper mouth and nose. The sketch still shows up through the painting, which is very useful to me as I want to maintain the shapes during the application of paint. Don't worry about the sketch lines, as these will all be covered by paint.