Here are the images I took while painting "Sean". WARNING: The order of these images may be a bit confusing, so I apologize in advance.
Started out by laying out basic colors and shading. I have yet to be comfortable with painting in semi-realism - I'm so used to drawing line art and laying out the map of the subject as opposed to going straight to coloring the forms.
Worked on defining the forms by emphasizing the lighting - usually the first thing I do is darken the shadows. Then for some reason I decided to start adding detail on the lips - probably because I wasn't so sure how to paint the details of the scars yet. You can see the first steps of the experimental progress of painting the scars.
I felt like the guy needed more indications of gore... so I put this huge bruise/gash on the corner of his mouth. Added a texture to the skin to make the surface more interesting. Also painting in more small details and adjusting skin specularity.
Trailing up the scar now. I knew at the start the giant scar was from a burn and it was inflicted somewhat recently. I did some research on burn scar classifications and the type I wanted to paint was called "hypertrophic" (where the scar looks puffy).
I started laying out the details of the scars by painting in the shadows first. Then I painted in a more saturated pinkish hue from the base scar color to make the scar pop. Spec was added and lastly that pink stroke around the scar's form to make it look like it's blending into the skin.
...and finally the completed painting! I spent so much time and effort in this painting - it was difficult but nonetheless very exciting. What I learned from this painting:
- different types of burn scars
- painting scars, especially getting the spec right
- more practice painting in semi-realism (getting skin spec right, painting shadows on face and neck)
- careful attention to detail
I love to paint small detail, so I got to geek out all over this painting. It's important to paint the big, broad shapes first so that the subject reads from a distance. Without those big brushstrokes, small detail is useless.
