Portrait study

It's been a long time since I did a proper portrait study cos most of the time I would cover them up with paint entirely, since I liked doing it. I wanted to practice using acrylics, mediums, and practicing tonal values since I use that a lot in my art and it's not the same on digital.

Using acrylics on paper is possible although not very ideal imo since acrylic has a plasticky-feel. I have professional grade paints as well so why not just use canvas so they would last longer?

I've had a canvas pad before that I wasn't able to use. It's gone now since I gave it to my brother but I remembered it was a nice idea to paint on them. I got this canvas pad from a local shop and it's really so nice that they're all flattened, primed, and ready to use pretty much.

I did my research... although I didn't see a lot of posts about using a canvas pad and how they prepare it, I already had an idea that it will somehow warp if I don't stretch it somewhere. Later on, it did lol.

Reference photo

I'm not interested in doing a color study yet, so I chose a black and white photo. I've been using my face and body for references since I can ensure originality, I don't have to deal with people and ask them to be my models, and just overall preferred because of the convenience and it's as closest as I can get to the concept on my works.

This is a nice photo because of the clear shadows, highlights, and midtones. Also smiling with teeth out is generally a hard thing to draw for me haha so this would be a challenge.

I started with drawing the basic lines with a brush. I never use graphite pencil on canvas because they're so annoying in a way that they will be mixed with the paint you put on top and also just generally how it feels scratching it on the rough canvas surface. :P

I used another color for the sketching to save paint cos I'm gonna be using my black and white a lot. XD

I've been using this slow-dri medium by Liquitex to slow down the drying time of acrylic and also to kinda mimic that oil painting feel.

Establishing the tonal values. The good thing about just jumping straight to painting (instead of drawing first) is that I can just always add some more paint to change the proportions and stuff. That is easier of course if you have already done a lot of practice in drawing, although sometimes you can have a hard time adjusting lol. It's just a matter of preference I think.

She kinda looks scary! XD

The canvas started warping pretty bad, as expected, so I taped it on the cabinet door. I don't know why I've never thought of this before haha but it was so much easier and I didn't even need an easel.

I'm trying to copy it as accurate as possible (without hyperrealism ofc XD) cos that's the point haha. I struggled a bit on the eyes and mouth.

I kinda like the background like this already... but I really hate when there's an exposed primed area. It feels naked when you don't paint over the primer. XD

After spending hours just working on the face, I can finally move on to the hair. The smile changed though and tbh I really like the previous smile. The teeth is quite a struggle too and honestly who doesn't? :P

After adding some random colors, I'm finally done with it. I was resisting so much from adding paint to the face haha.

I like the painterly style but also how you can distinguish between the shadows, midtones, and highlights. It was a pretty good exercise and I gained some skills on using acrylics and the medium better. :D

The eyes and smile could be better, but I'm not too pressed about it since I will likely cover them up in my future art anyway lol.

I also learned that I can still paint faces! XD