Mira portrait WIP

So I ditched the previous version of the Mira painting I was working on-- using the DS, I felt like the image was too small. I decided to scrap it and start over, cropping a little closer to Mira's face; it occured to me that, if I really wanted to include her hands in the picture, I could take the painting into Photoshop and expand upon the details later.

I made a couple different attempts, but was finding myself frustrated. I realized that I was getting too caught up in the details too soon. I had tried plotting everything out with sketched line, and it just wasn't working for me. So I changed my approach, concentrating more on building up the image through tone. It's monochromatic at this stage, and once I'm comfortable that the values are where I need them to be, I'll work in more color. Looking at it now, compared to the photoref, I can see there are edits that need to be made, but I think it at least resembles Mira, so I feel like I'm on the right track. The painting's been developing pretty organically, I make changes as I go along. I'm not really trying too think to hard about it, just enjoying the ride...

 

Concurrently, I've been reading about John Singer Sargent's approach to painting. I've long admired his portraiture, and I know I can learn a lot from his work.