"Chelsea"

Well I finally finished this little piece, just in time (literally) for the end of the Auction for James McNish's Mom.
Had a bit of fun, and a lot of frustration with this piece. Firstly, I worked on Bristol board. A medium I usually reserve for colored pencils, and markers. But I figured, Hell I've plenty of the stuff kicking around, why not use some. Secondly, I used frisket. Another tool i've strayed away from for many, many years. For many, many reasons. The first because of its flat, oh so sharp edges. Hate sharp edges, like things to look a bit blurry. Second, its sticky. So very sticky, and with bristol, tends to pull up the surface. Not fun.
Both things I should have been aware of before I started this piece. But thats all behind my dumb ass now. Here ya go.

Stared sketch, done with Col-Erase pencils, on tracing paper.

Laid it all out on bristol board, and worked my values in with pencil. Kept the pencil a bit loose, hoping for some of the texture to show thru the end result. Didn't happen this way. I painted way too heavy, and opaque.

Blowing in some color after having brushed in some color in background, hair, and skin tones (traditional brush).

Most of the Airbrush work is done at this point, leaving me to work out the details with Colored pencils, and paint brush. On a side note. I recently picked up the Drew Struzan DVD, and it probably did more harm than good to me. I've since done a couple of pieces (this being the second), where I screwed around with a bit of his technique. While its an amazing style. I just didn't put enough time in, and cheated my way thru most of it. All showing thru the final piece.

You can see a bit of pencil, and brush work here in the close up. All PrismaColor Pencils, and Golden, Badger, and Holbien Liquid (airbrush) acrylics.

Heres the final piece, she measures 8x13". Sort of a poor scan. Made the mistake of crystal clearing her before a scan. Another dumb ass mistake.
Hope the young gal who won the auction digs her in person.