Today was about getting as near completion on the face as possible. In the past I've avoided as much as possible having an open mouthed smile in my portraits. It's a difficult thing to do well (for me anyway) and usually ends up looking like some demented bugs bunny character. But I wanted a change from the usual soulful, pouting or lovelorn looks. The model in this reference has such a happy and natural smile that it's well worth attempting. Nothing wrong with a bit of happiness for a change, anyone can do sad!
Now the face is nearly finished, I didn't want to over blend it. Some of the female portraits I see, although well executed technically, can look a bit plasticky because of over blending. So just a bit of tidying up to do.
It will be a couple of days until my next chance to work on this. I will be working on the upper area of clothing before I complete the hair. It'll be a lot easier doing it that way around. With the use of shadows I can get the hair to look like it's sitting on top of the clothing.
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