Lessons from week one of the workshop – use a big brush, color is hard, ears are evil.
The main lesson from the week was to let go of self imposed constraints and transform my workflow into something more fluid.
No more first sketch of the figure – instead paint with the right value directly and refine the model as you go.
I still rely too much on switching between painting and blending, which makes everything look to washed out and killed many areas that should have received more value. Instead, I should use one brush only and play with size and opacity.
The interesting part is to watch how much progress can be made simply by looking at other people’s intermediate paintings and practicing again and again.
Don suggests to spend time to make a dozen drafts of a portrait, one hour each, before jumping in to the final version. It will be difficult to find that kind of free time but I can tell already that taking the time to do a few versions helps tremendously.