…kinda. I haven’t gotten to the canvas yet, I’m still working in Adobe Illustrator. But I do have the canvas bought and I’ve decided what’s going on it for the most part. I’m still toying with the idea of a background image or a flat color. Either way I like to document my process, so here’s a few pics from what i’ve done so far:

I draw the line-art out in red because it contrasts well against the image. There is no automated process that I’m using to create the outline. It’s hand-drawn with vector-based drawing tools.

(Vector tools mostly work like this:)

So it’s basically a process of boiling the details of her features down to as little as possible.

The lines look a little disconcerting on top of the picture, but you remove the pic and you get this:

This above is last night’s line work, and below is after adding further details tonight:

I started from the top-left “corner” of her face, beginning with the hair line across her forehead and then basically like reading a book, moved across and down… left eye brow and eye, right eye brow and eye, nose, mouth. I got to the corners of her mouth and realized I was going to need a secondary color for shadows in her face — which i try to stay away from using at all if I can. It’s easy to go overboard with too much shadow — and I kinda like the look of only shapes and lines.

Below is from the first experiments I did with color in Flash (it’s easier to color in Flash). This image is actually out-of-order — this was from last night’s line drawing without the details done, but I wanted to see what it would look like with a bit of color, especially in the hair. Coloring the hair always detracts from the eyes so it’s good to know early what you’re really dealing with.

This first pass isn’t very good, but it’s a sense of slightly more realistic colors than red #FF0000.

When I do have to use shadows in the face I try to keep the shapes fluid and purposeful. One of the things that really intrigues me is how three little shapes and two curved lines can accurately describe a nose.

The down-turns in the corner of the mouth are important. They capture a lot of the character in the expression. The eyes definitely require the most work with all of their detail, but eyes are easy in a sense because they are very contoured and are well defined, which makes them easy to draw. There’s not a whole lot that’s linear about a nose… but it’s funny, I often find that not much nose is necessary. Lips have always been hard. Unless you are wearing lip-stick, lips do not have edges. Upper lips have a bit of definition across the top, but buttom lips kinda just… fade into your face. I’ve found that it always helps to make the bottom lip just a little small.

Then with a background:

This is a house down the street from me — a goreous house. I’ve been wanting to paint this house for a while now so I’m hoping to put it into this painting. But that’s so much more work. Ugh. It means weeks and not days… procrastination… laziness. I’m considering simplifying the drawing of the house and not worrying about the details of it so much as I did on my previous Nola Porch painting.

This is my daughter Elise, by the way, who is turning 8 on Sunday.