Butterfly Step 2
With the face finished, I decided to go ahead and paint the remaining flesh tones. Moving in a general right to left, top to bottom direction to make it easier to keep my hand out of the wet paint, I proceeded in pretty much the same way as with the face. Here I am about halfway through the figure’s left hand. The work here is a little loose and rough, and will be tightened up somewhat as I go, but It won’t need quite the same level of polish as the face. The black outline like area is a little trick I use when painting anatomy that overlaps other areas of the painting that haven’t been painted yet. I can slightly soften the edges of the arm, for example, by blending into the darker paint. When I come back and paint the shirt later, I can then paint up to the soft edge of the arm.
And here is the painting once all of the skin has been painted. I have found that it really help to work on one particular element of a painting all at once…flesh, fabric, whatever. Once I’m in the groove with a particular technique, I can move a lot faster and, I think, do a better job.
Now I’m ready to start painting drapery. The hair I will save for later, since it overlaps the blouse in such a complicated way.
