Mastering Gouache Portraits: A 10-Day Portrait Drawing and Painting Challenge

1. Welcome to the Challenge: Every great portrait artist started with a single sketch, not a perfect one, but a sketch they were willing to learn from. Hi, everyone, and welcome to the class. I'm Anakashda, a self taught portrait artist from India, and I'm very excited to have you all here. Portraits have always fascinated me, but getting started wasn't really easy. Like many self taught artists, I struggle with proportions, perspectives, facial features, and even figuring out where to begin. I spent around two years experimenting with different methods, making mistakes, and finally learning through trial and error. Over time, I realized that improving at portraits wasn't about talent. It was about understanding the fundamentals and practicing consistently. So that approach completely changed my portrait journey, and that's exactly what I want to share with you all in this class today. So this class is a ten base of mastering portraits challenge where we'll break down portrait sketching and painting into simple beginner friendly steps. But this class is also the beginning of something much bigger, which is going to be our hundred heads challenge. So together, we'll be working towards completing 100 portraits and by taking one step at a time. There is no deadline and no pressure. So the goal here is to simply practice consistently, learn from each portrait, and also to enjoy the process. So in this class, we'll be completing the first four heads of the challenge while building a strong foundation in portrait drawing and painting. So during the first half of the class, we'll focus only on sketching. So here we'll study facial proportions, perspectives, construction, the Loomis method, and other essential concepts that make portrait drawing easier to understand, followed by which in the second half, we'll move into the painting part. Where we learn how to make skin tones using limited palette and bring our portraits to life using wash. And this class is perfect for beginners, artists who struggle with portraits or anyone looking for a structured way to improve their portrait skills. And by the end of these ten days, you'll have four completed portraits and more importantly, a much better understanding of how to approach portrait sketching and painting with confidence. So grab your sketchbook, gather your supplies, and let's begin our hundred heads challenge together. 2. All about Projects: Before we begin, here's how we share projects throughout this class. Since this is a challenge based class, I encourage you to complete the exercises and upload your work as you go. Our focus should be mainly on practice and improvement. To upload your work, go to the projects and resources section and click Create Project after completing your first project. Because this is a multi day challenge, you only need one project for the entire class. So simply update the same project as you progress. Example, upload your Davon work, then use Edit project or update project in the same section to add your future works. So this also helps in creating a visual record of your growth throughout the challenge. The challenge is completely self paced, so work at whatever speed it suits you. And mainly focus on learning and practicing rather than rushing to finish, feel free to share not only your finished portraits, but also your practice pages, lumis exercises, perspective studies, and even the random sketches you make along the way. Trust me, the biggest improvements often happen during the practice sessions. And if you have any questions, if you have any doubts, post them in the discussion section, and I'll do my best to reach out to you. And most importantly, enjoy the process and just know that every sketch is a step forward. I hope the project part is now clear. With that, let's move on to the next lesson. 3. Materials Required: Now, before we begin, let's get our gear ready for the next ten days of the challenge. For sketching, you'll need a sketchbook or a few sheets of paper. Since we'll eventually be working with gouache, I would recommend using paper that is at least 245 GSM thick so that it can handle multiple layers of paint. I'll be working in a sketchbook, but feel free to use any paper that you're comfortable with. Next, we'll need a pencil for sketching. You can use any pencil that feels comfortable in your hand. We'll also need an eraser in case you need to make any adjustments. For some of the lessons in this class, we'll be creating a few simple tools to help us understand perspective better. For that, you'll need three different colored sheets of paper, preferably in squis, a pair of scissors, and a pen or a marker. We also need some foam clay, a craft knife, and a piece of thread to create another tool. So while you're working with a craft knife, please make sure you work carefully and also safely. Now moving on to the painting supplies, I'll be using this Hi mia jelly gouache set, but you don't need the exact same set. In fact, we'll be working with a very limited palette throughout this class. The main colors you'll need are white, black, yellow, red, blue, burnt umber, and violet. These colors are more than enough for us to mix a wide range of skin tones and complete all the projects in the class. We'll also need a few brushes. I recommend having a mix of round and flat ones. Addition, you must have water to clean your brushes from time to time, a mixing palette, a waste cloth or paper towel nearby for cleaning your brushes. You can also keep some washy tapes with you if you like working with clean borders, and that's pretty much everything we'll need for this challenge. So gather your supplies, get your workspace ready, and once you're all set, let's move on to the next lesson and begin our portrait journey together. 4. Warm Up : Lines and Circles: So let's start with a few simple lines. Now, this is a warm up exercise where we'll gently warm up our hands before getting into the main portrait sketching process. These exercises will help you get comfortable with your pencil moment and make the sketching process smoother later in the class. We'll begin with some vertical lines, so you can go ahead and make a few vertical strokes of any length. Make sure you feel comfortable with the way you hold your pencil and also don't worry about perfection here. Next, let's move on to some straight horizontal lines. You can actually do this exercise on a rough sheet or anywhere you have empty space. So simply fill the page with lines to loosen up your hand. Next, let's try a few diagonal lines. You don't have to follow any specific technique for this exercise. The main goal here is to get comfortable with your hand movement as you draw. You can quickly skitch a few lines without worrying too much about precision. So this is just to prepare your hand for the main process. Now that the lines are done, let's move on to some circles. Now, this exercise is all about free hand circles, and we'll be filling this entire page with them. So while drawing, make sure you're not using just your wrist. Try to use your entire arm from your shoulders, to your wrist and fingers. So that's how you should be controlling your moment. Also make sure it is not just restricted. Let the flow be a little natural to get that circles right. During this exercise, let's focus on slowly controlling the motion and gradually building the shape. Also, you don't have to stick to one particular size, start with small circles and gradually increase your size as you continue. As you can see, I'm using very light strokes here because I don't want the circles to be dark from the very first, as we'll be slowly building the shape over a few rounds. That is, instead of drawing just one circle outline, I'm going over the shape a few more times until I achieve a cleaner and more balanced circle. So don't worry if your first circle doesn't look perfect, even in my case, as you can see, the first one doesn't nearly look like a perfect circle, but I slowly build the illusion of getting a circle after a few rounds. So the idea here is to correct and refine the initial circle into a more balanced one. So take your time and fill the page with a few circles before we move on to the next lesson. With this warm up session, we are all set to move to the next lesson. 5. Tool 1 : Paper cube: Now, for this, we'll require three different colored papers. First, let me show you how to make a square in case you don't have a square sheet. So I'll start by cutting the paper so that one side is slightly more than the width of the square I'm planning to make. Here, I'm simply dividing it into half. Since I'm not aiming for a very neat cut, I'll just press the paper firmly and then tear it with my hands. Now, to get a square, I'll fold this part diagonally. After folding it diagonally, you can further fold it this way so that you get a square. Once again, before tearing the paper, make sure you press it well so you get a cleaner edge. Well, you can also use a scissor. And with that, if you open it up, you'll get a perfect square. So using these papers, I'll create two squares from each color. So here I'm repeating the same process since I'm using the same paper as before. So in case you didn't understand the previous method, you can take your time and watch this again. O. But if you look here, luckily, the entire length of the sheet is twice its breadth, so I'll simply divide the sheet into half to get a square. Luckily, the half of this paper turns out to be a square, so I'll be repeating the same process for the remaining three colors. So now we have a total of six choirs in three different colors. So the first step is to fold the paper in half. So let's start it vertically. Oh. And Now, open it up and you'll have a crease in the center. So using this as a reference, bring one edge of the square to the center line and press it nicely. Now I'm going to repeat the same on the other side. This way, you have divided the square into four vertical sections. Now, let's do the same horizontally. Rotate the paper, fold it into half first, and then use the center crease as a reference to both the sides inward. Uh and with the final fold, you'll have all the crease lines ready. Next, fold it in one way, and then in the next step, you can fold it in the opposite direction. So I'll show you once again. First, fold it vertically and then fold it horizontally. This way, you'll get a small square at the back. Now I'll repeat the same process for the remaining five square pieces. And with that, we have all the six papers ready. So the same colors represent opposite sides. So consider these two as opposite sides. Now I'll take the next one, which is orange. So orange is going to be the next opposite sides. So let's say this goes in the top and bottom part. I'll start with orange as the base. So place it on the table like this as it'll stay at the bottom. Next on the open sides of this orange, place the side squares facing each other like this. If you look at it now, this becomes one side. This is the base, and this is going to be the other side. Now, similar to how we place the orange one, we'll place the top piece in the same manner, but on the opposite side. And with that, we have four sides of our cube ready. Now for the remaining two sides, you can use the open sides and place the squares facing each other, same way, like how we did earlier. So find the gap, and then you can insert one side of this piece. And mainly in the step, don't apply too much of pressure since it's just a paper. So take your time and hold the other pieces in place while doing this. Now, once this side is inserted, you can slide in the other side as well. Now that this part is done, we'll move on to the remaining one. Place the piece accordingly, identify the opening, and repeat the same process, slightly open the space, and then insert the paper carefully. And once done, press all the edges gently so there are no gaps. And as I mentioned earlier, avoid pressing it too hard as it might damage the paper. So if you prefer, you can also use a bit of glue to secure the sites. And with that, cube is ready. This will be an important tool to understand different perspectives, not just for this class, but also for your future works. Finally, to mark the reference lines, you can use the existing creases. For that I'm using a pen and a scale. Using that you can mark over them and repeat the same on all the sides. Now that our cube is ready, let's move on to the main class and its application. 6. Perspective Study : Using a Cube: H now to study the perspectives using this, I have marked the sides. This is the front. This is the bottom part. We have the top part here, and these two would be the sides. First, let's keep the cube in a straight position. When it is facing directly towards us, only the front part is visible. But once you slowly rotate it in either direction, you can begin to see the side phase coming interview. As you can see, the blue side of the cube slowly starts appearing. The more you tilt the cube, the more visible the side becomes, while the front face gradually starts diminishing in appearance. Oh Notice how when the cube is straight, the front face appears evenly divided vertically. But once you begin tilting it, the visible area of the front face starts reducing as the new side emerges into view. So the more I rotate the cube, the more the front side diminishes while the side face becomes increasingly visible. Also, the side closer to the direction of the rotation appears compressed depending on the direction in which the cube is tilted. Now, if you do the same thing on the other side, that is slowly, if you tilt the cube towards the left, you can see that the side of the front face gradually reduces in size while the blue side starts emerging into view. As I continue rotating it further, there comes a point when the cube is fully turned and now only the blue side is visible to us. So the same concept applies to top and bottom faces as well. As you tilt the cube upward, the front portion slowly reduces while the orange colored bottom face begins to come into view. As I continue tilting it further upward, the orange face eventually becomes fully visible. Similarly, when looking downward, you can see that the front face gradually reduces while the top face increasingly comes into view. And at one point, the top face becomes the dominant visible surface. So basically, the amount by which the front face reduces is the amount by which the other face becomes visible. Now, let's relate this to a human head. Suppose the person is turned to the side, similar to this cube position where only two faces are visible. But what happens if the person is looking upward? If I tilt the cube slightly upward, you can notice that not just two side faces, but also the bottom face becomes visible. In the same way, if the person is looking downward, while also facing sideways, again, all three visible planes begin to appear together. So by experimenting with different tils and directions, we can clearly observe how the visible size changes according to perspectives. This is a very simple and effective way to study perspective using a cube. Now that we understand this concept, let's begin with the exercise. Now let's practice a few perspectives. For that, I'll begin with a front facing view. Now, when the cube is kept straight, only the front face is visible. So that's the reason we are starting off with a square in the middle, which is nothing but the cube itself. But once I till the cube in different directions, we start getting different perspectives. So first, I'll mark all the directions clearly. Now I have tilted the cube towards the right side. The yellow face is now facing towards the right, so let's study this perspective carefully. Instead of appearing as a perfect square, you can see that the front shape now becomes slightly distorted. The line I'm starting with is still straight, but if you observe the side edges carefully, they are no longer perfectly horizontal. As the direction changes, the lines begin to shift and distort according to the perspective. So you can sketch them as such. I'll also add the guidelines on this one. Now, on the other side, instead of completely straight line, you can notice that the line bends slightly inward. You can connect the edges this way to understand the form more easily. Again, the middle line is no longer perfectly straight, either. Instead, it bends slightly downward. I'll shade the sides so that we can differentiate the different planes. Next, when you tilt the cube towards the left side, here, again, the front face shifts while the side face starts emerging into view. As you can see, the vertical lines remain almost straight in most cases, but the horizontal lines change according to the perspective. They are no longer perfectly straight and instead appear at an angle. So carefully observe the cube and you can try sketching it the same way in your sketchbook. Now, I'll shade the side planes so that we can differentiate between the front and the side faces. Slowly, take your time to understand the perspectives by using this model and also try to replicate them in your sketchbook while you practice. Now, in this case, the cube is tilted upward. As you can see, the front face is reduced in size, while the bottom face is more visible. Also, in this perspective, all the horizontal lines appear mostly straight and parallel to each other. So before we start sketching, let's observe the cube carefully. If we take the center line as a reference, you can notice that all the horizontal lines remain parallel. However, the vertical lines begin to bend slightly. So in this perspective, both the vertical lines are slightly bending inward towards the center of the cube. So I'll begin by drawing the horizontal lines first. You can see that the middle section appears larger in comparison. Before connecting the edges, notice that the bottom part has more visible space, so I'll make that area slightly bigger. Next, I'm simply connecting the edges this way to build the form. I'll also add the guidelines for better understanding. Next, you can shade the bottom plane so that the different faces are clearly visible. Now let's take a look at the cube which is tilted downward. Again, all the horizontal lines remain almost straight and parallel. Let's also consider the central line as mostly straight here, although a slight distortion can naturally occur. Unlike the previous one, I haven't tilted the cube to an extreme angle, which is why only a small portion of the top phase is visible. Now, this process is similar to the previous example, but here the front phase is more visible, so I'll make it slightly larger. So this one is basically the opposite of our earlier perspective. And always remember, there would be a slight distortion depending on the perspective. Now, if you look at this case, the cube is tltered downward as well as towards the side. Because of this, you can see multiple planes at the same time. Here, all the vertical lines appear mostly straight and parallel to each other. So I'll begin with the intersection line first. So I'll start with the straight line as the base reference. Since the cube is tilted downward, both the front and top faces are visible. At the same time because it is also turned sideways, the side face becomes visible as well. To draw this, I'll first catch the front facing plane this way. Now, if you observe the side face carefully, you can see that the edge is not perfectly straight. It is slightly tilting upward. Most of the lines in the same direction remain almost parallel to each other. So the vertical lines are nearly parallel and the horizontal lines are also mostly parallel within the plane. Now for the top face, only a very small portion is visible. So I'll skitch that shape lightly. I'll darken the visible top face slightly darker than the previous one. Next with a new perspective, if you observe carefully, the side plane is the most visible part here, while only a very tiny part of the front face can be seen along with the top face. And if you use the bottom edge as a reference, you can clearly notice the angle at which the cube is tilted. The cube is almost completely facing this direction, so I'll use these reference lines to construct the cube. Here, the horizontal lines are tilting downward, while the vertical lines are slightly tilting towards the left. And using those directions, I can easily build the side. The front part is barely visible, but a small portion can still be seen, so you can continue following the same directional lines while sketching. The opposite edges will remain almost parallel to each other, so you can simply sketch it out. Now for the top part, I'll simply connect these lines to complete the shape. Imagine the cube is facing upward while also turning towards the right side. So let's begin with the intersection line. I'll start with the straight line as the main reference. If you observe the horizontal lines carefully, you can see that they are not perfectly straight. Instead, they are slightly angled downward. So using that direction, sketch the front face. Now for the side plane, the lines again bend downward, but this time it is in the opposite direction, so I'll make them accordingly. Also, since the visible side plane is smaller in size, I'll make it slightly narrower. Next, we have the bottom plane. To complete the bottom phase, notice that these lines are mostly parallel to the lines already present in the structure, so I'll not complicate it more. So directly go ahead and draw parallel lines to finish that portion. And to differentiate this side, you can darken it a little more. Now, in this case, the angle is positioned this way. So basically, the cube is not directly facing us. It is turned towards the side while also tilted upward. I hope this makes the angle a little clearer. Here, I'll begin by drawing the side plane first. I'll use the directional lines as reference for the side. The lines follow a particular pattern, so I'll sketch them accordingly and then connect the edges. You can also notice that the lines are slightly angled here as well. Once the side plane is ready, I'll shade it lightly to separate it visually. Next, let's look at the front face. You can see that it is also slightly angled and distorted according to the perspective. So I'll skitch the front face this way and connect all the edges carefully. Now for the bottom plane, you can simply draw lines parallel to the ones already present in the structure like we did earlier. Once the shape is complete, I'll darken it slightly to indicate the bottom face clearly. So this is how you can study perspective using a simple cube. So using just this one cube, we explored multiple perspectives and understood how angles and visible planes change depending on direction. This is a very easy and effective tool, especially for beginners who struggle with perspectives. So by using this cube, you can practice many different angles and viewpoints, apart from what we did in the class just now. Feel free to rotate it in different directions, sketch those perspectives, and use it as a study tool to improve your understanding of forms and angles. Now that this concept is clear, it'll become much more easier to understand the next topic where we'll introduce the Loomis method. So now let's move on to the Loomis method. 7. Introduction to Loomis Method: Oh now for the Loomis method, the very first step is to begin with a circle. Basically, this circle represents a sphere in three D form. So go ahead and start drawing a free hand circle. And most importantly, take your time with this step because this is going to be the foundation of the entire construction. And you slide strokes while sketching the circle and don't try to finalize it in a single stroke. Instead, go around the shape multiple times, slowly refining it until you achieve a balanced circle. It usually takes a little more time when you are drawing larger circles, so don't rush the process, take your time and slowly refine the shape. Once the circle is ready, the next step is to draw the central guideline. Here, I'm dividing the circle vertically through the center, and I'll extend this line slightly downward. Next, we divide the circle horizontally. Instead of drawing this line completely straight, I'm curving it slightly to match the form of the sphere. So this basically gives you the eyebrow line. The next step is to slice the sides of the sphere. We usually cut the sides at around two thirds of the height of the circle, so that's normally the proportion we'll look for while making the slice. So I'll roughly shade the sliced area so it becomes much easier to understand. Now, if I connect both the tips of the sliced part, I'll be getting the hairline, as well as the nose line at the bottom. Now, if you observe carefully, these divisions almost form equal sections, creating a structured framework for the face. So now we have the hair line a line and the noseline clearly marked. Next, at an equal distance below the noseline, we can mark another line to place the chin. I'm using the pencil here to roughly measure the length and maintain the proportion. Now, you can connect the chin to the sides near the nose line to form the jaw line. To define the overall shape of the face, I'll slightly curve the outer edge of the hair line down towards the eyebrow line. This actually helps in shaping the side structure of the head. Now at this stage, major guidelines are now ready. Now, to locate the eyeline, divide the space between the ebrline and the nose line into three equal parts. The upper division will roughly indicate the eye placement. For the mouth, divide the space between the nose line and the chin line into half. This gives us approximate position of where the mouth would end, and the ears are usually placed between the br line and the nose line, so you can sketch them within that region. Next to locate the eyes, the eyes do not extend all the way to where the ears are placed. Generally, the width of an eye is approximately equal to the width of the nose. Because of this, we usually divide the ebrline into five equal sections. So roughly measure the space and divide it into five equal parts. These divisions actually help us understand the placement and width of the eye as well as the nose. Simplify the eye placement, I usually begin with simple oval shapes. So for now, I'll go ahead and roughly sketch the eyes this way. Next, if you drop a straight vertical line downward from the inner corners of the eyes, it has defined the width and the placement of the nose. So this is where I'll roughly mark the nose. Now we have the eyebrows placed along the eyebrow line. I'll shape them this way and connect them naturally towards the nose area. At this point, you can slowly see the face beginning to take form. Next comes the mouth. Earlier, we mark the line where the mouth ends. Now, if I divide the space just above that line into roughly three equal parts, it helps me place the mouth properly. So using the center point above the mouth guideline, I'll extend the lines outward to shape the lips. After that, I lightly shade the upper and lower portions to define the lips more clearly. So basically, I'm not getting into the details now. Next, we can add the neck. Finally, the hairstyle will completely depend on your reference image or the look you want to create. Usually, because of the volume of the hair, it extends beyond the original circle that we drew at the beginning. So I'm simply sketching a hairstyle this way for now. So this is the basic idea. Now let me define the details a little more. I'm softly smudging the areas that I want to refine further, and I'll also add some shading just below the chin and around the neck area. As I mentioned earlier, I normally begin with oval shapes for the eyes and even for the nose and also for the mouth. So oval shapes are my to go forms for placing and defining the facial features. You can also give it a try because it's pretty easy to then define it into a proper feature. So once the placement feels right, I'll slowly start developing the details from there. So here I'm simply shaping the eyes first. Once that is done, I'll move on to the nose. For the nose. The lower portion is usually darker because of the shadows. I'll also define the nostrils and corners of the nose with a little bit of shading. Later in our projects, we'll study these details much more deeply. So here, you can simply try to understand the concept. Next, moving on to the lips, I'll begin with the center line first. I'll darken it slightly, especially towards the corners. You can notice that the initial oval saves already help me establish the structure and placements of the lips. Next, I'll slightly darken the chin area as well. So in this way, we have created the basic facial features. Now, this gives us the fundamental understanding of Loomis method, but let's go a little further. A face is not just made up of one flat surface. Instead, it consists of multiple planes that change direction according to the structure of the face. So let's understand a few important planes that will help us understand this facial structure better. The face one is the side plane of the face. This plane generally extends from the eyeline towards the end of the chin. Similarly, just below the lips, we have another plane. Next, let's look at the eye area. The eyes are actually placed inside the eye sockit, meaning they sit directly inward rather than directly on the surface of the face. If you observe yourself in a mirror, you can notice how the area from the eyebrow moves inward down to the eyes. So these are some of the most important planes that we need to keep in mind while understanding the structure of the face. The planes present in the nose is quite complicated, but let's simplify it. So this is basically the general form that you can follow. And these are the side planes. Overall, this is the structure you'd get. Similarly for the lips, these are basically two different planes. And for the forehead here we are considering with just one single plane. So this is basically a simplified version of ARO method. The original ASRO method is much more detailed, but here we have simplified it for the better understanding and to make it more beginner friendly. As we discussed earlier, we have broken down the face into simple planes around the eyes we define the inward plane of the eye socket. For the nose, we kept the structure simple by focusing only on the major planes. Similarly, for the mouth, you can notice the upper and lower lips act as two separate planes facing different directions. When light falls on the face, these planes react differently depending on their direction. That is why some areas appear darker and fall into shadow in the reference. These are actually the main ideas you need to keep in mind while studying facial structure. So, based on your reference, you can always refine and add more details later. For example, if you observe carefully, the forehead can actually be divided into several smaller planes. But for now, let's not get into too much of details. Let's keep it simple. So this is the basic understanding of Loomis method, combined with a simplified introduction to facial planes. I hope the method is now clear. Just keep these major points in mind, and now let's move on to the perspective study. 8. Tool 2 : Loomis Study Tool: And so just like the cube, let's make another simple tool that will help us understand perspectives even better using the Loomis method. For that, I'm taking two to three sets of foam clay. First, you'll have to condition it and then shape it into a ball. Since foam clay can dry quickly, make sure you shape it as fast as possible and then let it dry. Once the ball is ready, let's divide it vertically and horizontally to establish our basic guidelines. For that, I'm using a thread and wrapping it around the ball so that it divides the sphere equally into two halves. Now using this reference, I'll mark the line with a pen. Similarly, to divide it horizontally, I'll adjust the thread so that it sits perpendicular to the previous line. Now the next step is to slice the sides. Before doing that, I need to identify the center of the side planes properly. So let's make one more guideline. I'll once again wrap the thread around the sphere so that we get a perpendicular to the line that's already existing. At this point, now we have both the vertical and horizontal lines on the front. Similarly, on the sides where we are going to slice, we already had the horizontal guideline. Now we have added the vertical guideline at the center. With that, all our reference lines are ready. Now let's slice the sides. Carefully cut the side portions on both ends. I'm using a craft blade that I normally use for clay projects. So while you're doing it, please be careful while working with it. So repeat the same process on the other side as well. As you can see, this side is slightly soft, so I'll leave it aside for a while to dry properly. Initially, for the entire ball to dry, I did leave it for like 24 hours. Now that the sides are all dry, let's mark the guidelines and marking these lines just by connecting the ends. Now, for the final step, I'm taking a thin strip of thick paper and placing it vertically through the center. So this will act as our central axis. If you look at the strip separately, it is just a straight line, but by attaching it to the sphere, it becomes much easier to understand the head direction and perspective in three D form. So I'll stick it in place, and with that, our tool is ready. Now using this model, let's study perspective through Loomis method. 9. Loomis Perspective Study: So, based on how we studied perspectives using the cube, we'll now repeat the same exercise using our new tool. So we'll be covering all the same perspectives and angles that we practiced earlier. The only difference is that now we'll be applying them directly to the Loomis head method. So let's begin with a straight facing view. Here, we can clearly see the front of the head along with all the main guidelines and also the sliced part. So just like before, we'll begin with a circle. For a straight facing head, we can simply draw the central vertical axis like this. Following that, we can mark the horizontal line which is the eyebrow line. You can then slice the sides. You can compare it with the Loomis tool so that you can understand it better. Next, you can connect the other guidelines. So in the end, you can connect the jaw line this way to the chin. So this much of details would do, and that's our front facing head. So in the straight facing position, this was a structure we had, but once the head starts turning slightly towards the side, you can compare these two halves of the face. So this part slowly starts reducing in size. So notice that the side to its width, the head is turning gradually reduces invisible width. At the same time, the sliced part becomes more visible. So the more the head turns, the more the front portion diminishes, while the sliced part becomes increasingly exposed. This is basically how we did previously with a cube, but now it's just the sphere with a sliced side. You can take your time, observe the Lumi stool, and using that, you can start sketching. So again, I'll begin with the circle. As you can see, the central axis is towards the sides. So first, I'll mark the exposed side plane, then add the central axis, following which I'll go ahead with the horizontal guideline, which is our eyebrow line. Next, I'll add the remaining guidelines, like how we studied the Loomis method. You can use a curved line to mark the jaw line. So simply you can connect the corner of the circle towards the chin, and I'll do the same on the other side as well. Now let's look at the opposite direction. So as the person turns towards the other side, the front portion on that side begins to reduce while the sliced plane becomes visible instead. Now, let's assume that the person is turning completely towards the left. Here, the sliced side plane is fully visible without any distortion, so I'll place it almost in the center like this. At this stage, it almost looks like two overlapping circles. Next, I'll add all the guidelines. So for the central axis, notice that it touches the outermost left edge of the circle. And since the head is completely turned towards the side, the far side of the jain is no longer visible, so we only need to connect the visible sideline. In the next case, let's see what happens when the head is looking upward. If you recall the Loomis method, this is where the nose line and chin line are normally placed. So as the head tilts upward, the lower portion of the head becomes more visible in this case. In other words, the underside of the chin starts getting exposed while the forehead area appears reduced from our viewpoint. So I'll start with a circle. The central axis remains the same in this case, as well. Now we can slice the sides as we did earlier. However, the horizontal guideline now changes. So instead of curving it horizontally across the vertical axis, you can curve it upward in this way. So you can also see that there is a shift in the proportions. So the upper portion appears smaller. That is the forehead area, while the lower portion now becomes more prominent. So I'll mark the distance between the nose and chin a little bigger now. Following that, you can simply connect the jaw line to complete the structure. In the next case, the person is looking up but also turning towards the side. As you can see from the tool, this is the perspective we get. So you can start with a circle as usual. Then just as shown in the tool, mark the sliced side plane first. Next, you can go ahead and draw the central axis. Since the head is turned, the axis is slightly slanted, so I'll draw it as a gentle curve following the direction of the head. Now, if you observe the horizontal guideline, it is no longer a straight line. Instead, it bends downward, just like we observed earlier while studying the cube. So here we are applying the same perspective principle. Also, notice that the vertical guideline on the sliced part is generally parallel to our central axis. Keeping this parallel relationship in mind, it makes it much easier to construct the head correctly. Finally, you can complete it by connecting the jaw line. Now let's look at the opposite side. In this case as well, the person is looking upward but turning towards the other side. Again, start with a circle and carefully observe the Loomis stool. Now mark the slice side first. Then identify the angle of the central axis and you can draw it accordingly. I'll repeat the same angle on the sliced part as well. Just like we mentioned, you can make these lines parallel. Again, the horizontal guideline is not a perfect curve. Instead, it bends slightly towards the sliced part. After that, I'll add all the remaining guidelines and connect the jaw line to complete the structure. At this stage, we are only focusing on understanding the angles in construction, so there is no need to add any further facial details. Now let's move on to the downward tilt. So when the head is looking downward, the chin begins to disappear from the view. Earlier in the case of upward tilt, the forehead disappeared, while in this case, the chin starts disappearing. So we'll follow the same construction process, start with a circle. But this time, notice that the horizontal guideline, which represents the eyebrow line sits lower than the center of the circle. Now, as a result, the lower portion of the head appears compressed while the distance between the ebrline and the hairline appears larger. So this shift intraportion helps create the illusion of the head tilting downward. Once the guidelines are in place, we can roughly connect the jaw line to complete the structure. Next, let's see what happens when the person is looking downward while also turning towards one side. Again, we'll begin with a circle and use the Loomis tool as our reference to constrict the head from this angle. You can first observe the angle at which the head is tilted downward. Once you understand the direction, you can mark the central axis accordingly and then slice the sides based on the angle. So in the upward tilt, the horizontal guidelines were curved upward. So in this case, it would be curving downward, so you can use that knowledge to mark the guidelines and finally complete the overall shape by connecting the jaw line. Similarly, let's look at another case. Suppose the head is turned completely towards the side and is also looking downward. In that case, this is the position we would get. As usual, we'll begin with the circle. Then I'll identify the angle of the tint and mark it using the central axis. However, in this case, the entire side plane is visible. Because of that, I'll place the slice section almost in the center of the circle. Now to make the eybrline, I'll make it perpendicular to our existing central axis, and following that, I'll mark the remaining guidelines and connect the jaw line to complete the structure. So now using the omis tool, along with the perspective concepts we learned earlier from the cube exercise, we were able to construct and understand all these different head angles much more easily. These studies help us visualize how the lumis head changes in perspective and provide a strong foundation before we move on to drawing actual portraits from different angles. So with the help of these two tools, we were able to study a wide range of perspectives. We spent a good amount of time understanding perspectives using cubes, and then applied the same concept using the Loomis method. I would highly encourage you to give these tools a try. They are not very complicated to me, but they are incredibly useful when it comes to understanding proportions, perspectives, and portrait construction from the very basics. So don't feel restricted to only the angles we studied in this lesson. Try exploring different angles on your own. The more you experiment, the better you understand the perspectives, and it will help you improve much faster. As you can see, with the help of this tool, I was able to do a few quick studies of my own. Let me show you one that I worked on recently. So this is a very simple exercise where I focused only on the central axis and the eyebrow line. So by changing the angle of the head, I was able to get different results and was able to better understand how perspective affects the structure. Next study, I followed the same process that we just did, but I took it one step further by roughly placing all the facial features along with the structure. So this gave me a much clearer understanding of how the head would eventually look as a complete portrait. As you can see, this tool was the primary reference I used while studying these perspectives on my own. All you need to do is draw a few circles, set a particular angle using the tool, and then try to replicate the same angle in your sketchbook. The more you repeal this exercise, the more naturally perspective will start making sense to you. So with that I hope this lesson was informative understanding perspective and construction is one of the most important foundations of portrait sketching and everything we learn from here onward will build upon these concepts. So based on everything we have studied so far, let's move on to our Day one project and start applying these ideas in practice. 10. Day 1 : Practicing Loomis Method on References: So based on everything we have learned so far about perspective and using these tools, let's practice a few heads together. And in this project, we won't focus on the facial details. Instead, we'll concentrate on the basic head, structure, shape, and perspective. And I'll be guiding you through all these six references. So if you find it confusing, you can first watch the lesson and then try it on your own. So now let's get started with our very first reference. For this, the face is positioned in this manner. If you observe carefully, the eyeline is not exactly at the center. Since the head is slightly tilted upward, the eyeline also appears a little higher. Keeping that in mind, let's begin with a circle. The central vertical axis remains almost the same. Next, you can go ahead and slice the sides. Now, since the head is tilted upward, the horizontal guideline will curve upward, as I mentioned earlier, whenever the head tilts upward, the horizontal guidelines tend to curve upward as well. Next, I'll add all the remaining guidelines. Once those are placed, we can then connect the jaw line. If you look at the reference, the jaw is not very sharp. Instead, it has a softer curve, so I'll shape it accordingly. Now I'll roughly indicate the hairline. I'll also mark the neck. As the ears are slightly visible, I'll mark them as well. Now, without spending too much time on details, I'll quickly block in the hairstyle based on the reference. For this lesson, especially, I would like you all to fix a time and try to finish the painting within that particular time. So try to quickly analyze and focus only on the major guidelines. Since this is the very basic, let's try to focus on that and improve that concept first. Now I'll use some simple diagonal strokes to suggest the hair. Without adding any further details, let's stop here, and that completes our first head study. Now moving on to the second head, here, the person is turning towards the left, but not completely to the side, since a small portion of the far eye is still visible to us. So I have positioned the Loomis stool in a similar way. As usual, I'll start with a circle and establish the basic structure. Once the circle is ready, I'll add the central axis. You can see that it is slightly curved, so I'll replicate the same curve. Next, I'll slice the side plane, making sure that it begins roughly from the end of the eyebrow area. The eyeline is again slightly above the center, so I'll curve it gently upward. Remember, this guideline passes through the eyebrows, bends across the side plane, and generally aligns about the top of the ear. So that's actually what makes the bend incline downward. I'll also mark the vertical guideline on the side plane, which remains roughly parallel to the central axis. Next, I'll add the remaining guidelines. Now because of the small upward tilt, you'll notice a small change in the proportions, that is the lower part is more visible now. Once the construction is ready, I'll connect the jaw line, paying close attention to how much it curs in the reference. After adding the neck, I'll roughly sketch these flowers from the reference. Again, we're not focusing on details. As you can see, these are very loose flower sketches. The goal here is to simply capture the overall shape and structure, and that's what we're doing here. Finally, I'll block in the hair. Now, if you're a beginner, don't worry about the speed. Take your time, observe the reference carefully, and then proceed. And with that, our second head study is complete. Now for the next head, the person is looking slightly downward and also towards the side. You can see that both eyes are visible, but the far eye appears slightly reduced because the head is turning towards the right. If you observe carefully, this would be our central axis. Using that idea, let's begin the sketch. You can start with a circle and then mark the central axis. Next, I'll mark the side plane. As the head is slightly tilted downward, the horizontal guidelines will now curve downward, just as we discussed earlier. You can also notice a slight compression in the lower portion of the face because of this downward tilt. Now, let's connect the sides. First, mark the chin properly and then connect it to the jaw line. On the side plane, we have the vertical guideline which remains parallel to the central axis. You can extend it slightly down to connect the jaw. M Next, we have the scarf in the reference, so I'll quickly outline it first to understand the overall shape of the head and the neck area. Remember, even if you are not able to replicate the reference exactly, that's completely fine. Our main goal here is not perfection, so keep that in mind. We are simply practicing multiple head angles so that we can better understand proportions and perspective. Now that the basic structure is complete, I'll quickly indicate the hair by using some simple shading. And with that, the head steady is finished. Now let's move on to the next one. Here, the person is looking upward while also turning to the side. Observe the angle of the line passing through the center of the face through the nose. So that will help us identify the direction of the head. And here, precisely, it'll help us define the direction of the central axis. You can also see part to the side plane because the ear is visible. So once again, begin with a circle and then add the central axis accordingly. Because of the turn, the far side of the face is slightly compressed, so keep that in mind while placing the central axis, I'll position it slightly towards the side so that the left side is slightly diminished. Now, while marking the side plane, leave enough space for the front portion of the face before placing it as this half of the face is slightly bigger than the other one. Then we can add the eyebrow line. Using the position of the ear as a guide, which we used earlier, I'll curve the eyebrow line according to the reference. After that, I'll add the remaining guidelines. Because the head is tilted upward, the lower portion of the face becomes more visible while the upper portion appears slightly reduced. Now around the eye area, there is the soft subtle curve, so I'll indicate that as well. Now we can mark the chin and connect the jaw line. Once that's done, I'll also add the neck. Finally, I'll block in the hair using simple shapes and shading. At this stage, there is no need to focus on details. Just try to capture the overall shape and direction. So And with that, this head study is complete. Now for the next head, the person is looking upward while also turning in this direction. You can see that the side plane is visible and the far side of the face appears slightly reduced because of that turn. So this would be our central axis. With that in mind, let's begin the sketch. So start with a circle and then mark the central axis. I'll make it slightly curved to match the angle of the head. As you can see, the ibline is not exactly in the center. It is positioned a little higher because of the upward tilt. Accordingly, I'll mark the side planes as well. I normally align the oval of the side plane with the direction of the central axis. So after a few practice, I hope this would get easier for you all. I'll also add the vertical guidelines on the side plane now. So if the central axis is tilted, the side plane will generally follow the same direction. Next, using the placement of the ear and the eyebrows as reference, I'll mark the horizontal guidelines, starting from the eyebrow line. Then I'll add the hairline. Because the head is tilted upward, the lower portion of the face becomes longer and more visible. So I'll extend the proportions downward and mark the chin a little down. Now, let's shape the head. You can take your time here and observe the reference carefully. Notice which areas are straight, which are curved and where the face changes direction. Understanding these subtle changes will help you constrict the head more accurately. So give some time, observe the reference, and then start your work. For the jaw line, I'll extend this side a little further down before connecting it to the chin. I'll mark the year as well. Next, I'll add the neck. Once the basic structure is ready, I'll move on to the hairstyle. Again, take a moment to observe the overall shape of the hair and then simply outline it using simple lines and shapes. M. And with that, our fifth hit study is complete. For the last one, the person is again turning towards the side, but is also looking upward. Now, observe the angle created by the central axis and the eyebrow line. That will help you understand the direction of the head, so I'll arrange the Lums tool accordingly. You can see that the side plane is clearly visible here while only a small portion of the far side of the face is visible. So keeping that in mind, I'll begin with the circle. Here, the central axis is positioned close to the edge of the circle, but not at the extreme end. So you can leave a small gap and then place the central axis. Next, estimate how much space is needed for the front portion of the face and then mark the side plane. Now, observe the eyebrow line because of the upward tilt, it curves like this and bends as it moves towards the side plane. And you can see it would roughly connect the ear, even though it's not visible in the reference. Next, I'll add all the remaining guidelines. As we have discussed earlier, the upward tilt slightly changes the proportions, making the lower portion of the phase appear longer. You can also notice a slight in and out curve around the eye area, so I'll indicate that as well. For the reference, the jaw line is relatively straight, so I'll keep it slightly slanted and then connect it to the chin. Always, pay attention to the angle of the head and the direction in which it is tilting before you start drawing the jaw line. Next, I'll add the neck and then quickly sketch the hairstyle. Again, you can first sketch the overall shape and then go ahead and do the shading. And with that, our Day one project is all complete. So take your time, carefully observe the reference and give these studies a try. I have attached all the references we have used in this lesson in the resources section below. Once you have completed the exercise, don't forget to upload your work in the project section. I'd love to see your progress throughout this challenge. So make sure you upload your Day one project. And if you have any questions or doubts, feel free to post them in the discussion section below. So thank you for joining me today, and I'll see you tomorrow for our next project. Oh 11. Day 2 : Sketching Session Overview: Welcome you all today too of our ten days challenge. Before we begin today's project, I'd like to quickly explain what the next four days of this challenge will look like. So over the next four days, we'll be completing four portrait sketches with one portrait each day. For this challenge, I'm using an AFI sketchbook, and I have divided each page into two halves so that I can fit two portraits on a single page. I would highly recommend working on smaller portraits rather than filling an entire page for this entire challenge, because when you're learning portrait sketching, it's better to focus on understanding the structure. Proportions and placement of features rather than spending too much time on details. Smaller studies are also less time consuming and allow you to practice more efficiently. Later on, in our hundred heads challenge, we'll gradually move on to larger portraits as well. To make the learning process easier, each day's portrait will be divided into two lessons. In the first lesson, we'll focus on understanding the reference and constructing the portrait using the major guidelines and proportions. Since this class is beginner friendly, I've already marked the important guidelines directly on the reference image. So this will help you understand the placement of the features and follow along more easily. Next, in the second lesson, we'll refine the sketch by adding the facial features, details, and also the final touches. So this is the format we'll be following for the next four days before we move on to the painting section. Also, once you complete each day's portrait, don't forget to update your class project. Simply edit your existing project, add the new portrait, and say the changes. By the end of the challenge, you'll have all your portraits documented in a single project, making it easier to track your progress and also improvement. With that set, let's begin with our first portrait. 12. Day 2 : Portrait #1 (Building the Guidelines): Now, let's start with our first head of the series. So this is the reference that we'll be sketching today. Before I begin, I have divided my AFI sheet into two equal halves so that we have enough space for our studies. So let's start with a circle. Once the circle is ready, we can mark the central axis, take a closer look at the reference, and then try to identify the direction of the phase. Then you can replicate a similar central axis on your circle as well. Next, let's slice the sides. Notice that the side plane begins roughly from the end of the eyebrow. Once that's done, I'll add the vertical guideline on the side plane, keeping it parallel to the central axis. Now using the top part of the ear as a reference, I'll draw the curved horizontal guideline that passes through the eyebrows, so that suffers horizontal guideline. Next, I'll add the hairline and also the nose line. As you can see, because the head is slightly tilted upward, the proportions are not equal. The lower portion of the face appears slightly longer than usual. You can even measure and compare these distances if you'd like. So I'll be using the pencil for measuring the gap. So I'm making the distance between the nose line and the chin line, slightly larger than the previous. Once done, I'll mark the eyeline around this area. It's not exactly at the halfway point, but very close. Once all the guidelines are in place, take a moment to study the overall shape of the head, observe where the face curves, where it straightens, and how the jaw line is structured, then you can slowly start outlining the shape of the face. Here I'm noticing how much each line is angled and in which direction it is leaning. So based on that, I'll make the changes in my sketch as well. These small changes in angles are what help create the correct perspective and likeness of the head. So pay attention to all these minute details. So slowly, we have completed the shape. So here, the mouth lies just below the center of this section. So based on that, I'll divide this area further and mark its placement. You can check the reference on the left so that he can get a better idea. Then we have the ear placed over here. Now, this will be the plane for placing our eyes. The next plane is the side cheek plane, which would be located around here. Also notice that this plane does not touch the lips, so make sure you leave enough space for the mouth while placing. This would be the side plane, and on the opposite side, only a small portion of it is visible. Similarly, for the chin, I'll mark an oval shape to indicate its plane. Now the overall structure is ready. We can now start placing the features. For the eyes, I'll use small oval shapes on the eyeline to indicate their placement. Notice that the eye is not positioned directly on the central axis, but slightly to the side of it. Likewise, the other eye is placed further away from the central axis. Observe it carefully and then mark it in your sketch. Next, let's move on to the nose. I usually begin with the bottom plane, which contains the nostrils and lies on the nose line. Once that is established, I'll create the bridge of the nose extending towards the eybrline. So this becomes the front plane of the nose. Finally, I'll add the side plane of the nose to complete its structure. After that, I'll connect the eyebrows. Once that is done, let's move on to the lips. Start with the central line and carefully observe the overall shape and its placement. You don't need to define the lips precisely at this stage. Instead, you can roughly indicate them using simple oval shapes for both the upper and lower part. Now that the features are all in place, we can move on to the hair. First, I'll block in the overall shape of the hair and then use simple shading to indicate its mass and volume. And with that, the basic structure of our first head reference is complete. Now let's move on to define the features. 13. Day 2 : Portrait #1 (Adding the Details): Now, in order to define the features, let's first lighten some of the pencil strokes. I'm not touching the lip area because I feel it is already fine as it is. So let's start with the eyebrows, observe the reference carefully and begin shaping them according to what you see. For the eyes, we already have the oval placements marked earlier, so I'll simply refine those shapes now. As you can see, I haven't completely erased the initial sketch. Instead, I'm using those guidelines to build the final shape. Here I'll begin with the upper eyelid and then slowly add the remaining details of the eye. Here, I want you all to take your time and compare your sketch with the reference as you proceed. Not just the eyes, so I'm also marking the lines that are surrounding it. Now let's move on to the nose. I'll start with the top plane and connect it to the bottom plane to define the overall structure. As you can see, the nostrils are located within the bottom plane that we had marked earlier. Using those guidelines makes it much easier to place the features correctly. So now on the side, we can further refine the side plane of the nose and define its shape more clearly. Now, you can start marking the darker areas that you see in the reference around the nose. For example, the dark shape beside the nose is actually a shadow cast by the nose itself. So you can replicate that same shape in your sketch. At this stage, I'm simply observing the reference and lightly shading wherever I notice the dark shadow areas. Don't worry about making it perfect. Just focus on identifying the major shadow shapes and place them correctly. While doing so, you're already halfway through the portrait. So focus only on what is required. You can also add a little shading just below the lips as this area often falls into shadow and helps define the form of the mouth and the chin. Next, I'll continue defining the phase using the shadow shapes that I observe in the reference. In the area where we had marked the side cheek plane earlier, you can lightly add some shading as well, since you can clearly see shadows falling there in the reference. Now I'll define the neck and roughly sketch the clothing. After that, you can add the earring as shown in the reference. For the hair, I have already blocked in the main shape with shading, but you can further enhance it by adding a few loose strands here and there to make it feel more natural. As you can see, the neck area is quite dark in the reference because of the shadow, so I'll deepen the shading here to create the same effect and improve the sense of depth. Finally, I'll go over the sketch once more and strengthen any areas that appear darker in the reference. So this helps improve the contrast and makes the portrait feel more complete. And with that, we have completed our day two project. Once you have finished your Day two portrait, don't forget to update your class project. As shown in the image, you can edit your existing project and add today's work so that both your day one and Day two projects stay together in the same project submission. This way, you'll be able to track your progress throughout the challenge, and I'll also be able to see your portraits improve from day one to the next. So take your time, complete the portrait at your own pace, and once you're happy with the result, go ahead and update your project. So thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoy the lesson and learn something new. I'll see you tomorrow with our next portrait study until then happy sketching. 14. Day 3 : Portrait #2 (Building the Guidelines): I welcome you all today three of the challenge. This is going to be the reference for today's project. As you can see, this is the space that I have reserved for the portrait. Now, let's begin with a circle. I won't occupy the entire space. Instead, I'll use roughly three fourths of the available area to construct the circle. Next, let's mark the central axis. Just like in the reference, I'll make it slightly curved rather than completely straight. Also, try to make your circle as accurate and symmetrical as possible. It doesn't have to be perfect, but the closer it is to a proper circle, the easier it will be to transfer the measurements and proportions from the reference onto your sketch. Next, you can see that one half of the face is much larger than the other because of the angle of the head. Based on that, I'll mark the sliced side plane using an oval shape. Once that is done, I'll divide the side plane vertically. Next, let's mark the horizontal guideline. Following that, I'll add the remaining guidelines as shown in the reference. If you observe the proportions carefully, the forehead section is the smallest. The middle section between the eyebrow and the nose is slightly larger. The bottom section from the nose line to the chin is almost equal in size to the middle section. So take a moment to compare these distances in the reference and mark them accordingly. Now, let's shape the eye plane. Once that's done, you can start defining the overall shape of the face. So just below the lips, you can see a small curve that helps define the chin area, so I'll add that as well. Then on this side, I'll connect the jaw line accordingly. Around here, we have the ear. Next, I'll mark the neck and roughly sketch the clothing. After that, you can lightly outline the hairstyle. Now, this would be the side plane and because of the angle, only a smaller portion of the opposite side plane is visible. Then we'll also add the plane for the chin. Now on the eyeline, I'll use a leaf like shape to place the eyes. Notice that one eye is positioned closer to the central axis, while the other one appears further away because of the angle of the head. So make sure you place them accordingly. Next, I'll mark the eyebrows. Once that is done, we can move on to the nose, slowly break the nose down into its basic planes and construct it step by step. You can also use the shadow beneath the nose as a guide for its placement and structure. Next, let's move on to the lips. As always, I'll start with the central line and then roughly shape the upper and lower lips based on the reference. Take your time to observe these details carefully. At this stage, accuracy is more important than speed. Finally, I'll darken the upper eyelid slightly to give the eye a bit more definition. And with that, all the major guidelines and feature placements are complete. Now let's move on to the detailing stage. 15. Day 3 : Portrait #2 (Adding the Details): Now, to define the facial features, I'll first lighten all the construction lines using an eraser. So this will help us sketch more clearly while still keeping the guidelines visible. Now I'll begin by refining the shape of the face. At this stage, I'll also correct any mistakes from the initial construction. If any proportions feel slightly off or if a line doesn't match the reference, now is the good time to make those adjustments. So take your time and compare your sketch with the reference as you proceed. Now, I'll start refining the portrait by defining the most prominent features of the face. I'll begin with the eyes. First, I'll darken the upper eyelid and then add the pupil. Small details like these can immediately bring more life to the portrait. So carefully observe the reference and then proceed. Next, let's move on to the nose. Since we already have the basic structure in place, I'll simply define the nostrils, refine the shape of the nose, and then strengthen the shadow areas wherever needed. For the lips, we already have the overall form established, so I'll only darken the areas that need more definition. So I'm not fully shading the lips because the initial tone is already present, and that helps maintain a softer look. Next, we can refine the ear. After that, I'll shade the neck as it appears quite dark in the reference due to the shadow. Just as we did in the previous portrait, I'll now identify the darker areas of the face and gently build them using subtle sheading. So this helps define the planes of the face and also adds more depth to the sketch. Finally, let's move on to the hair. You don't have to draw every single strand. Instead, focus on the overall shape and add a few loose strands around the neck and the collar area to make it look more natural. Here, I'll darken some sections where I feel the values appear darker in the reference. We have almost completed the portrait. Now at this stage, you can step back and compare your sketch with the reference. For example, I feel the far side of the face looks slightly wider than it should, so I'll make a small correction there. You can also do the same wherever you notice something that feels off. And with that, our day three project is complete. I hope you enjoyed this portrait study and found it easy to follow. So thank you for joining me today, and I'll see you tomorrow with our next portrait. 16. Day 4 : Portrait #3 (Building the Guidelines): H I welcome you all today four of our ten day challenge. So this is going to be a reference. I'll now divide the page into half and around here, I'll start with a circle. I'm not using the entire half page, only about three fourths of it. Once you have roughly sketched a circle, I'll begin with a side plane instead of following the usual order because I find it easier to understand the structure this way. Next, I'll place the central axis. Once you understand the concepts, it doesn't really matter in which order you follow the steps. So don't feel intimidated because we skip the original order that we followed in the previous class. Understanding the concept and being able to apply those concepts in your portrait is what matters the most. So don't worry. Anyway, the final result is what matters to us. After dividing the side plane vertically, I have now started the eyebrow line. After that, you can add the remaining guidelines. As you can see, the middle portion and the bottom portion are almost equal in size, so you can measure and see and then add them accordingly. The more you practice with portraits, the easier it would get to understand these measurements visually. Next we have the eyeline. For the mouth, I'll mark the bottom of the lips slightly below the halfway point of the lower section. You can see the reference and mark the remaining guidelines. Now that all the major guidelines are in place, let's start shaping the face. I'll begin with the nose. So the nose extends beyond the phase outline. So this is how you can sketch it using simple shapes in a side profile. Next, I'll add the small visible portion of the eye. For the mouth, I'm not fully shaping it at this point, so I'll simply block it with basic shapes to help outline the face. On the other side, we can now mark the jaw line according to the reference. Once that's done, you can go ahead and add the ear. Notice that the bottom of the ear roughly aligns with the bottom of the nose, so this is a useful proportion to keep in mind for most of the portraits. Next, we'll add the neck and all the remaining details. Now, observe the reference carefully and take your time outlining the hair. So this area here will be our side cheek plane. And here goes the plane for the chin. For the eye, I'll once again use a leaf like shape to place. Then we have the eyebrow. Also, don't forget to add the eyebrow here as well. Now, to place the mouth, I'll start with the central line and then slightly shade the shape of the lips. And with that, all our basic guidelines are ready. Now let's move on to the final details. 17. Day 4 : Portrait #3 (Adding the Details): Next, to define the features, I'll first light in all the dark lines using an eraser. I'll begin with the eyebrows and then I'll move down to refine the nose. Following the angle, you can notice that the tip of the inner corner of the eye falls directly to the corner of the nose. Now observe the reference carefully and add the details for the eye. Also, don't forget to add those subtle lines around the eye that actually help define its shape. Since a very small portion of the other eye is visible, we'll make sure to include that as well. Now let's move on to the lips. I'll start by darkening the central line and then shape the lips based on what I observe in the reference. Again, you don't have to fully shade the lips at this stage, simply define their shape, and that would be enough. Initially, we had just blocked the shape of the lips. Now you can refine it a little more. Just below the lips, you can see a shadow that helps define the chin. So I'll lightly mark that area and then continue with shaping the jaw line. Now, as you work, pay attention to the shadow areas in the reference. So wherever you see darker values, make sure to reflect them in your sketch. These subtle shadows play a huge role in defining the overall value of the face. Oh if you feel certain areas need a little shading to better define the features, go ahead and experiment. Unless you try, you won't know what works best. So trust your observations and do what feels right. Let these small experiments teach you how to approach portraits in your own way. Finally, I'll finish the hair by shading it and refining its overall shape. Once that's done, go over the portrait one last time and strengthen any areas that appear darker in the reference. This final pass helps bring the entire sketch better together. And with that, we have completed today's project. Tomorrow will be the last day of our portrait sketching session before we step into the world of colorful portraits and begin painting. So stay tuned and I'll see you tomorrow with our final portrait study. 18. Day 5 : Portrait #4 (Building the Guidelines): I welcome you all to our final day of our portrait sketching session before we step into the painting phase of the challenge. So this is going to be our reference for today. As usual, I'll begin with a circle. Here again, we are not necessarily following the same order of construction, so I'll start by slicing the sides first and then add the central axis. Oh following that, I'll place the horizontal eyebrow line slightly above the center and in the same way, I'll add the remaining guidelines. As you can see in the reference, the middle section and the bottom section are almost equal in size, so I'll mark them accordingly. Next, by dividing this section into three equals, I'll get the eyeline. Now using the guidelines on the reference, I'll also mark the placement of the lips. Once the guidelines are already, you can begin shaping the overall pace. So take your time to carefully observe where the contours are curd and where the angles are leaning. So adjust your lines accordingly and slowly build up the outline of the face. Now for the hand, it may look a little complicated at first, but it's actually quite simple. So this part is optional. If you want to give it a try, go ahead, and if not, you can leave it as such. So start by using straight lines to establish the direction and placement of the fingers. Once those guidelines are in place, you can connect them and then add the remaining shade to complete the hand structure. You can watch this clip again in case you didn't understand. Next, let's outline the hair. So take your time to observe the reference and lightly sketch the overall shape before getting into any details. After that, we'll proceed with the planes. So I'll start with the one around the eye. Then we'll add the side planes of the face. Well, these planes actually play a huge role while painting because that's where the shadows and highlights fall most often. Now, to place the facial features, I'll use small oval shapes for the eyes and also for the nose. Like I had mentioned, these simple shaves help us establish the correct placement before we refine the features more precisely. After that, I'll move on to constructing the planes of the nose. As you can see, the tip of the nose roughly aligns with the inner corner of the eye. So to check the placement, I'll simply drop a perpendicular line and see if everything is positioned correctly. Next, let's move on to the lips. As always, we'll begin with the central line and then slightly shade the overall shape. And with that, all our major guidelines and feature placements are complete. 19. Day 5 : Portrait #4 (Adding the Details): Now that the guidelines are in place, let's move on to the final detailing stage. To begin, I'll lightly erase the lines and remove any harsh pencil strokes. We'll be refining the eyebrows first. Whenever you're detailing a portrait, make sure to observe the reference carefully before making any marks. Next, I'll move on to the eyes. I'll start with the upper eyelid and then add the pupil. As a general rule, the space between the eyes is roughly equal to the width of one I, so I'll quickly check whether the placement is correct. If not, like in this case, the eyes appear a little too far apart, so I'll make a slight correction by bringing one I closer. I, in fact, know the one that's far, so I'll correct that I. Also, just as we did in the previous portraits, don't forget to add the subtle details and lines surrounding the eye as they help define the form even better. Now, to place the side of the nose, I'll simply drop a perpendicular line from the inner corner of the eye and I'll use it as a guide. Then on the lower plane of the nose, I'll mark the nostrils. Focus on overall shape of the nose and try to replicate what you see in the reference. Here, the shadow around the nose is quite prominent in this portrait, so I'll mark those areas as well. You can lightly shade the sides of the nose while leaving the top plane lighter, since that's where the highlights would typically fall. Next, let's move on to the lips. Since our initial construction is still faintly visible, we can use it as a guide. So I'll start by defining the central line and then refine the shape of the lips. Unlike some of our earlier studies, we're not fully shading the lips here. Instead, we'll focus mainly on the outer line and structure. Now take a moment to study the overall shape of the face. If something doesn't quite resemble the reference yet, don't worry. This is a stage where we carefully observe, compare, and make corrections where needed. So even small adjustments can make a significant difference. So take your time and proceed with this step. Once the face is properly shaped, I'll move on to the hair by blocking it with darker values. As I continue observing the reference, I might notice additional areas that need corrections, so I'll refine those as well. Around this area, we can see a small portion of the ear. So I lightly erase that area and then add the ear. And the same goes for the earring. Now, to bring the portrait to life, I'll add a few finishing touches such as loose strands of hair. So these tiny little details help make the sketch feel more natural and complete. Before moving on, take one final look at your reference and compare it with your sketch. Try to identify any areas that could be improved and make those adjustments now. Finally, I'll strengthen the shadows. The most prominent shadow areas in this portrait are beneath the eyebrows, under the nose and below the chin, so I'll mark those first. We also have softer shadows along the side cheek plane, which are lighter than the main shadows, but still important for defining the structure of the face. And with that, we are wrapping up the sketching session of our challenge. Tomorrow, we'll begin a brand new phase as we step into the world of gauche. So take your time and finish all these sketches, and tomorrow I'll see you in the next class. 20. Day 6 : Understanding Colour Relationships: H I welcome you all today six of our challenge. So over the last few days, we focused on understanding the structure of the face and improving the portrait sketches. But a portrait doesn't truly come to life until we introduce color. Now, if you're someone who feels intimidated by color mixing, don't worry. You don't need dozens of paint tubes to create a beautiful portrait. In fact, throughout this lesson, you'll see how a few basic colors can help us create a wide variety of skin tones. Now, before we start mixing colors, let's first understand the colors we already have. So I have painted a simple color wheel that will help us understand color relationships. You'll notice that we have two versions of each primary color. On the outer circle, I have warmer versions of red, yellow, and blue, while on the inner circle, I have cooler versions of the same colors. Between them, I have also left space for the secondary colors that we'll be creating by mixing it later on. When we talk about colors, generally, we use the terms warm and cool colors. When we describe a color as warm, we are usually talking about colors that visually remind us of sunlight. As you can see here, these colors remind us of sunlight, fire, warmth, and also energy. So as you can see, these colors tend more towards yellow, orange, red. And together, this part of the palette is what we call the warm colors. On the other hand, cool colors create a very different feeling. They often remind us of water, shade, distance, or even cooler lighting conditions. As you can see this side, it leans more towards blue, the color itself. And this is more leaning towards the color orange and yellow. So these are the warm and cool colors. Now, even within these colors, we have warm and cooler versions. So let's take these two colors. As you can see, they're both red. But they have slightly different color shifts. If I want to differentiate whether a color is warm or cool, I simply look at whether the color tends more towards orange, yellow or any golden tones or whether it tends more towards blue and the other cooler side of the color wheel. If you look closely and compare these two reds, this color shifts more towards the yellow side while this one shifts slightly towards the blue side. So among these two, this would be our warm red, and this would be our cool red. Similarly, if I take these two yellows as an example, in order to determine which one is warm and which one is cool, need to see which color is closer to orange. In this case, this color tends more towards orange than this one, and this color, on the other hand, tends more towards the green side. As we'll be seeing in the next part, mixing blue with yellow gives us green. As a result, I'll say that this yellow tends to be cooler while the other one tends to be warmer. The same principle works for these two blues. Take a look at these colors. This one is more towards the warmer side, while this one is more towards the cooler as you can see clearly that this is the color that tends more towards the color blue itself, while the other one is closer to the red side. As a result, this would become our warm blue, while this would become our cold blue. So this gives us a basic understanding of warm and cool colors. Now let's fill the spaces between our primary colors. When yellow and blue mix together, they create a beautiful green well, the greens change based on the type of color you use. So if I'm going ahead with a warmer color, as you can see in the outer circle, while in the inner one, you get a much cooler version of green. Likewise, when we mix red and yellow, you get orange. And when we mix blue and red, they create a beautiful violet. So these are called secondary colors because they are created by mixing two primary colors together. Now, I would like you to spend a few seconds simply observing this wheel. Notice how every color connects to one another. Color mixing is in random. Every mixture has a relationship that we use later while mixing skin tones. In the next lesson, we'll use these color relations to answer an important question. Where do skin tones actually come from? And why do artists often say that every skin tone is simply a variation of brown? 21. Day 6 : Creating Different Browns: Oh. When beginners think about skin tones, they often imagine a single color. But if you look at real people, skin tones vary enormously. Some appear golden, some appear reddish, some even appear olive while some appear very dark. Yet, despite all these differences, they all share just one common foundation brown. So let's start with an interesting experiment. So I'll mix red and green together. Notice how the mixture begins moving towards brown. Now, here's an important question. Why did that happen? Remember that green is not a primary color. Green is made from yellow and blue. So when I mix red and green together, I wasn't really mixing two colors. I was actually combining red, yellow, and blue. Let's test that once again. This time, I'll mix blue and orange. Again, as you can see, we are slowly moving towards brown. And orange itself contains red and yellow, which means all three primary colors are once again present. Now, let's do one final test, which is for yellow and violet. Again, as you can see, we arrive at brown. Since we had used different base colors, you can see a shift in all these browns, but the overall point is that red, yellow, and blue together, gives us the color brown. So this is one of the most important concepts in portrait painting. Whenever all three primary colors come together in balance, the mixture naturally begins moving towards brown. So using just this brown color, I'll try to add in these colors separately. So in one batch, I'll just add more amount of yellow. Although all of these mixtures are brown, they don't look identical. This one contains more yellow, making it appear more warmer, giving it a richer appearance. In the second one, I'll add more red. In the third one, I'll add more blue. Slowly, you can observe the changes that happens. And this one contains more blue, making it feel cooler and more muted. So these small shifts are actually what allow us to create different skin tones. We're not creating entirely new colors. We are simply adjusting the balance between red, yellow, and blue. Now that we understand where skin tones come from, let's learn how to control them intentionally. 22. Day 6 : Skin tone Chart: Now that we understand how skin tones are formed using the three primary colors, let's take things a step further. One of the biggest challenges beginners face is knowing how to adjust a skin tone once they have mixed a basic brown. Sometimes a color may appear too dull, sometimes it may feel too warm, sometimes it may need to be lighter, darker, richer, or cooler. Instead of memorizing dozens of color recipes, I want to show you how individual colors influence a skin tone. To make this easier to understand, we'll be preparing a simple skin tone chart. So in order to create this chart, we'll need white, yellow, red, blue, burnt umber, and violet. And each row will show what happens when we gradually introduce that color into our parent skin tone mixture. Before we begin, we'll have to create a parent color, and this is simply a balanced brown made using our primary colors, which is red, yellow, and blue. Think of this as the starting point from which all our skin tones will develop. So the process will be the same for every column. So let's begin with white. Unlike the other colors in this chart, white doesn't shift the skin tone towards a different color family. Instead, its main purpose is to change the value of the mixture. Value simply refers to how light or dark a color appears. So as I gradually add more white to the parent skin tone, notice that the mixture becomes lighter while still retaining its overall character. Is a very important concept in portrait painting because we rarely use a single skin tone throughout an entire face. Areas catching more light will often require lighter versions of the same mixture. So by adding different amounts of white, we can create a range of tints that can later be used for highlights and lighter planes of the face. Now that we have seen how white affects value, let's look at how other colors influence the skin tone itself. For the remaining rows, Alpha introduce the chosen color into the parent mixture to observe how it shifts the skin tone. Then I'll add white to create lighter versions of those mixtures. Next, let's begin with yellow. As I gradually add more yellow to the parent mixture, notice how the skin tone becomes warmer and more golden. So this type of adjustments can be useful when painting portraits with warm lighting, sunlit skin or skin tones that naturally contain stronger golden influence. As I move further, you can see the color becomes increasingly warm and vibrant. And once you keep adding white, you can notice that the color family remains the same, but the values become lighter. These lighter mixture can be useful for highlights and lighter areas of the face. I'll be following the same exact process for the remaining colors. So rather than focusing on mixing process itself, I want you to observe how each color influence the overall appearance of the skin tone. Next, let's move on to the color red. When red is introduced, the skin tones begin developing a stronger rosy influence. This can be useful for areas of the face that naturally contain more blood flow, such as cheeks, nose, ears, and lips. Oh. So it can also help create that warm skin tones. But it's usually best added gradually because it can become overpowering quite quickly. But once you introduce white, you can slowly see that rosy effect. Oh. Next, let's move on to the color blue. So when blue is added, the skin tone becomes more cooler and more subdued. And this can be useful when painting skin tones under cooler lighting conditions or when creating cooler shadow areas. And because blue is a strong color, even a small amount can significantly change the mixture. So as you can see here, the stronger the blue gets, the stronger the skin tone feels. Next, let's introduce burnt umber. Burnt umber is one of my favorite colors for portrait painting. So instead of simply making a skin tone darker, burnt umber helps deepen the mixture while maintaining a natural appearance. So this makes it extremely useful when creating deeper skin tones, richer shadows, and darker value transitions. Slowly, as we proceed with our portrait painting, you can see where all we'll be introducing this color into our skin tones. So if I say about the previous layer and this current layer with burnt umber, you can clearly see that using blue, you got a much cooler side of the skin tone while you were able to preserve the richness, as well as the warmth while using burnt umber. And for the final one, let's go ahead with the color violet. So violet can create some very interesting variations. A small amount of violet can cool a skin tone and introduce more complexity into the shadow mixtures. While it may not be a color we use everywhere, it can be incredibly useful when we want shadows to feel richer and less flat. So this can be an alternative for blue in some portraits. Now that the color chart is almost complete, let's take a moment to observe it. Notice that every variation began from the exact same parent mixture. Yet by introducing a single color, we were able to create a wide range of different skin tones. So this is one of the most important things to understand about portrait painting. That is they are often very small variations of the same mixture. So when you're painting a reference, try asking yourself simple questions. Does this area feel warmer or cooler? Does it contain more yellow, more red, more blue, or does it need to be lighter or does it simply need more depth? Once you begin thinking this way, mixing skin tones become much easier because you're no longer guessing, you're making deliberate adjustments based on what you observe. So this chart is meant to be memorized. Instead, think of it as a visual guide that helps you understand how different colors influence a skin tone. As we move into the portrait projects, you'll see these same adjustments appear again and again while we paint different faces, lighting conditions, and skin tones. And with that, let's move on to the next lesson where we'll learn how to approach a reference. 23. Day 6 : How to approach the Reference: Next, let's start by understanding how to approach reference. For this class, we'll be using these brushes, two flat ones and two small round brushes. Now we are studying this reference. In order to identify a color and match it with the reference, you need to first closely observe it. Over here, you can see the shadow. As you can see, on the other side of the nose as well, the color is quite darker. Over here, you can notice a reddish tone, and here it has a slightly less intensity. And over here, the color is quite dull, but over here, it's more towards a warmer tone. And here you have the blush area. Also, this is where the highlights are present. So in this case, this is what the structure looks like. Now, the very first step I will do for this project is to identify and mark the shadows using a red colour. Here you can use any red initially. So let's start by marking these areas. These are the places that look quite dark to me. So I'll go ahead and paint those areas. Oh. Now, I'll assign a slightly diluted red to the other values. So this is how the shadows look as we begin breaking down the portrait into different value groups. I'll keep the lightest value untouched. Now, let this paint ry. Meanwhile, let's see how to mix these colors. The color over here is more towards a darker violet brown mixture. As you know, violet can be achieved by mixing red and blue together. To make this violet look a little more brown, we'll have to move towards its complimentary color, which is the opposite color in the wheel. Basically, as we had seen earlier, these colors can give us a brown mixture. So by keeping a little more violet in the mix, you'll get this dark color over here, which is a brown that leans more towards the color violet. Now let's take a look at the skin tones and identify which color they are leaning towards. In this case, if I had to describe this area in terms of the secondary colors present in the skin, I would say it leans more towards violet. Next, moving on to this part, this area is also closer to violet, but it has a warmer touch. The lower part is slightly dull for which I would again say it is a lighter diluted tint of the same color. If I mix white with this color, I'll be able to achieve a similar value. Likewise, over here, this area appears warmer and leans more towards yellow. So this is how you can identify the colors present in a reference and understand the direction in which they are leaning. So we have yellow, red, blue, white, and burnt umber here. I'll again start with the very basic mixture. Now, while I'm mixing, you can see that the color is leaning more towards green at this point. So in that case, what should I mix in order to get brown? We know that mixing all three primary colors gives us brown, but if your mixture is looking green, you need to mute it to get a proper brown color. In this case, you'll have to use its complimentary color. The colors that are opposite to each other are called complimentary colors. In this case, blue and orange are complimentary, yellow and violet are complimentary, and green and red are complimentary. Now, as you can see, this mixer is leaning more towards a green colour. I'll now mix a bit of red to make it brown. So take a little bit of red and now you can see that we are getting that brown color. And let me show you again. If I mix too much of red here, the mixture starts leaning too much towards red. In order to bring it back, I'll have to add green. Since we do not have green on the palette, we know that green can be achieved by mixing blue and yellow. So I'll clean my brush, take some yellow, and then some blue, and if I mix them properly and add them back to the mixture, I'm once again going to get a proper brown. So this is the concept that we'll be using throughout the painting process. Understand which direction the color is leaning. If it is leaning too much towards green, use its complimentary. If it's leaning too much towards red, use its complimentary, which would be green. And if you understand complimentary colors, even when you don't have a particular color on your palette, you can easily mix it using the primary colors. This concept is one of the most important things to understand when studying and mixing skin tones. With that set, let's move on to the next color. As I had mentioned earlier, the color leans more towards violet, so I'll take some red and blue and mix them together. If no matter how much you mix, you're still not getting the dark shadow color. Do one thing, add a little bit of burnt umber to darken it. As you can see, it still retains that warm rich color. So using this mixture, I'll go ahead and paint these darker shadow areas, especially around the nose and the other dark regions that I see in the reference. So this is the second step where I place all the dark shadows. And with that, this stage is complete. Next, in order to blend these colors, I won't be mixing two colors directly on the paper. Instead, I'll create a transition color. I'll move to the next darkest value in the reference. Since we already have a color mixed in our palette, I'll use the same mixture and lighten it. This helps keep the painting harmonious, so that's why I'm using the same palette. First, I need to identify the area I'm working on. I'll be focusing on this area. To lighten the color, I'll add a little bit of white. As you can see, once I add white, the color starts becoming lighter. However, I don't want it to lose that violet quality. So looking closely at the reference, the color still leans slightly towards violet. So now I'll add a little more blue and red along with white. If you compare these two colors now, you can see that this one has a slightly stronger violet undertone. So using this color, I'll start adding the values along the nose and in these areas here. And wherever I see a similar value in the reference, I'll go ahead and place this color. And once sets down, we'll move on to the next value. Then for the next areas which are over here and here, I'll have to keep the color a little warmer. Compared to this color, these areas appear warmer in the reference. So to achieve that warmth, we need to move more towards yellow and orange. For that, I'll take some red and yellow, mix them together, and then add a little bit of white. As you can see, the color now looks warmer, but it is still leaning towards our existing skin tone mixture. So now I'll add a little more yellow and you can already see the shift in temperature. So this color looks better now, and using that, I'll go ahead and paint these areas. So I'll paint this part as well using this color. Notice that this area is quite red in the reference, so I'll add a little more red directly into the mixture. I still want the colour to remain brown but with a strong red undertone. So that's the idea. This looks much better. So using this mixture, I'll work on the areas where I see a similar value. For now, I'll leave the white spaces untouched as these are reserved for the main highlights that we'll add at the very end. As you can see, I have intentionally left those places for the highlights. Next, I'll add a little more yellow and white to the mixture for the remaining portions. This color is still a bit dark, so I'll apply it first and then lighten it further. Now, I'll add some more yellow along with white. At this stage, the base layer is essentially complete. And using that, I'll fill all the remaining areas. Once these layers have dried, you can go back and refine the portrait. You can darken certain areas if needed and strengthen the values. The important thing is to let the layer dry properly first. After everything has dried nicely, I'll go over some areas once again using the same mixtures to further refine and adjust the painting. To make these corrections, we still need some dark colors, so I'll mix a new batch of As you can see, while I'm working, the values have reduced quite a bit. This is because we have been lingering over the previous layer that we initially painted. As a result, some of the darker values have become softer than they originally were. So in order to correct that, we'll have to bring those darker values back into the portrait. So using this dark color, I'll go around and make those changes. Now, once this portion is almost complete, let the layer dry completely. Then we'll come back with the same color mixtures and start detailing the portrait. So this is where we'll refine the features and strengthen the values wherever needed. Meanwhile, these layers dry, I'll go around the nose and add these details. I'll use the same colors that are available on the palette and fill the surroundings. Now, to refine these darker areas, let's use this dark color. And for that, I'll be using around brush. Essentially, I'll be using the same color family. So I'll take some burnt umber, blue and red. I'll add a little more red and some yellow to get the dark color I need. Now, using a thin liner brush, you can identify and mark the areas where you feel these darker values are required. For the darker shade, I'll mix blue with burnt umber, which gives the deep dark color. To that, I'll add a little bit of red and use it to place these details over here. Next, if I add a little more red, I can get a warm darker color here. I'm using a very light diluted wash of this mixture, and using that, I'm going over these areas without disturbing the previous layers, and I'll be strengthening the shadows now. Again, I want to stress this point that it is a very light wash in which I'm not disturbing the layers underneath. As you can see, I'm not trying to paint over the previous layers completely. Instead, I'm controlling my brush strokes in a way that they do not disturb the layers underneath. So I'll only apply this where it is required and avoid overworking the portrait. Now using some white, I'll go ahead and add a few lighter areas. I feel this part could use a little highlight, so I'll use the same white mixture to mark the highlight. So trust the process and take your time. These final adjustments may seem small, but they can make a big difference in bringing the portrait together. So this is how we'll be approaching and painting the portraits in the upcoming classes by first identifying the different values in the reference and then mixing the colors accordingly based on the knowledge you have gained from this class. As we progress, you'll become more confident in analysing colours, understanding values, and creating accurate skin tones on your own. 24. Day 6 : Painting Session Preview: So in the upcoming classes, we'll begin painting the portraits that we have already sketched. So we'll start by understanding how I break down a portrait into smaller manageable steps. Each portrait will be divided into simple lessons so that you can focus on one concept at a time and understand the process more clearly. At first, painting a portrait can feel a little intimidating because there are so many details, colors, and values involved, but don't worry too much about getting everything perfect. Main goal here is to improve with every portrait you paint. So instead of focusing on the final result, pay attention to what you're learning from each lesson. So observe your mistakes, understand why they happened, and use them as an opportunity to improve. If you're ever confused or have any questions, feel free to ask me in the discussion tab below. I'll be always happy to help. Also, the pace of the painting lessons may feel a little faster compared to the sketching lessons, so don't hesitate to slow down the video wherever needed. You can even watch the lesson more than once. In fact, I highly recommend watching the entire class once before you start painting. So during the first viewing, focus on understanding the concepts, how I approach the portrait, how I use my brush strokes, and how I mix the colors. Then during your second viewing, you can paint along with me step by step. That's it. We are wrapping up Day six. Thank you for joining me today, and I'll see you tomorrow with our first portrait painting. 25. Day 7 : Base Layer: Finally, I welcome you all today's saven of our ten days challenge where we'll start with our colored portraits. So let's get back to our first portrait, and the first step here is to remove all the dark pencil strokes. I'm using an db eraser to lift up the graphite from the sketch. So don't erase it completely. We should still be able to see the guidelines and basic values beneath. So this way, our guidelines are still preserved. So these are the set of brushes I use, two flat brushes and two small round ones. The reason I'm using a small thin flat brush is because our portrait is small, so we don't need bigger brushes. Now, our first step is to go for the first base layer using the color red. So take some red, dilute it, and using a thin round brush, I'll start adding all the shadows that I see on the reference. Now, I'll start with the eyes. So this is our primary step where we assign all the values of the portrait before we start mixing skin tones. Basically, we'll be layering paint over this base layer. So wherever you find darker values in the reference, go ahead and use this color. Next, I'll move on to the nose. As you can see, the nostrils are quite dark in value. Not just that the shadow below the nose is also dark. Well, we'll not paint it now. So first, I'll mark the shape of the nose. So here I'll outline all the details first using a thin brush and then switch to a bigger brush. Now that the smaller details are done, I'll use a flat brush. Now I'll dilute the paint a little more and then mark the larger shadow areas that I see in the reference. Using this flat brush, I'll adjust the angle at which I hold the brush and add the shadows. So these are a few brush strokes I use commonly. I either use the flat side or hold it at an angle to get different strokes, just like how we saw yesterday. So this is what we are applying in today's class. Next, we'll add some shadows below the eyes as well. Hold the brush in an angled way and mark these shadows wherever you see them in the reference. We had also mentioned these shadow areas earlier, so I'll add them now. Next, below the lips, we have another shadow area. And along the cheek plane that we had initially marked, you can also notice it there. On the other side as well, wherever I find a value that is slightly darker than the mid tone of the skin, I'll go ahead and add this red colour. For the years, the values are quite darker already, so I'll mark them as well. In the same way you can add the neck. Once again, I'll darken the main shadow areas, especially below the nose and below the lips. Now, I'll dilute the paint a little further and mark the side planes of the nose, as well as the bottom plane of the nose. Next, I'll use this diluted color for the lips. As you can see, there are different shades of red here. Initially, we used a darker red, but in the next step, as we dilute it, we can see the shift in value. So this helps us create a smoother transition between the shadows and the midtones. Then if you observe the reference, you can see some darker areas on the forehead. I'll mark those areas using this light wash and gently pull the color down towards the neck. Now observe the reference carefully, and wherever you feel this base layer is needed, go ahead and add. Next, let's move on to the hair. Since the hair is already quite dark, let's not use red here. Instead, dilute some burnt umber and use it to fully cover the hair area. So observe the overall shape and you can fill it using this burnt umber. I find the ear slightly smaller than it should be, so I'll quickly correct that using the red mixture once again. And with that, our first layer is ready. Now let's allow this paint to dry before we move on to the next stage of the painting. 26. Day 7 : Brush Strokes: In case you're wondering how I used a small flat brush to fully paint this. Here's all that you need to know. Since I'm using a thin brush, I won't be making large strokes at a time. As you might have noticed, my brush strokes are usually very small. So depending on the area I'm painting, I adjust the size and direction of my strokes. Since the painting is quite small, the strokes that I use is also small, and so is its size. For example, if I had to sketch a nose without any guidelines, I should be able to construct its shape using the brush itself. So while painting the skin, think of the brush as a drawing tool. Now move it in the same direction you would normally sketch with a pencil. But this time we are doing it with paint. That would be the only difference here. So here's a quick time lapse of how I'm roughly building up the portrait. Notice how I'm using small control brush strokes gradually to shape the features and refine the painting. So this process actually becomes much easier with practice, take your time, understand the direction of the strokes, and then begin. Since the paint I'm using is quite dilute, you won't be able to fully see the difference, but still you can notice the brush strokes I'm using. Now, try making a few small shapes like these first, and that's basically how you'll be working with your brush. And this is exactly what I'll do while painting. Observe the direction in which I'm angling the brush. So if you have a good understanding of the planes and structure of the face, applying these strokes become much easier. That is slowly with practice, you'll be more comfortable with these strokes. So that's all about the brush strokes. The key is to use small control strokes and follow the form of the portrait rather than making random marks. 27. Day 7 : Dark Skintone: Now, let's start mixing the colors. Take some yellow, red, and a little bit of blue. First, I'll mix a basic brown color. As you can see, I'm slowly adjusting the mixture until I get the color I need. So make sure to mix a good amount of paint. Since we are starting with the darker values first, I'll add a little bit of burnt umber to this mixture. Also, make sure your paint has a smooth consistency. Now, I'll use a small flat brush and begin by painting the darkest shadows that I see in the portrait. I'll start with the eyebrows and the eyes. If you find it difficult to paint these small details using a flat brush, feel free to start with a liner brush or a small round one. Take your time with this step. It's a very slow process because we're first trying to understand where the shadows are placed before applying the paint, so you don't have to rush, take your time and start painting. Next, I'll move on to the nose. I feel the color is slightly too dark, so I'll add a little bit of red to balance it out. Using this mixture, I'll paint the shadows below the eyebrows and also around the eyes. I'll also mark this area where the shadows lie below the nose. Next, we'll move on to the lips, especially in the area that is darker. After that, I'll paint the neck. As you can see, most of the neck is in the shadow, so I'll use this darker mixture there as well. Once that's marked, don't forget the ears. Now take a moment to observe the reference once again. Next, we'll mix a lighter skin tone by adding white to the same mixture. To make the skin tone warmer, I'll also add a little more yellow and red. You can keep adjusting the colors until you get a lighter version of this previous mix. So even when you're adding white, make sure it doesn't look muddy. Instead, you can keep adding red and yellows in order to balance the color. Just like how I had mentioned earlier, you can follow the complimentary color theory in order to adjust the skin tones. So I'll keep making these small adjustments until I get the next value. Also, before you try directly on your portrait, you can try it on a piece of paper and then see. So this next color, like we had mentioned earlier, we'll be placing them near the darker one. So this helps create a smooth transition between the values. Again, take your time. Understanding where each value belongs is one of the most important parts of portrait painting. So don't rush this process. As you can see, I haven't made any cuts in this video because I want you to see how slow and gradual this process really is. When I first started painting portraits, I used to take almost twice or thrice as long. So with practice, both your speed and color accuracy will naturally improve. So be patient with yourself, even if you're not getting the exact colors you want right away. I have added a little more white to this color. So using this, I'll start painting the next value that I see in the reference. Most of these areas are placed right beside the darker shadows we painted earlier, especially around the eyes and along the side cheek plane. Where we had placed previously the side cheek plane using red, you can now go ahead and paint over that area with the skin tone mixture. Slowly blend it into the surrounding areas and pull that color down towards the chin. So this helps create a smooth transition between the different values. With that, the darker areas are now layered. Now let's wait for this layer to slightly dry and then move on to the lighter ones. 28. Day 7 : Light Skintones: Now, let's take the same colour and lighten it further by adding white as we are now moving towards the lighter values. This is the color I'm getting now, but I want it to be a little warmer and slightly lighter. So I'll add a little bit of white as well as yellow. As you can see, there is now a noticeable shift in the color. Using this mixture, I'll fill the areas around the eyes that we had left earlier. Again, I'm simply blocking in the areas where I see a similar value in the reference. So take your time, observe carefully, and then proceed. For the cheek area, I'll add a touch of red to the mixture because cheeks usually have a warmer tone and more towards a pinkish one. So that's the reason why I have added a little red to the mixture. Now using the same color, I'll also paint the side plane of the nose as I find the value matching with this one. Now using this, I'll paint the area between the nose and the lips. While working on the nose, take a little extra time to study the subtle value changes before applying the paint. I also use this color on the side of the cheek and slightly above the eyes. Then I'll move on to the forehead and fill most of the area using the same mixture. At every stage, take a moment to analyze your portrait before moving forward. As you can see, I have now covered most of the forehead and also I have left some space for the highlights. Now, to create the next lighter value, I have added more white and yellow to the mixture. If you're ever unsure about the color, feel free to do a quick swatch test before applying it to your portrait. Now I'm slowly filling the remaining areas using these lighter tones. If you feel a value is then right, mix a slight variation of the colors you have already used instead of creating an entirely new one. Since we already have a darker base color prepared, I'll continue building new shades from that mixture. So that's the reason you're able to see only two mixes on my mixing palette. So this helps maintain harmony throughout the portrait, and mixing completely fresh batches of paint can sometimes create unwanted color shifts. So that's why it's always helpful to mix a good amount of your base color in the beginning, so you can use it to create different skin tone variations. For the next lighter shade, I'm once again using the same mixture and simply adding more white and yellow. I'll use this color now to paint the highlighted areas that we intentionally left untouched earlier. As you can see, this new mixture is lighter than all the previous colors in our palette. Now, I'll add a little bit of red to it and use it around the nose areas where the skin appears warmer. Slowly, fill any areas or gaps in the portrait using these colours. As you can see, I'm using very small brush strokes rather than highly detailed strokes. So this way, you can also build the portrait with one section at a time. Once most of the face is covered, use these lighter tones to gently correct and refine any areas that need adjustments. Now for the ear, I'll mix a darker color that leans more towards the red. Then I'll use this mixture to paint the ears and bring back those warmer shadow tones. This way, we have fully finished our first layer of skin tone. 29. Day 7 : Painting the Hair: Meanwhile, while the paint is drying, let's move on to the hair. For that, I'll use a darker mixture made from burnt umber and blue, since we are not using black directly in the portrait. So mix these two colors until you get a rich dark brown. So using that mixture, I'll fill the entire area that we had previously marked for the hair and focus on blocking in the overall shape rather than individual strands because right now, our first aim is to fill the entire area. By the time we have done with the hair, the paint on the face may have started to dry. So now, using the safe dark mixture, let's go back and reinforce some of the darker details. I'll start with the eyebrows and then move on to the pupils, nostrils, and also the corners of the eyes. So these small details help bring more contrast and definition to the portrait. So take your time and detail these areas. 30. Day 7 : Eyes and Surroundings : For this part, we'll be using a small round brush since we are getting into the finer details. First, take some white and mix it with our previous dark brown mixture. Along with that, you can add a little bit of blue. So we'll use this color for the eyes. I prefer not to use pure white directly because in portraits, pure white and pure black can often look too harsh. So that's why we are slightly muting this color to give a much more natural appearance. So using a little red, I'll lightly mark the inner and outer corners of the eyes. So these details are quite subtle in the reference, so keep them soft and minimal. You can now refine the eye area using this color until you're happy with it. I also noticed a small area around the eye that I hadn't painted earlier, so I'll quickly fill in that as well. Next, let's mix a darker color. I'll use a previous brown mixture and add some red to it because I want the shadows to stay a little warm rather than becoming too muted. Using this mixture, I'll start defining the lines around the eyes. This also includes the folds above and below them. Earlier, we only blocked the eyes, but now we are beginning to add the finer details. I also refine the eyebrows at this stage. When all these details start coming together, the portrait begins to feel much more complete. As always, keep looking back at your reference and identify what needs to be adjusted and which colors are required. In this portrait, I'm aiming for a warmer appearance, which is why I'm introducing more red into the mixture. By now, the light color we painted inside the eyes should be dry, so I'll go back and add the darker details to define the eyes even further. As we continue refining these smaller details, you can now see the portrait slowly starts coming to life. Not just the e details. You can also notice some subtle lines just below them in the reference. So I'll add those as well to give the eyes a little more structure. Now, I'll slowly move on to the nose. Take a look at your palette, and if you already have a color with a similar value, feel free to use it instead of mixing a new one. So using the darker mixture that I already have on my palette, I'll paint the shadows around the nose. The same approach can be done for the ears as well. Remember, you don't have to be 100% precise with every value. Since it's just the beginning, having a good overall understanding of the light and shadows is often enough to achieve a good, convincing portrait. So focus on understanding the values by comparing your painting with a reference. Next, I'll use this dark color along the side of the neck and just below the chin. While doing so, make sure you do not disturb the previous layer. So instead gently layer the paint on the top. Now, looking at the nose, I feel the lighter colors appear a little too pale, so to bring back some warmth, I'll add a little bit of red to our lighter skin tone and use that mixture around the nose area. Oh At this stage, keep analysing your painting and make small corrections wherever needed. So work gradually and lay the paint without disturbing the colors underneath. So this is the main thing that you'll have to focus. The nose often requires the most attention because the planes and the shadows play a major role in defining the structure. Using the same mixture, I'll also add a few subtle details around the ice to help tie everything together. And with that, let's wait for this layer to dry. 31. Day 7 : Painting Lips: Next, let's move on to the lips. I'll start with the same dark mixture that we already have on the palette. To that, I'll add some red. And since the mixture is now leaning more towards red, I'll add a little bit of blue to darken it slightly. When painting lips, try not to use direct colors straight from the tube. Also, avoid simply mixing white with red and use that as the lip color. If you carefully observe a real reference, you'll notice that lips contain a variety of subtle color shifts just like the skin tones. Mixing a few variations helps us achieve a much more natural result. Using this darker mixture, Alpha outline the lips according to the reference. Once the outline is ready, we can slowly adjust the same color by adding red and white wherever needed. The center line of the lips is usually the darkest area, so I'll establish that first. H Then by adding some white, I'll lighten the mixture because in this reference, the lower lip appears much lighter than the upper one. If you notice any value differences, feel free to adjust the colors accordingly. For the lower lip, I won't completely fill it with one color. Instead, I'll first define the outline and then add a warmer lighter color to the middle. For that, I have added a little more red and white to the mixture. Next, I'll move back to the nose. The bottom plane of the nose appears quite dark in reference, so I'll strengthen that area using the same mixture. Now, I'll add some white and a little more red because I want the cheek area to lean towards a warmer reddish tone. So using this color, I'll rework the cheek area slightly. As I mentioned earlier, avoid disturbing the previous layer. Let the paint sit on the top and slowly build your colours through layering. So make sure your initial layer is completely dry before you start layering again. Okay. If any edge feels too sharp, you can soften it by placing a slightly lighter value next to the darker one. Even if the blend isn't immediately visible, it will become more noticeable once the paint dries completely. So if you're new to Gauche, keep in mind that lighter colours often dry slightly darker, while darker colors tend to dry a little lighter. So that's why some of the shadows that looked very dark during painting now appears softer after drying. So using a lighter mixture, I'll also add subtle details around the chin area. As I work, I'm constantly comparing my painting with a reference, and I'm making small adjustments accordingly. Now, around the nose and just about the eyes, make sure to leave some space for the highlights. These lighter areas actually help create the depth and structure to our portraits. Next, I'll fill the remaining areas of the neck and shoulder. Once you have worked on an area, avoid overworking it. If you're unsure about a section, allow it to dry first and then come back later for the correction part. For example, I feel the area about the lips is slightly too small, so I'll use this color to make a small correction and adjust the proportions. 32. Day 7 : Enhancing the skin: Now that most of the layers have dried, I feel that some area of the skin tones still look a little flat. So let's make a few corrections to the lighter areas. For that, I'll mix some white with the required amount of yellow and a little bit of a previous dark mixture. Using this color, I'll start adjusting the areas that naturally receive more light on the face. As you can see, these areas are usually the bridge of the nose, the side planes of the nose, above the eyes, the forehead, the area between the nose and lips, and just above the chin. Since these are the main areas that usually catch light, pay attention to them while painting. At the same time, compare your painting with a reference and make small corrections wherever you feel they are needed. At this stage, we are not adding strong highlights. Instead, we are refining the lighter values and creating a much smoother transition between the different skin tones. So these small adjustments can make a huge difference in bringing more depth and form to the painting. You can also see the lighter values on the cheek bone area as well. So I'll also include that Once you have completed this, wait for these layers to dry, and once it's dried, let's move on to the next part. 33. Day 7 : Restoring Sharpness: Now that we have corrected and placed all the lighter tones, the portrait is starting to come together. However, because of the layering we did in the previous steps, some of the darker details have softened, causing the portrait to lose a bit of its sharpness. To bring that definition back, let's slowly start rendering the darker areas once again. For that, I'll mix our darkest color using burnt umber, red and blue, just like we prepared earlier. Once you have a rich mixture ready, start revisiting those areas where the details have slightly faded. So I'll begin with the eyebrows, eyes, nose drills, and the shadow areas around the nose. These are the features that usually need the most contrast. So take your time and observe the reference carefully. At this stage, we are not adding new details. We are simply reinforcing the existing ones and improving the contrast. You can also darken the shadows below the nose, below the lips, and along the neck wherever needed. Small corrections like these help restore depth and make the portrait look much more refined. As you can see, you'll notice that the portrait slowly starts regaining its sharpness and also the structure. So keep looking at the reference and identify the areas where the values need to be darker. The mixture we used earlier was slightly lighter, but this new mixture is much darker, so it'll help the details stand out better. Using this color, I'll start refining the lips. As I define the outline and the center line, you can already see the lips beginning to take its shape. I'll also use the same mixture to strengthen the shadows below them. And don't forget the years. They also contain some darker values that help define its structure. Next, I use the same color below the chin to strengthen the shadow of the neck. Be careful not to overwork this area because we already have a different value established there. So focus only on the darkest portions that need a little more contrast. Here, I made a small mistake earlier, so I'm correcting it with a very light wash of this color. You can skip this step if you don't need it. Since the paint is heavily diluted, it won't significantly change the existing color underneath. So just go for a light wash if that's the case. Now, I'll take this previous mixture and add more red to it. This time, instead of using thick paint, I'll dilute it slightly and use it to make subtle corrections. So with this mixture, I'll strengthen the areas that need slightly darker values, especially alongside the nose under the eyes, below the lips, and also just above the chin, so you can notice wherever I'm marking. Trust me, this entire process is a trial and error. Until you try out, you wouldn't actually know which color suits best. Next, I'll add a few more details to the hair. I'll remix the entire hair color that we had made earlier. And use it to paint a few strands and curls. So these small details help make the hair feel more natural and complete. Finally, I'll add a very little amount of white to this mixture and use it to paint the earring. Observe the reference carefully, and you can sketch the earring accordingly. Now let's allow the entire painting to dry fully before we move on to the next step. 34. Day 7 : Final Highlights: And with that, we have come to the final stage of this portrait where we'll add the highlights using a very light color that is closer to white. So I'll start by adding highlights to the lips. As you can see, these small touches immediately make the lips appear more three dimensional. So this is the main idea behind highlighting these parts. I'll also add a few highlights along the edges where I see them in the reference. Make sure not to overdo this step, simply observe the reference and place the highlights only where they naturally appear. The areas that usually receive the most lights are about the eyes, the inner corners of the eyes, the bridge and tip of the nose, the lips, the forehead, the chin, and also the cheek bones. These are generally the key areas where highlights help define the planes and structure of the face. We'll talk about this in depth in the upcoming class. For now, you can check the reference and place the highlights accordingly. Apart from these, I'll also add a few subtle highlights wherever I feel they enhance the portrait. And if you're unsure about this, simply stick to the areas I just mentioned. Now that this layer is almost dry, I'll do one final round. I'm not adding any new ones. I'm already highlighting the ones that I did. Next, I'll take a touch of blue along with the remaining paint already on my brush, and I'll work on the top area. You don't need to mix a completely new set of colors for this. Simply use the colors that's already available on your palette. By mixing a little white and dark color, you can define the edges and also create a better and adding a few highlights to the earring as well. Highlights are mainly used to create a sense of realism and bring attention to the areas where light naturally falls. So use them carefully and avoid overusing them. And with that, we have completed our day seven project. Give this portrait a try. I know the process may seem long and a little intimidating, especially if you're new to portrait painting, but trust me, even if your portrait doesn't turn out exactly the way you expect it, every painting teaches you something valuable. The key is to keep practicing. As you continue through this journey, you'll start noticing improvements in your understanding of colors, values, and proportions. If this is your first portrait, you're already doing a great job. So don't feel discouraged. Every artist started exactly where you are today. In fact, this is one of the very first portraits I painted. It took me nearly two years of consistent practice to reach the stage where I can paint portraits the way I do today. So trust the process, stay patient, and keep showing up. The results may not appear overnight, but with time and practice, they will definitely come. With that, we are wrapping up today's lesson. Thank you for painting along with me, and I'll see you tomorrow for our next portrait. 35. Day 8 : Base Layer: I welcome you all to day three of our challenge. So this is our reference, and I have already removed the dark strokes from the portrait. Make sure the guidelines are still visible. Now, just like we did earlier, we'll start off with our first wash of red. Take some red, dilute it, and then using this color, let's start with the darkest shadows. I'll start with the nose, observe the reference carefully and identify all the possible dark areas. Next, I'll go ahead with the lips. I'm not marking the lower lips. Instead, I'll go ahead with the shadow here. Before marking the ice, I'll go around and mark all the remaining shadows. The ears look kind of red, so I'll go ahead and mark that. Now using a very light wash, you can see that over here on the cheek bone, we have a kind of shadow. So with the surface of the flat brush, I'll go around and mark that area. As you can see, the shadows have different values over here. So after the first dilute wash, I'll go ahead and refine it. Especially over here, you can see it's still dark and also near the mouth. Just below the bottom part of the chin, we have a very dark color. Take your time and focus on the nose properly. You can see that the different planes of the nose have different shadows falling on it. Similarly, once the first layer is dry, I'll just go around and darken those areas. Now, here, because of the shadows falling from the hair, you can make a few strands like this. Next, using a thin round brush, I'll mark the details on the eyes. First, take your time to shape the eye. And then goes the pupil. See, this corner is quite thick, so I'll mark it accordingly. If you observe the reference carefully, you can see that the outline is also a bit darker. And just below the nose, you still have a small shadow. So, this is the shape it takes. Now using light washes, you can go around and paint those areas. Next, take a flat brush, and using burnt umber, let's block the hair. It's not necessary to add the strands of hair in the front now because anyway, we'll be covering the skin part first. So especially in the center and also on the sides, it's quite dark. So I'll darken those areas. And in the remaining areas, I'll go with a very light wash. I just mark the nostrils and the tip of the mouth. And also the shadows on the cloth. With that, our base coat is ready. Now let's wait for the spin to dry and then move on to the next step. 36. Day 8 : Painting the shadows: Now that the first layer is dry, let's go ahead and start with the shadows. So here I have taken, I'd say lemon yellow, while the remaining colours are all warm ones. I'll start by mixing the color. We'll go with a regular mix for which we need yellow, red and blue. Oh so now the color looks a lot green because red is very minimal here. The color is more towards blue. So in that case, let's look at the complimentary color of blue, which is nothing but orange. And orange can be obtained by mixing yellow and red. So in that way, use the idea of complimentary colors and then mix it. As the color palette here looks quite cool, I'll use violet for this reference. If you have violet, you can go ahead and use it. In our case, I'll be going ahead with purple. So simply mix a little bit of white to your violet color to get this nice purple one. Now, if you look at this, this looks quite good. So I need this cool color for the shadows. So this is the color we have. So using this color, I'll start with the nose, especially where you find the shadows you can mark. Also, I'll go ahead with the eyebrows below the lips and also on the chin. Apart from that, we also have this color around the neck. Here for the jaw line, I'll use this color. Now for the ears, it looks quite reddish. I'll give a light wash of this color with a little red added to it. I see a similar color on the neck. So I think these are the dark colors on the skin. So before we move on to the next color, I'll just mark a few areas around the hair as well. 37. Day 8 : Covering all the shadow areas: Now it's time to lighten this color using white. It hasn't reduced much, so I'll add a little more. So now using this color, I'll go ahead and paint the next light color. Now for the corner of the mouth as well, I'll use this colour. Take a little bit of violet. So I'll mix a fresh skin tone. Sintead of using blue, I'll use purple here. Don't make the color very reddish. So I'll bring in some yellow. M. Now, this has completely shifted to a yellow color. So let's go back and correct it. This looks quite good. So using this, I'll mark the next. So while painting on this, I feel it's more yellow again. I'll try to add some red as well as violet. You can see a subtle change in the shift. So now I'll go ahead with this color. So every next color is basically a supporting color to your previous one. So you'll be doing it in multiple layers, so don't worry, even if it's looking ugly at this stage. I'll connect it. Now, I'll add some more violet and a little bit of burnt umber to see what kind of color I'd get. After mixing a little red, this is the color that I'm getting. Yeah, this is somewhere in between our dark colors. So I'll use that to mark the side. I'll make some more red. So this is how it looks. Now, I think the color left is to add the light skin tone. So before that, I'll just mark this plain. 38. Day 8 : Light Skintones: Using the same mixture. I'll just add white and see the color which I'll get. I think it is a little dull. So I'll add in more white. You can see it has lightened a bit. So using that color along with some red. I'll start with the forehead portion. As a forehead portion, we can see that there would be some shadows here, so I'll not directly use the light color. This is not how the jaw line looks, so I'll correct it. Now using this color, I'll just mark the highlights I see on the ear. A Now that this color is done, let's move on to the light color. So using this brush, I'll clean it, and then start with the lightest part. Not the lightest part because that would be the highlights. I find it too yellow, so I think it would be better if I add some violet and also a bit of red. This brush is pretty big, so I'll use the size. I'll just go ahead and use this color to fill in the remaining areas. Trust me, this will get better because right now, I know it looks so different from the reference. But in the next following steps, let's try to correct it. In one way, if you see a gouache is pretty forgiving, so you can layer as much as you want. But while doing so, make sure that your previous layer is dry so that you don't disturb it while you're layering another color over. 39. Day 8 : Eyes: Now, meanwhile, this layer dries, let's go ahead and add the details on the eye, mouth, and also eyebrows. For that start with a thin round brush. I'll simply use a small portion from the same palette. So I have mixed this. Okay, this doesn't look like gray, but if I add a little bit of white, you get a bluish gray color, which I'll be using it for the eye. There is a need to lighten it, so I'll add some more white. So I think this would do. For the lips, we need a dark color for which I'll be using burnt umber and blue. You can use these two combinations to get a dark color. And not just that, I'll also go ahead and add the nostrils. So this is basically the shape. I'll have to slightly shift it to the side. I also use this color for the eyes. Now I'll add a little bit of red to this color. So Initially, I'll use this color to outline the eyes. And then if needed, I'll go ahead with a darker color. So understanding the values of each color and trying to figure out how you can achieve that color is going to be the biggest thing that you'll have to come across while painting portraits using a very limited palette. But I believe with practice, it'll slowly start getting easier. I also highlight the shadows here. 40. Day 8 : Lips: Now for the lips, I'll take this color and add some red. So don't go ahead and directly use red for your lips. And it's often not pink or red. It's a mixture of these colors. I'll add in some blue for the upper lip. Now, if you compare, the color is way too violet, but let's add red to correct it. I'll add some more red. Using the same color, I'll outline the bottom part as well. Now, add in some white. Now, this time, you can add some more red because this area looks more pinkish. Here you can see a slight touch of the same color. See, once you add the features, the colors come in better harmony now. So I've seen most of the time during this middle stage, people kind of give up and stop the painting. But, trust me, unless you reach the final step, the portrait would normally look like this. Now, using the dark color, I'll finalize the eye. So this is going to be the ice. I'll mix this dark color with a little bit of our previous color so that I get a lighter version. So every time you don't have to freshly create a new palette, try to understand the colors which are already present, and using that, you can create whatever color that you need. 41. Day 8 : Painting the Hair: Now, let's wait for this layer to dry. Meanwhile, let's move on to the hair. Now I'm using a bigger flat brush. So here, I'll mix the dark colour. As we mentioned, mix these two colors to obtain the darkest one. And if you need that color to be warmer, add a little bit of red as well. So using this, I'll start with the darkest portion of the hair. Also, don't forget this area. Now to make it look more brown, I'll add red and some yellow. So here we got a further lighter colour. You see that with some strokes like this, I'll fill in the remaining area. If you find it difficult to use this flat brush, go ahead with a thin round brush. I'll also use this color to match the eyebrows just in the initial part. Now we'll have to highlight the hair for which I'll be using a thin long brush. It's a line of brush, actually. Now the color has turned out to be different. So to correct it, I'll take some yellow and red. So using this, I'll just highlight a few strands as I see in the reference. And also, you make use of this color to show the hair strands, especially those which are overlapping. You don't have to show the full strand starting from its root to the end. Just start halfway through. To lighten it further, I'll add some white. U to highlight the hair, you can show the extreme hair lighter than the remaining ones. And I'll also add in the middle and also at the tips over here. Now using the dark color, I'll add a few strands here. Now, to get into details, add a few very thin strands like this. If you want to darken it, once again, go ahead with a dark color. And this time, don't overdo it. Now, before we finalize it, I'll also add the same color for the eyes to complete it fully. I'm not fully covering the eye. I'm just using a U shape like this. Now, if you take a little red to this color, I think that will be better for the lips. Now, dilute this color very lightly, and you shouldn't press it too much onto the paper, slightly brush over. Remove the excess water, and you can slightly brush over like this to mark the details. Don't cover the entire red color which we had used earlier. I'll take some red and mix it with a slight colour and touch it slightly in the corner. It looks much detailed now. Even if you mess it up a little, you can still correct it. The shape got slightly distorted, so I'll just correct it now. As you can see, initially, it looked a little bit messy, but once you have added all the features, it looks more convincing now. 42. Day 8 : Adding the shirt details: Now, before we touch this layer to correct it, let's finish the cloth. I'll just see what I get if you mix all these colors together. So this is somewhat gray. So I'll add in some blue. And now, if I add white, this is the color I'll get. It looks a little dull, but I'll use it as shadows. Now, take some white and blend it. So this is what I'm doing. And also on the other side. Next for the dark color. Again, let's go ahead with the same mixture. Now, this time, it's more leaning towards blue. Not exactly, but still, let's keep it blue this time. Let's go ahead. I'll correct this portion later. I'm using some more blue and burnt umber. You can see shadows over here. I add it. I got a discusion. Here, since the paint is already wet, I'll just blending, just like we do in watercolors. And again, on this side, I'll correct that mistake. We'll have to wait for this layer to dry to add the stripes. 43. Day 8 : Colour Correction: Next, let's finally correct this place. So I'll take a little bit of this color. And to that, I'll add some red. So this seems very violet and more towards blue. So I'll try to use this color. So this is the color that we have. It still looks dark, so I'll just add some white. So I'll just have to blend these two colors together now. Don't worry. It looks a little dark now, but never mind. We can correct it later on. Next, I'll add in some white and yellow as this looks more towards red. Let's repeat the step until we find it okay. So before we do that, I'll go ahead and add the details on the nose and surrounding areas. So as you can see, I'll use this color to add the details around the eyes. And also here initially where we had marked the shadow. Now, see the color almost matches. So I'll go over and correct it again. So make sure you're not disturbing the layer below. Using this color, I'll mark the shadows on the eyes. Next, let's lighten it further. Okay. I add some more white. I'll add some yellow now. Now using the lightest color, I'll mark wherever I can place this. So basically, using this brush, you're blocking in this color. So look at the angle at which I'm holding the brush to get the stroke. Now, this way, it's almost done, but I still feel that I should add a little details to the nose, so I'll take some red. It looks very flat, so that's the reason why I'm using red now. So I'll use this color slightly to a few areas where I feel red looks more visible. I'll further lighten this color. This time, I'll mark the highlights which we had left on the nose. Using the same color, I'll mark this eye area. I think this is almost done. 44. Day 8 : Final Details: Now, I'll go ahead and mark the details over the eyes once again. And also here, I'll have to cover the neck. Now, let's take some blue and add these stripes. Now, let's use white to highlight the final. Clean your brush thoroughly. I'll use a pointer brush. Now, I'll take in some white. And using that, I'll mark the nose first. Next, let's go over the ice. Then over the lips. In the bottom part of the lips, you have a lot of highlights there. I won't overdo it. Then also on this corner. The hard one here as well. Now, about the ice. I'll slightly add it like this. In case you found it difficult, make sure you rewatch the lesson once again. And if you have any doubts, feel free to ask them in the discussions below. And with that, I'll wrap this lesson, and I'll see you tomorrow with the next portrait. I 45. Day 9 : Base Layer: I welcome you all to day nine of our challenge. The first step is to remove all the dark transferable pencil strokes from our third portrait. Once that's done, I'll quickly arrange my colors. So we have white, warm yellow, warm red, blue, and burnt tumba. For brushes, we'll be using the same set as before. Now, let's use a flat brush to start with the base layer. This time, I'll show you a slightly different approach. So, along with red, I'll also add some yellow to create a warm orange mixture. Unlike our previous portraits, where we left some areas untouched, this time we'll dilute the color and cover the entire face with this base color. Make sure there are no water puddles on the paper. Simply spread the paint evenly across the surface. If you notice is water in any area, just move it around until the layer looks even. Once that's done, I'll mix some more paint and start adding the dark values. Here, the painting process is more like a loose wet on wet approach. Now I'll add more red to the mixture and begin marking the darker areas. As you can see, the colors are naturally blending into one another. So focus on the areas where the shadows are more prominent. The main areas to observe are around the eyes, below the nose, below the lips, the ears, neck, and also the forehead. Next, I'll dilute the color slightly for the next layer and start adding the broader shadows that I see on the cheeks and also below the eyes. You can notice a subtle V shaped shadow in that area. We also have shadows along the sides of the nose, so I'll add that as well. For the mustache and also for the side cheek, I have mixed a little blue into the mixture and applied it using a light wash. He I'll use the same color for eyebrows, nostrils, and also other darker details. Using this, I'm also marking the eyes. Once that's done, I'll add the remaining shadows on the forehead. Next, let's move on to the hair. Just like before, I'll mix burnt umber and blue to create a dark color. So take your time, observe the reference, and you can block in the overall shape of the hair now. There is no need to add any individual strands at this stage, so simply focus on blocking the entire area using this color. Once the hair is completely done, I'll use the same mixture to darken the facial features, especially the eyebrows, eyes, the nostrils, and also somewhere around the lips. Next, I'll dilute this color and use it to lightly paint the shirt. Now, as you can see, this step is completely optional, but it helps to establish the darker values around the portrait. Now, let's wait for this layer to dry and then move on to the next step. 46. Day 9 : First Skintone Layer: Now, to start with a base color, I'll first mix a brown skin tone. Since we are beginning with the shadows, I'll start with the darker color first. So take your time while mixing this color. I want it to be a little warmer, so I'll add some more red. I'll also use a bit of burnt umber to maintain the richness of the color. Now, as you can see, this color looks pretty good. So using this mixture, I'll begin with the upper eyelid. Now observe the shape carefully. As this area is quite dark in the reference, I'll take some time to understand the shape and then start painting. You can also work on the other eye at the same time. Next, I'll move on to the nose, especially the area just below it. I'll simply mark all the areas where I find the darker values according to the reference. So don't rush this process. Focus on where the shadow falls, and accordingly, you can start marking. As you can see, I'm using very small strokes to define these shadows. So in that way, you can control the areas in which you need to paint. Next, I'll shape the neck using this color and also outline the shirt. I'll also add the shadows on the ears and also just below it. And importantly, don't forget to add this color where the hair touches the skin, and this is especially in the forehead region. With that, the first dark layer is ready. Now let's make a lighter version of this brown. For that, I'll add some white to the mixture along with a little red and yellow. Then I'll slowly start blending it to the previous color. As you can see, this is a lighter shade of the previous color. So using this value, I'll paint wherever I find it in the reference, especially just below the eyes. So I normally start with the ice and then move downward. I'll also use this color for the nose, particularly the tip of the nose. Next, I'll save the chin and add a thin line along the jaw line and also the neck. You can observe the reference carefully in order to get these placements right. With that, the shadows using this color are almost complete. Now let's take some red with a little white. So using this mixture, I'll mark this triangular area just below the eyes. I'll also work along the side of the nose. I would paint right on the edge. Instead, I leave a small gap and place a line just like this beside it. Next, I'll use the same color around the mouth. Here we have this beard like shadow, so I'll mark that areas too. And also, don't forget the forehead. Since the hair casts a shadow, this area naturally appears a little dark. Now I'll clean my brush, take some white, and lighten this mixture. So this is the color I'm getting. However, it's not quite the shade I need, so I'll mix a fresh batch of light brown. I'll do a few swatch tests, and once I'm happy with the color, I'll start painting. As you can see, the colors look quite dark at this stage, but don't worry. Once the paint dries and we add more layers to correct the values, they will naturally become more balanced. So using this color, I'll go ahead and fill the entire face. It might look a little strange at the moment, but trust the process. Once this layer dries, we can continue layering and the portrait will soon come together. At this stage, even if you add lighter or darker details, they would stand out very clearly. Simply cover the remaining areas using this color and once this layer dries, we'll slowly figure it out. So once you covered the entire pace, let this layer dry completely, and then we'll move on to the next step. 47. Day 9 : Eyes: While this layer dries, let's move on to the eyes. I'll take some white and mix it with a paint residue that's already on my brush to create a soft grayish color. And using this, I'll paint the whites of the eyes. Next, I'll darken this gray slightly using the color already on my palette and use it for the other eye. Now for the eyebrows, I'll mix burnt umber, blue, and a little bit of red to create a warmer dark brown. Using this, I'll paint the eyebrows. As you can see, here I'm using a small round brush because we are getting into these finer details. By now, the eye should have dried a little, so I'll mark the pupils and darken the upper eyelids. A And don't forget to detail the eye on the other side as well. Basically, the shape I paint is similar to a rotated V or a lesser than sine. After making that, I'll connect it to the pupil. Once done using the same color, I'll also shape the nostrils and define the nose. 48. Day 9 : Lips: Now for the lips, I'll add a little red to this dark color and start by painting the center line. Next, I'll add a bit more white and red to the same mixture. Once it's mixed, this is the color I get. So using that, I'll paint the upper lip. For the lower lip, I'll use a slightly different color, but I'll mark the center using the same mixture. Normally, the lower lip is a little lighter than the upper lip, so I'll add some more white and red to lighten this mixture. Now using this, I'll shape and paint the lower lip. You can actually keep adjusting these colors in different variations until the values feel right. At the same time, make sure you're correcting the shape of the llips according to the reference. As I mentioned earlier, always use different variations of red along with the darker color to achieve a natural looking lip color rather than using a plain red. 49. Day 9 : Enhancing Lighter Skintones: Now, I'll move on to the lighter skin tone. The color here is leaning a little too much towards pink, so I'll correct it using the previous dark mixture. I'll also add a little bit of yellow to make it warm up and then some white to lighten it. You can do a quick swatch test, and if you're happy with the color, go ahead and you can start the painting. Using this mixture, I'll go around the portrait, observe the reference carefully, and mark the areas accordingly. So use small brush strokes and slowly build up the color. That should be our main aim here. So I'll identify these areas and then I'll go ahead and mark using this color. So these areas normally include the cheek bone, nose, side of the neck, chin, and also forehead. Oh next, I'll add a little red to the mixture to bring in some warmth, especially in the area just below the ice where we had painted the darker shadows. Don't worry if it doesn't look perfect right away. Let this paint dry first and then decide whether it needs any corrections. Now I'll add a little bit of blue to the same mixture and use it for the beard area and any other places where I feel this value is needed. Since the forehead looks a little too sharp, I use this colour to soften and blend the previous layer. Feel free to experiment in this way, but don't overwork the paint. Let the layer dry first, and then you can rework if only necessary. Once that's done, I'll repeat the same process with a few more variations until I get the closest possible skin tone. Now I have darkened this mixture slightly, and to make it richer and a little more deeper, I'll add some burnt umber. And I'll mainly use this for the neck area. 50. Day 9 : Painting the Beard: Now, to the previous mixture, I'll add a little more warmth to correct a few areas. So for the beard area, the color looks a little too gray, so I'll adjust the mixture. I'll add a bit of blue first. As you can see, the color shifts slightly towards gray. I wanted to lean a little more towards green, so I'll add a bit more yellow this time. Now, I feel the color looks much better. Using a little water, I'll dilute the paint to create a thin wash. Now for the mustache, I'll angle the brush like this and paint it with a single stroke. Then I'll extend it to the area below. For the sides, I'm not filling everything in. Instead, I'm using just a few light strokes to suggest the texture. You can also see that this color extends slightly to the neck, so I'll use it there as well. With that done, let's allow this layer to dry so we can better understand what needs to be corrected in the next step. 51. Day 9 : Adding the final details: Now for the shirt, I'll quickly go over it with a diluted wash of white. This portion doesn't have to be very detailed, so I'll simply paint it with a color I already have on my palette. Next, make sure your paintbrush is fully clean before you start the step. So using a thin round brush, I'll take a good amount of pure white. So now I'll take some bright white and use it to add a few highlights. So I'll start with the eyes. And don't forget to add a few highlights on the ears as well. Next, I'll mark the main highlighted areas from the reference. As you can see, these are mainly the area around the eyes, nose, the base of the nose, the chin and other prominent areas where the light falls. So I'll mark this area where the cheek bone is present. I'll also add a few subtle highlights to the lips, but not too much. So wherever you feel it's needed, you can continue refining the portrait by observing the reference carefully. Also notice the inner corner of the eyes. And with that, we have completed our day nine project. So thank you for joining, and I'll see you tomorrow with our final portrait. 52. Day 9 : Building Highlights: Now let's go for one final round of lighter skin tones. For that, I'll add some white and yellow to the previous mixture. I find this color a little too yellow, so I'll correct it by adding a bit of red and blue along with some white. And once I'm satisfied with the color, I'll use it to refine the details. So wherever I find lighter skin tones in the reference, I'll correct the values of the face, especially around the eyes, nose, cheek bones, cheeks, and also the chin. Along the edge of the nose, you can use this lighter color to define the outline. You can also apply it in the front of the ears and just below them. So wherever you feel this value matches the reference, go ahead and paint it. And especially while you're marking this lighter color, don't forget the inner corners of the eyes above the eyebrows and also just below the nose. As you can see, the painting is almost complete. Remember, you'll get a better idea of final result only after the paint dries. So be patient and trust the process. Now for the final pass, I lighten the mixture further by adding more white and I'll use it to enhance the highlights. So don't repaint the entire area. Simply you can highlight the portion you just painted. I'll add this color just above the lips along the edge of the nose and also on the chin. Then near the cheek boon, I'll lighten it a little more. Now go over the portrait, and wherever you feel the highlights need to be brighter, you can add them carefully. Finally, I'll add a few highlight strokes near the corners of the lips and a few subtle ones on the neck as well. 53. Day 9 : Painting the Hair: Meanwhile, this layer dries, let's mix a dark color for the hair. So I'll be using the same dark mixture of burnt umber and blue. And I'll also add a little bit of red to bring some warmth to it. So make sure you prepare a good amount of this color as we have a wide area to be filled. The mixture looks quite good, so I'll do a swatch test. I'll go ahead and paint the entire shape of the hair. So you only need a thin round brush while you work on very fine details. For simply filling the hair, I'll now use this flag brush. Now using the remaining paint, I'll also darken those areas that became a little lighter after the previous layer dried. So let's give some time for this layer to dry, but on the other side, we can add a few details using a thin round brush. So I'm taking this liner brush and using the same color, I'll get into slide details. Now, I'll refine the details on the eyebrows a little more. Next, let's detail the eyes. So this is the basic shade that I follow, and this is how I suggest painting the eyelashes. You don't have to paint every single eyelash. Instead, use a few light control strokes like this to suggest them. Now, before we move back to the hair, I'll once again strengthen the darker areas wherever I feel they need more contrast. Finally, let's move back to the hair and add a few individual strands, especially around the front. So lightly bring some strands onto the skin to create a more natural look. And since this is a side profile, a small portion of hair on the opposite side is also visible. So you can suggest it with a few subtle strokes. Now, you can check the reference and continue adding these details in the same way until you're happy with the overall result. 54. Day 9 : Detailing the Hair: Now, I'll add some red to this mixture, and using it, I'll darken these areas. So wherever I feel the sharpness has faded, I'll use this color to bring it back, especially in the shadow regions. Next, to create a warmer dark color, I'll add some red along with a little white and yellow to the previously made dark mixture. So make sure the color still leans towards brown. Now, this brown looks good. So using a liner brush, I'll add a few curved strokes to define the hair. Here, I'll mainly focus on the outer edges of the hair and a few strands in the front. You can avoid covering the entire surface of the hair. Instead, you can concentrate on the outer edges and a few selected areas to create this texture. So I'll be mainly working, as I mentioned, on the outer area, as well as in the hair that's falling onto the front of the face. Using the same color, I'll also refine the eyebrows as well as the eyes. Finally, I'll add a few loose strands of hair falling onto the skin to make the portrait look more natural. 55. Day 9 : Refining Values: Now, let's go ahead and mix the dark color once again to define the shadows. Once I'm satisfied with the color, I'll start with the eyes and start shaping them. Next, I'll move on to the nose. So observe the reference carefully and then add the shadows wherever you feel they are required. Now, I'll add a little more blue to the burnt umber mixture to darken the shadows just below the lips. Since the shapes soften because of the previous layers, I'll correct the jaw line and also darken the neck. Next, I'll switch back to the flat brush to correct the values on the forehead. I feel the color is a little too dark, so I'll add a bit of white and use it accordingly. So take your time while placing the shadows and if needed, lighten the color further. To To make the color lean a bit more towards red, I'll add red. Now I'll use this mixture for the nose area. Then I'll add some more white and correct these areas as well. We didn't add much color to the cheek area near the beard, so I'll soften the edges by lightly going over them. Now using the same color, I'll extend it wherever it is required. So observe the reference carefully, and wherever you feel the portrait needs a little reworking, go ahead and make those adjustments. Also, the area between the eyebrows is usually a little darker and also warmer. So I'll add that layer using the new color. Now, if you look, because of the previous layering, the values around the nose aren't as clear anymore, so I lighten that area. Now, I'll do the same just below the nose. Finally, using the light color from the palette, I'll highlight the chin and also the jaw line to complete the stage. 56. Day 10 : Base Layer: I welcome you all to the final day of our challenge. As usual, the first step is to remove the dark pencil strokes. So take a adable eraser and gently remove all the hard pencil marks from the sketch. Once that's done, take some red, dilute it and using a flat brush, you can start marking the shadows. So we'll begin with the area just below the eyebrows, compare it with the reference, and you can follow the same approach we used for the previous portraits. So I'll also mark the eyebrows at this stage using this color. Next, let's move on to the nose, especially the shadow just below. After that, I'll paint the lips. Here, I'll switch to a small round brush to get into the finer details. Next, I'll mark the shadow below the lips, continue observing the reference and paint all the darker areas using this red color. Oh. Once that's done, I'll dilute the red with a little more water. And using a flat brush, I'll move on to the next set of values, especially just below the eyes around the nose and most importantly, along the side planes of the face where the shadows appear a little darker. So I'll mark all those areas using this diluted wash. Next, I'll move to the fingers. Alpha outline them and then mark the darker shadows I see in the reference. Once that's done, I'll add in some burnt umber to the red. And using that I'll block in the hair completely. At this stage, don't worry about the details. Just focus on the overall shape. Using the remaining color, I'll darken a few more areas with the same mixture. Finally, I'll dilute the remaining paint and give the shirt a light wash. With that, let's allow this layer to dry before moving on to the next step. 57. Day 10 : Darkest Shadows: Once the first layer is dry, let's start mixing a dark color for the shadow areas. We'll be using the same color combination to create a dark mixture. So keep adjusting the colors until you're happy with the result, and then you can do a quick swatch test. So this is the color I'm getting. I want it to be a little warmer, so I'll add a bit of yellow to this. Oh. Even though it looks warmer now, but it looks slightly dull, so I'm adding a bit more of red and white. Now, the color looks much better. So using a small round brush, I'll begin with the main shadow areas. I'll block in the shadows just below the eyebrows. So next, I'll add a bit of orange that is red and yellow, along with some white to mark the areas that I feel a bit towards red. And that's especially below the eyes and also above it. Now I'll switch to a flat brush and mix these colors together with a little more of red, yellow and white to create the next value. Now, using this mixture, I'll paint the next layer of dark values. So I'll go over the areas we marked earlier with a red base layer and I'll gradually build up the shadows. 58. Day 10 : Adding all the Shadows: Now let's create a new mixture. This time, I'll mix it separately. But instead of adding blue, I'll use the previous dark mixture to deepen the color. Using this new color, I'll move on to the next set of values, mostly around the areas where we applied the previous layer. I'll paint the areas just above the eyes in between the eyebrows, below the lips and also the bottom part of the nose. H. I also see the same value around the chin, so I'll use this color there as well. So basically, we are replacing all the shadow areas that we initially marked with red using this new skin tone mixture. So take your time, analyze the reference carefully, and then proceed. 59. Day 10 : Adding Lighter Skintones: Next, let's start by mixing the lighter skin tone as the darker values are now in place. So I'll add some white to the previous mixture and begin filling the remaining areas. As you can see, I'm leaving a few spaces for the highlights, especially on the forehead and the nose. I find this color suitable for most parts of the face, so I'll go ahead and apply it wherever I see this value in the reference. Basically, I'm covering almost the entire face except for the areas that require an even lighter tone. Next, I'll add a little bit of red to the mixture and apply it to the cheeks to create a subtle blush. You can also use the previous darker color to refine a few areas if you feel any of the values need some correction. And now, I'll darken the mixture slightly by adding in some red a little of the previous dark color and also a touch of yellow to refine a few more details. The side planes of the nose are noticeably darker, so I'll use this mixture there. 60. Day 10 : Enhancing Lighter Values: Next, let's add some white to the same mixture, and to increase the warmth, I'll also be adding a little bit of yellow. Once I have mixed enough white and yellow and I'm happy with the color, I'll use it to paint the remaining areas that we left for the highlights. You can observe the reference carefully and apply this color, especially in those lighter gaps. After that, I lighten the mixture a little further and use it to paint the bridge and the top plane of the nose. As I mentioned earlier, if you feel the values are getting disturbed, you can always correct them using the color mixtures already present on your palette. Since I no longer have the exact shadow color on my palette, I'll mix it again using burnt umber, along with the previous colors and paint those shadow areas we had initially marked. 61. Day 10 : Eyes: Next, using around brush, let's start detailing the ice. So I'll take some white, mix it with a little bit of a previous dark mixture, and add a touch of blue to create a soft gray color. So instead of using pure white for the ice, you can always use a gray mixture from your palette. Next, I'll add a little red to this mixture and apply it to the inner and outer corners of the eyes. It may not be very noticeable at first, but these subtle details can enhance the portrait a lot more. Now let's create a dark mixture. As before, I'll mix some burnt umber with blue and some red. Once the color is ready, I'll start with the eyebrows. By now, the paint on the ice should have dried, so I'll go ahead and start detailing them. So take your time, observe the reference carefully, and it can define the ice gradually. Now for the upper eyelid, I don't want the colour to be too dark, so I lighten this dark mixture slightly before using it. Now, using the same color from the palette. I'll also add the folds and lines around the eyes using these colors. Once that's done, I'll dilute this reddish mixture with some water and give a light wash just below the ice. Finally, I'll just go for one final round of gray mixture for redefining the ice. 62. Day 10 : Lips: Now for the nose, I want the colour to lean a little more towards red, so I'll add some red to the mixture. And using light washes, I'll go over the nose and correct the values, especially in the bottom part. Next to define the darker areas, I'll use the same dark mixture from the palette and paint the nostrils and the shadows surrounding it. Now let's move on to the lips. Using the dark mixture, Alphas mark the central line. Just as I mentioned earlier, we'll be using different variations of brown along with red to achieve a natural lip color. So I'll take some red and mix it with the dark color and using that, if I'm satisfied with the color, I'll go ahead and start painting the upper part of the lips. Next, I'll use the same colour to outline the lower lip. To make it a little warmer, now I'll add some white and a bit more of red to the same mixture. As you can see, the values changed Once you're happy with the lip color, you can redefine the central line one last time before allowing this layer to dry. 63. Day 10 : Painting the Hand: Next, I'll use the same color from the palette to paint the neck, the ears, and in areas that need a little refinement. Since the previous layer has dried well, I can easily go over and adjust the values. Once that's done, I'll outline the hand using the dark mixture. After marking the outline, I'll take a lighter skin tone. I'll mix some yellow and red into our previous mixture, and I'll use this to fill the entire hand. Next to create the shadows, I'll use the dark mixture just below the chin and also on the inner side of the hand. Now, if you want to enhance it further, add a little white to your mixture and you can apply it to the highlighted areas as you see in the reference. I'm not getting into too much of details. You can simply give the try and later on, we can dedicate an entire class to sketch and paint hands. 64. Day 10 : Painting the Hair: Now, using a thin round brush, I'll make some blue, burnt umber and a little bit of red to create a dark brown mixture. So I'll use this to outline the shape and enhance the overall dark values. Once that's done, I'll mix a generous amount of burnt umber, blue, and a little bit of red, as the hair has a rich dark brown tone. When the color is ready, you can use a round or a flat brush to first outline the hair so you don't accidentally paint beyond the shape. After outlining the entire hairline around the face, I'll switch back to a flat brush and block in the rest of the hair. The first step here is simply to cover the entire hair with this dark mixture. After that, let's wait for this layer to dry. Meanwhile, take a round brush and use it to refine the eyebrows, eyes, and the remaining dark details using this dark colour. 65. Day 10 : Enhancing the Details: Next, for the shirt, I'll use a paint residue that's already on my brush, along with some white to create a soft gray color. Using this mixture, I'll cover the entire shirt. I'll lighten it a little more with white and then continue filling the remaining areas. Once that layer is complete, I'll take the dark color from the palette and lightly mark the collar and the side folds. You don't have to get into the details at this stage. You don't have to get into further details now. Let this paint dry first. Meanwhile, let's work on the hair. So using a round brush, I'll add some red and a little yellow to our dark mixture. So this creates a lighter warmer brown. So I want the color to be further lighter than the color that we had already used for the hair. O. So using a thin round brush, I'll paint a few loose strands of hair. I'm not detailing every strand, as you can see. These are just the ones that are flying around. And I'll also mark a few starting from the roots that you can see in the front. Make sure you take your time and also keep these strokes very thin. So based on the reference as well as our sketch, I'll go around and mark all these loose hair. After that, if you look at the reference, you can see there are moles on the face. So in order to enhance the realism in the portrait, I'll just add a few here based on the reference. For the earring, I'll add a little bit of blue to the gray mixture and roughly paint the hoop. Then I'll mix in some white and add a few highlights on the earring to give it some dimension. Finally, I'll add some blue to this dark mixture and add some checks on the shirt. 66. Day 10 : Final Highlights: The now for the final step, let's start adding the highlights using pure white. So I'll begin with the nose. Don't use too much paint. A tiny dot or a thin line like this would actually work. So observe the reference carefully. You'll notice that the highlights are mainly on the tip of the nose, the lips, eyes, forehead, and also the earrings. So here, I'll be focusing only on those areas without overdoing them. You can use your reference as your guide and place the highlights wherever they appear. And with that, I'm very happy to say that we have completed our final project. 67. Thank you: And with that, we have reached the end of our ten day portrait challenge. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. I really hope you enjoyed painting these portraits with me and learned something new along the way. So take your own time to complete the challenge, and once you're done, don't forget to upload your work in the projects and resources section below. I would love to see your progress. If you're sharing your portraits on Instagram, feel free to tag me, as well. I would be so happy to see your work and share it. As I mentioned earlier, this is just the beginning, as we'll be exploring many more portraits and techniques in the upcoming classes. Once again, I want to thank you all for being here. Keep practicing. Enjoy the process, and I'll see you in the next class.