LifeBook Week 20: Expressive Mixed-Media Portrait

I didn't waste much time after watching Pauline Agnew's bonus LifeBook lesson this week. Pauline showed us how to use a reference picture from an old master to create a portrait on a paint-smeared background. I may have gone a "little" overboard with the oil pastels and ended up covering most of my original textures (which was not part of the lesson), but in my defence I totally enjoyed it! I can see a ton of things that are still "wrong" with my faces, but, hey, I'm just learning! Playing with my oil pastels has really helped me understand shading a bit more.

I chose a sketch by Leonardo de Vinci. If I could choose any famous person (dead or alive) to have coffee with, it would definitely be him, closely followed by Gerard Butler, for different reasons, LOL! I'm aware that my portrait looks nothing like the reference sketch, but it helped with the proportions and shading. I think I'm getting there slowly, taking my time. I definitely couldn't have done something like this two years ago.

Here is my quick portrait, along with Leo's original sketch, which I used as a reference.

Thanks for popping in!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!