Thought I would taken oceans of pictures on the progress for this portrait. I’m often asked about building up skin tones so I hope I’ve shown it better than normal.
I’m experimenting with working a little larger and loving the amount of detail it allows you to fit it! This took me 5 full days with about 7 or 8 hours a day. I worked from reference photos and have also sketched his face several times in preparation for this.
I’m using velour pastel paper mounted on self adhesive mount board. The pastels I’ve used are mostly Unison, some Ashby, a Faber Castell black pastel stick and some Pitt pastel pencils. Good to have a selection at hand for different jobs.
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| The finished portrait 18″x25″ Pastel on velour |
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| This is the very first drawing stage on cartridge paper which is easier to sketch and rub out on. I very lightly sketch it out adjusting constantly as I go. |
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| Refined a little further on the cartridge paper I’m almost ready to cover the back of this in dark pastel and transfer it onto the velour. |
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| This is it transferred onto velour and refined a little more with a pastel pencil. I’m still adjusting the proportions slightly here but when I am ready to go into colour I’ve usually got it quite accurate then I only have small tweaks to make as I go. |
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| Background in before the subject. |
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| Starting to layer in some undertones for the shadow side of the face. I’m going to focus on using green with red and blue with orange. No yellow and purple which are my usual choices for skin! So a slightly different skin palette for me. |
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| Working on velour is great as you can layer up colour and let lower layers shine through or around the edges. These under colours will tint the upper layers the way your skin does. |
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| Starting to darken that shadowed eye and add some detail to the features. |
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| Both eyes done and now starting to bring some of the lighter tones out in the skin. |
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| Working my way down the face |
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| Detailing the hair using pastel pencils to shape the finer hairs. |
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| This is a Faber Castell pastel stick I’m using. Their black is really black! |
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| Again using the pastel pencil sharpened to a point to get the detail in the smallest hairs |
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| At last…the shirt! I’ve added all the highlights to the beard which just makes it glisten in the light |
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| Mostly blocking in on the shirt colours with some warm shadow colours. |
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| With the cravat I’ve done the background colour first ready for the pattern to go on top. |
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| Some pastel pencils and small pieces of softer pastel to dot in the details. |
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| Close up of the finished face detail. |
Great portrait Emma. For more larger-than-life portraits, check out http://rubenbelloso.blogspot.com.
Three questions:
1. Do you need to fix the final pastel on velour to get it to stay on the support?
2. Where do you get self-adhesive mountboard, and is it acid-free?
3. I never heard of Ashby pastels, and I though I knew them all.
(See http://pastelprogress.blogspot.ie/p/colour-charts.html)
Tell me more.
Keep on pastelling!
Hi Niall, Thanks for the comment.
1. I do fix the pastel work as I go. For example I'll do the background then spray that to set it a bit, and add some tooth to the paper. The velour is very weird stuff! Unlike other papers it does not darken the image to spray it. I would never recommend spraying other papers, but other papers also don't need it as much.
2. The self adhesive mount is made by Daler Rowney, it is acid free and at the moment the cheapest place I can find it is Jacksons Art where I buy A1 sheets of it for under £4 a sheet.
3. Ashby are lovely pastels. I'd say they're similar to Unison but a little harder. They spread and blend beautifully though and come in a nice range of colours. Their brand seems to be mainly available through the SAA but I pick up the odd box on Ebay. I still prefer Unison but I do make use of my Ashbys too. Check out Vic Bearcroft, a great pastel on velour artist! He uses Ashby a lot. See this link for Ashby info http://thepastelshop.com/Ashby_Artists_Soft_Pastel_Sets.php.
I'm still trying to find a language of communication on here that is the most helpful but I'm not a trained teacher so I just hope my pictures and ramblings are of interest anyway 🙂
Will certainly check out Ruben's blog, I'm astounded by his work!
Hi Laura, sorry I'm only seeing your comment from yesterday now. It says it has been removed thought so I can't actually see what you asked…please do again and I'll get back to you!
How do you transfer the sketch onto velour? And what exactly are you spraying to make it set? And how do you see every little detail on your reference pictures?
Hi Anthony, so sorry I’m only seeing your comment now for some reason. I work from my laptop screen so I can zoom in and adjust the brightness when I need to. I never work from printed images as you’re relying on the colours of the printer and not the great resolution of your screen. You can see how I transfer onto velour at https://www.emmacolbertart.com/2016/04/15/pastel-tips-using-velour/. Best wishes, Emma
Love this Emma…am a big fan of recording stages of my work, so it's great to see how another artist approaches things.
Can I ask, what weight or grade of velour paper do you use and where do you normally get it from.
Also, can you give me some info on the self adhesive mounts and what you use them for?
Hi Christine thank you! I love taking progress of the painting. I find it's as part of my process now as the painting itself. It makes me stop and look at it on a small screen which helps me spot things I need to adjust.
The velour paper I use is Hahnemuhle a German brand. However I talked my local art shop into supplying it so I can buy a sheet here and there when I'm in. Saves me storing it. But I know Great Art do it online where I normally would have got it. I find the paper is a great surface but quite flimsy. This is why I mount it. I use an acid free self adhesive mount by Daler Rowney. It doubles the cost of my surface but there's no comparison. Easier to handle, work on, and frame. Hope that's helpful, thanks so much for the feedback!
Incredible piece, Emma. I will have to buy the issue of IA with your article. Congratulations!
Thanks so much Susan, I am mutually in awe of your work which I see on Facebook. Thanks for the comments and I hope the article I sent them is up to scratch and it does get printed! It will be my first 🙂