I worked in some background and beefed up the tone and colour in this portrait sketch of Francis that I did first as a demo at Kennedy Art.
Above all I wanted to emphasize that amazingly strong profile that Francis has, so I pushed the gray background colour right up close to his profile, leaving just enough of the dark underpainting to make a rough outline around his face.
I usually don't let my students use green paint at all in portrait workshops because it's very hard to manage when when used to create shadowy skin tones. I prefer to just to use blues for those cooler notes.
In this case Francis had been wearing an Ireland jersey and all my students had painted the shirt in, so I thought I would too. It works well as a block of colour and serves as a useful counterpoint to the warmer hues in his face.
Contact Kennedy's if you'd like to come along.
ph + 353 (1) 475 1749
info@kennedyart.com
Molly will be one of the models.
