This work-in-progress was painted with Painter IX.

Tools Used:
2B Pencil (Pencil Category) - for sketching
JMG ClumpsyBrush Thick - Custom brush based on Artists Oils’ Clumpy Brush
Flat Oils 30 (Oils category) - for background
Flat Oils 40 (Oils category) - for background
JMG-JCoop Clumpy Brush - Custom brush based on Artists Oils’ Clumpy Brush. Some of it’s settings were provided by a fellow artist: Joel Coop. I further customized it my liking. This is why this brush carries both of our initials.
Round Camel Hair-hair - Custom brush based on Oil’s Round Camel Hair - for hair
jmg_Soft_Impasto - Custom captured brush actually customized to react or paint as an oil brush.

Paper: Gessoed Canvas
Printable Size: 16×20
Working Size: 10″ x 8″ at 150 dpi

The work in progress of this Digital Oil Painting I am currently working on started on January 23rd (see the Calendar at the top right of this page). You can see the start of this work in progress by navigating to January 23rd from the calendar that appears on the top right of this page, or by selecting Go Earlier or Previous Day from the links at the bottom of this page to navigate to subsequent dates.

I am also recording the whole process as I paint it in Painter IX, showing at the same time my Painter’s selections and options as I go. This video will be available soon after I finish the portrait completely. Stay tuned for further information and availability.

Step 21:
I mixed some white with the greens at certain areas of the green shirt.

Step 22:
Still working on his shirts. Mixing several green tones. I am mixing paint directly on the canvas with the same brush. Since I started this painting on January 23rd., I haven’t change brushes yet. You can accomplish a lot with just one type of brush in Painter IX. There is really no need to use many brushes or different categories to do an effective painting.

Step 23:
I added bright yellows to his yellow shirt and then I turned off my sketching layer to evaluate the overall painting. (I kept the sketching off for the reminder of the process, only turning it on sporadically to check details.)

Step 24:
I started forming his forehead adding some darker warm tones to pull this area to the front and keep the eye sockets residing.

Step 25:
Once I finished adding darker values, I proceeded to add his eyebrows. Notice how eyebrows are so particular to a subject. This is an important feature that needs to be painted as accurately as possible to maintain likeness.

Step 26:
Here, I started working on the nose especially on areas in shadow.

Step 27:
I started working around his eyes making preparations to paint the ‘white’ of his eyes.

Step 28:
I added the white of his eyes. Notice that the so called ‘white of the eyes’ are not really white. They are usually bluish grey and on some people, they are yellowish. So, never paint them white. I also started painting his eye bags.

Step 29:
Adding lighter areas to shape the eyes, I added mistakenly too much paint around the eyes but I never use the Undo feature of my painting program. I think that correcting mistakes right on the canvas with more paint will add to the richness of it and it would look more natural.

Step 30:
I am correcting his right eye, first, darkening that lighter paint I added mistakenly on my previous step.

Tomorrow, I will be posting more work-in-progress images of Solitude II.
Thanks for visiting my Journal.To preview some video clips: Solitude 2 Demo