Below you see the process of how I painted my brother, but before that I attach a few other examples of gouache work in progress and a finished piece. I LOVE gouaaaacheeee <3

Above is my cool Caran'dache gouache palette that I got for my birthday, I really like it.

 

To start with, I chose my reference photo. I think painting from this chest-up view is a nice angle and easy and pleasant enough for the eye perspective.

 

the photo above was perfect for me - easy to trace, black and white, so I could see all the values nice and crisp. The colors part wass left to my imagination.

I wanted to share some work in progress pictures, for example here below, after sketching, I like to start with blocking in the shadows first. And by the way, this stage is what I call "the ugly phase" he he - but it's important to keep going and not get discouraged!

 

And then I went on to paint the skin, which was the continuation of the "ugly phase" :D

 

Ok, then adding some more final details with gouache allowed me to slowly but surely get out of the ugly phase ^^ Starts to look better, keep going Wera!

 

But I believe the real MAGIC comes when you get onto gouache the colored pencils... I LOVE the texture they give, the fact that you can make the portrait pop, the added color, mmmmmm, love it.

 

And last but not least, adding the background, something playful, so I thought of the kites! Not I kinda regret that I didn't do some Nintendo-themed background ^^ Maybe next time!