Part 4 - Final Details
For Part Four I will be putting the final touches onto the "Blue Nightie" Pinup Girl.
Step 1:
Since last time, I have lightly sprayed over the darker areas of the skin with the airbrush to give the skin a smooth look.
I've also painted in white lines in her hair. These lines will be painted over, and will become highlights.
Step 2:
Next, I paint over the white highlights in the hair wiith an orange color. It looks a little brighter than I wanted, so before I finish I will wash a darker color over it to tone it down.
Step 3:
I love black paint! When I get to the end of a painting, it is always fun for me to take a tiny brush and add in the little black shadow areas.
Adding the black paint helps to give the pinup a little depth & just that extra bit of Pop.
The End Result:
It looks like our Pin Up Girl is complete! I hope you enjoyed following along.
Part 3 - Face & Hair
Step 1:
Since last time, I have added a light wash of blue to the pinup's nightie & a darker blue to the polka dots. I have also continued to darken the skintones.
Step 2:
Next, I move up to the face
. I use more of the burnt siennna color. Then I start to paint a wash of dark brown to add some shadows.
Step 3:
I use the same technique I've used on the skin to apply color to the lips, slowly building up the color.
Step 4:
I decide to take a break from the face and work on another part of the painting. Since I still have some Burnt Sienna paint handy, I start to build upp the color on our Pin Up's hair. I do this with a wider, flat brush.
Step 5:
I move back to the face. It's time to add in a few highlights. to the eyes, teeth and lips. Adding a bit of white paint help to give the eyes a wet look, and the lips look glossy.
Part 4 will be posted May 11th. It will focus on adding more of the tiny details to the painting.
Part 2 - Adding some Color
I've decided that we are going to follow the pinup in Part 1 from start to finish. Since the last segment, the sketch has been transfered to a piece of illustration board & has been sprayed with a fixative to prevent the pencil marks from smudging. I will be working with acrylic paints for this project.
Step 1: I start painting directly over the pencil sketch. This image shows two very light washes of a peachy color & one wash of a burnt sienna color.
Step 2: This pinup girl will have sort of reddish hair. I wash over the hair area with some very watered down burnt sienna paint.
Step 3: This image shows me filling in the cracks. I continue to wash over the skin with the burnt sienna paint to add a little warmth.
Step 4: After warming up the skin with the burnt sienna. I go over all of the skin with a light wash of the peachy color from earlier.
Stay tuned for "Part 3" on April 20th. In Part 3 I will be adding color to the pinup's nightie and adding details to her face.
Part 1 - Working Out the Details During the Sketching Phase
These days I am all about planning with my paintings. I feel that an hour of planning will save you atleast two hours of work down the road. The following steps will give you an idea of the sketching and ideation process I sometimes use.
I start out with a pencil sketch on 8.5x11 inch paper. The girl in the sketch has a friendly "good girl" look. I would like to keep the "good girl" feel to this pinup. Now I have to decide what she will be wearing.
For the next step, I place the sketch onto a Light Table. (if you don't have a light table, you can use tracing paper)
With the Light Table turned on, I place a piece of paper over my sketch. Because of the light, I am able to see my sketch through the paper I have placed on top of it.
(Placing tracing paper over a sketch will have a similar effect)
Now I can draw on the top sheet of paper without changing the original sketch.
It is time to experiment. First I sketch a polka-dotted bra and thing set with a matching headband. It is a nice idea, but I want to experiment with other options.
I get a new sheet of paper, and try a new idea. Perhaps a sheer babydoll nightie? I also make slight changes to the shape of the hair.
With another sheet of paper, I try for a set of chaps, gloves and a shorter hairstyle. You can see a pattern now, try out as many options as you see fit. This can be a great way to inspire future project ideas. For examole, I don't think the chaps and hairstyle of this idea work for the "good girl" image of this pinup...but there is something about it that I like & I am now brainstorming ideas for a pinup in chaps.
Below you will see idea sketches as a group. Now i have four ideas to choose from. From this point I will select the idea I feel works bests & further develop it.
Give this technique a try, it is fun to think of options. It also acts as a timesaver, since you do not have to recreate an entire sketch just to see how each new idea works.
