Painting Napoleon's face SBS & WIP

[Milosh]

Wasn't sure if this could help anyone with painting skin and in particular a face. This is a 1/10th bust of Napoleon. This time period isn't usually my thing but I just love the sculpture for some reason. I documented just about every step I took to get to the final portrait seen in the last pic. Feel free to ask any questions.

Colors used; Jo Sonja; indian yellow, plum pink,rose pink, purple madder,Violet, french blue, fawn, juane brilliant, basic flesh tone, red earth, brown earth.

Started with the underpainting with my colors that I want to barely show through at the end. Violet, indian yellow, plum pink (eyes)

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More colors to start filling out the face. It will be a rough sketch for a long time, I am just creating my volumes and rough shadow areas. Rose pink, indian yellow, purple madder
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More filling in of color, adding fawn to the above colors and increasing the intensity of purple madder.

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Filled in the eyes with basic skin tone and adding skin tone to my colors along with some french blue,red earth,juane brilliant and brown earth. Also strengthened the highlites with basic flesh tone.

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I want to cool down the skin before I warm it up so I used french blue, I also started a little bit on the beard. I saw a painting of Napoleon that I was using for reference that showed his beard very well.

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Now I want to warm up the skin so I started mixing indian yellow with rose pink and plum pink for some nice oranges. I also made this orange lighter with flesh tone and put touches of red earth for more warmness. I applied to these chosen areas in very thin coats, all the while working on nice smooth blends. Here is the face 99% completed.

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Now I have to work on the massive expansions of his clothes, never easy to do. I'll keep posting pictures of progress. Let me know if this was helpful at all.

 

[MightyChad]

Very helpful, indeed! Thanks so much for this.

 

[AndyG]

Great sbs I will be adding more purple to my mix.

 

[KruleBear]

Very helpful, indeed! Thanks so much for this.

Agreed. Thanks for your various step by steps. I am thinking i need to try a mini with skin for my next proect.

 

[me_in_japan]

really helpful. Like Kbear, I'm tempted to do something with skin now.

 

[marjedi]

Pure genious! A very interesting read.

 

[Milosh]

here is the start of his jacket and jacket lining. I am using the same colors as I used in his skin, this makes for color harmony throughout the entire piece. This is going to look like total hell for awhile as I sketch in the rough parts with crazy colors that look like they shouldn't belong. Those crazy colors won't totally go away but they will be muted as it gets closer to the finish, similar to the face.

first sketches with these colors (lining) Jo Sonja; brown earth, fawn, rose pink, indian yellow.

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Here is the rough of the jacket part using Jo Sonja colors; french blue, plum pink, rose pink and a grey color by Reaper.

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Now I just do some refining in these shots working on color saturation. I am going back in forth with my different colors all the while mixing and blending them till I like the direction it is heading. This time of the painting seems very fast and chaotic, that's because it is. The picture can be very loose in these early times of painting, so precision is not needed. It is only towards the end that precision will be important.

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I hope this is still informative and you can garnish something from it. Let me know your thoughts so far or if

 

[10 ball]

Super info Milosh, are sonja paint water or oil based?
I like the way you sketched the highlights and tones in as a guild, I will start following this way very interesting

 

[AndyG]

Totally different style of painting from me. Shows how you need that good understanding about how the colours complement each other and the way you can shade without just adding more black etc. adds much more depth than my current technique.

I am so going to do it this way more often.

 

[Milosh]

Thanks guys. Glad you like it so far and can get something from it, or at the very least, think it is interesting.

 

[Milosh]

Super info Milosh, are sonja paint water or oil based?
I like the way you sketched the highlights and tones in as a guild, I will start following this way very interesting

Sorry sir, I forgot to answer you. Jo's are acrylic water based paints. I like them because they have great strength, dead matte finish, they come in large tubes and are dirt cheap. You can find them online at most art stores and have them shipped to you.

 

[freakinacage]

I like your style, it's mad.

 

[Wigdog]

Very nice Mike! Look forward to seeing this one along with others! Thanks for doing a SBS - these are always helpful to those of us that are far less talented! Earlier today I read with great interest your posting about the Pegaso piece as well. Really like how you have blended your face colors into the coat as well for continuity! Dave

 

[moetle]

I love your projects Milosh. Thank you for sharing how you do such a wonderful paint job. You sir have some mad skills.


Moe

 

[Milosh]

Thanks Freak, yes it is quite mad indeed.

My main man Wigdog! Thanks for checking this guy out. It is always good to hear from you sir.

Thank you Moetle, that is very kind of you to say. I am really happy that the projects give some benefit. I am looking forward to your 1/7 girl you're getting ready to start. as you know, I like to paint the girlz.

Ok, here is last nights progress. The painting starts to not be as extreme so the transitions are more delicate and it doesn't look like tons of progress is being made. There is progress but the precision starts to come into play, not total precision, I am still chaotic even now with this painting. The colors also start to get mixed more and become less striking.

In these steps from last night I have introduced green oxide, for me green oxide mixed with brilliant violet make a beautiful grey. The grey it makes is a warm inviting grey with tons of interest, not a cold harsh grey that would normally be used. I've also continued with the brown lining of his coat using more indian yellow/rose pink/plum pink and juane brilliant for the highlites. It makes a nice orangey warm tone that I like so much in brown. I have also added brown madder (deep red color) to my brown earth to darken the shadows of the lining. here's some pics. These pics aren't that great, my lighting was off but they are pretty true.


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Here I continued with mixes of my purples and pinks with the grey I made with green oxide and brilliant violet. I have also used some almost straight green oxide in places for visual comfort and mystery. The painting is still chaotic but less than the start. I think you can see the picture starting to tighten up.

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Thanks for continuing to check in on this guys progress and feel free to add any suggestions or comments. I always like suggestions and critiques.

 

[AndyG]

What size and type of brush do you use? Do you use the same size throughout? Just asking because the brush strokes on the back look broad were as the facial layers look far more detailed and fine.

Looking super:good:

 

[Milosh]

Andy, I start with the largest brush I can that will handle the job without being too large. For the face it was a 1 to start then to a 0. For the large areas of the coat I started with a 2 then move to a 1 then to a 0 for fine details. All the strokes will be gone by the time I finish, or at least they better be. Is this what you were asking?

 

[KruleBear]

This sbs is simply fascinating. You are a true artist.

 

[AndyG]

Yep cheers Milosh I thought blinking heck that's a lot of surface area to cover with a size 0. Lol.

When I tried filtering it knackered my brushes very quickly I was wondering as well wether you use sable or a synthetic brush for the filtering?

 

[Milosh]

Thanks krule, you're too kind.

Andy; Sable only. I got a couple Vallejo sables and some W&N sables that are nice. What knackered your brushes? You might have been doing something weird with the brush because filtering should be very gentle.