The first lesson was to incorporate hands into the portrait, which gives it extra interest and, in some cases, focus, but the model was holding one of those phoney poses where you lay your hands next to your face and try to look glamorous, and it was goofy looking.
The second lesson was how to convey forehead wrinkles. Fortunately for me, wrinkly guy also had his finger to his temple to make him look extra quizzical, so I put the two together.
I have never found hands as hard as some people say; but I have never gotten them exactly right, either. I think it just needs more observation and practice. As for the wrinkles, the secret is apparently to leave them as a hard edge on the bottom and then shade them upward, which I did my best to do here, with some but not complete success.
This guy was a cool model, and I enjoyed painting him. I didn't quite know how to show that he was wearing a white shirt with a white sheepskin jacket, but since the shirt was ultra bleach-white and the sheepskin was slightly yellowed, I added in some yellow and blue and think I caught it well enough at least to frame his face.
I started way over to the left on the page with the face so I would have room for the hand, and ended up having a couple extra inches on the right that I could have used to finish out his ear on the left, but oh well.
I also spelled his name wrong because it just made more sense in the moment—it's actually "Tkyo." Sorry, man.
#30faces30days — "Tkyo"
Pencil and watercolor in Bee sketchbook
I have lost count but I know I owe at least three more portraits, maybe as many as five. I'll see how long my patience lasts! I have another project percolating...
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