Eshal - Color Stage 2
The painting of Eshal is coming along. Compared to the 1st Color Stage the folds of the garments have been more developed. Her face seemed too dark and was lightened considerably. More of the ground and background have been placed and the dog has been worked on again.
Painting is a series of corrections, so all the time I am asking myself weather the shapes are in correct relationship to each other. Then comes the question of proper hiarchy. This is not a painting, but a portrait, therefore the star has to be Eshal!
As it is right now the dog is a pretty good competitor for attention and I need to figure out a way to make him either less prominent, or figure out a way to really make Eshal's face pop. If I leave it as is there is a back and forth pull between the two characters and that weakens the portrait.
If you look at the painting the background seems to float, rather than recede in space. This means that the background is too chromatic and will need to be dampened down with grey.
To achieve the illusion of space it is also important to remember that things in the foreground are more detailed than those further away. Lines can be used to bring things forward and blurriness to make things recede.
I also like to sign the painting before it is completed. This helps to figure out if I like the placement of the signature, while there is still ample time to move it around if necessary.
So with all this said, I better get on with painting and making further corrections!
Update - below is the finished painting
