Graceful Beauty

By Katherine Dinger

Walkthrough of a portrait painting. Photo reference used. Done for fun/practice in 5 or 6 hours.

NOTE: The image is © Katherine Dinger. I post the walkthroughs for general reference to give other people a glimpse into how I work, they are NOT here for you to copy! Thank you.

Step 1: Blocking in basic shapes and values.

Step 2: Bringing out details and refining areas.

Step 3: Played around with the color scheme. Decided I wanted something to emphasize the red hair. Also colored in the bow.

Step 4: Flipped the image to check proportions and thought, "Wow. I like it better this way." Also enlarged the large and pushed the back of the head foreward some.

Step 5: Refining the gloves. Small highlights on the eye and worked on the hair a little more.

Step 6: Just some general refinement. Worked on the front of the hair, the ear, the facial features, a tiny more on the glove, the dress and the bow.

Step 7: Finished.