Progress Report: "Little Portraits"

I had a rather "blah" painting evening.  It wasn't bad but I just couldn't quite find my stride.  Like I could not get my black to mix properly.  I've been mixing black for how man darn paintings now (and a lot of gray, too) but when I went to cut the white in to make gray it was "too blue".  So I added a bit of brown and then it was too "dirty".  I did manage to get a bit of work done on Mr. Roboto's body but I was frustrated the whole time.  Things started to turn around when I moved on to working the green background.  Green must have some kind of soothing properties because I finally started getting a good painting vibe as I blended the green.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Looking at these two pics I'm happier with what I did last night then I was at the time.  I just felt like I hadn't made any real progress, or worse I had mucked some things up.  I see I definitely didn't much anything up, though the stitching at the bottom looks HORRIBLE.  But I just threw that in to see how it was going to work later.  It's not meant to be permanent just like the super bubblegum pinky color of the eye is not meant to be permanent.  I just needed to get the pink on there to see how it would look later.  I'll also need to do a lot of work on the neck stripes.  They're way too bright right now but the placement looks fairly decent (they're a little wide).

I'm loving the background but it's going to need a ton more blending before it's done.

Next up was Priscilla.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I didn't work Priscilla that much so the changes aren't very significant.  Clearly I cleaned up the eye and eye patch and started getting a better shape to the eyepatch.  It's really a horrible mess right now but I can see it will get there with just a bit of work.  I worked the background a bit, too.  I like how the bright yellow tones around the top of the head and the tail are toned down.  Much more subtle which I like.  I also like the really dark corner but I have to be careful not to make it TOO dark (don't want it to look like a photo corner--you know, those things that hold pictures into photo albums).

Next week the model will be in studio so I think I'm going to paint her.  I didn't paint the model last semester so I think it will be a fun break.  It will also give me time to pick up a few things I need to work on Priscilla.  I need a different shade of red to get the right pinky shades for her eyepatch and Mr. Roboto's eyeball.  I also need to find the oval shape thingy (not sure what it's called but it's kind of a template to help you make different circle shapes, like elongated circles/ovals) to help in making all the wonky shaped circles on Priscilla's coat.