One more attempt at Grey Scale...its time to move on..lol

I needed to redeem myself from my last Grey Scale demonstration post as I made a mess of it rushing along with the video..This time I did it on my own being more relaxed..I just made it up but somewhat based on the demonstration and took more time.. Still along way to go but enjoying the process of painting. .Glad I didn't settle on my last one!

Quickly followed along with the Grey Scale demonstration

I know this isn't what was intended for this assignment. My hope was to learn more about values and how to use a brush before adding color into the mix. Thank you for looking at it. I keep coming back with fresh eyes and seeing what I couldn't previously. If there is more to gold to mine here, please point it out. Thank you.

I have always had problems judging value. I finally got a good sample. This did make painting the value portrait easier. I know you kept saying that you were using "family" too much, but I am very appreciative! Thank you - it really helped a lot! :-)

Still so much to learn! Sorry I'm playing with edges @Patrick Bosworth 😬

A first try. Took one of the grid versions I had of Ethan as reference and also looked a bit at your final portrait in B/W. I think I lost a lot in details and should keep it more simple.

It's not an easy task, but I’m confident I learned something from it. I should have kept it simple but was constantly lured by getting the details in. :-(

I'm not sure about the result, I'll give it another go tomorrow

I used the example used as the assignment When creating the dark shapes, I tried to keep the yearbook principle in mind - while also keeping the families apart as much as possible, particularly in the halftone and reflected light One thing I struggled with was the underdrawing disappearing under the thick opaque paint and had to remeasure again to re-establish the forms inside the shadows

I know the angle and tilt of her chin are all wrong, but I figured that out much too late. It makes it looks like she's got no neck or super scrunched up. :). I may redo this one using skin tones. Yet another reminder of how important drawing is. Still, I know that's not what the lesson is about. I think I struggled the most with keeping the families separate, especially the half tone and the reflective light and how to work with those at the edges and in the shadowy areas, of which there are few in this brightly lit photo. Any advice you all can give will be helpful. Looking forward to digging into the next lesson. Btw, I'm really enjoying this course! Morgan, I love your casual and conversational approach to teaching. It's engaging and the slower pace works well for me.

i worked along with you as you painted. I did not have a reference photo and so I made up a head. I think your light average is a lot lighter than what I was using. I also was working way too small. I am sure I will improve as we move forward.

Grey scale demo attempt #1 I think my highlights are not popping enough, but I’m trying to avoid using pure white

Grey scale demonstration and reference

Went back and did a few grey scale paintings for practice. Used reference for the first and third. The second was made up

Hello, @Morgan Weistling ! I've just started the course and have enjoyed it a lot so far! I know this is a spot for posting the assignment, but before I actually do it, I just wanted to ask you a question: for this grey scale demo, are you using walnut oil mixed into the paint you have in your palette? I see in the video that you dip your brush in a bucket (pretty sure that's walnut oil), but I just wanted to make sure, as it seems to make a big difference in terms of how much the paint runs/flows on the canvas. Also, is this the way you would start an actual painting, thinking in terms of fat over lean, considering adding walnut oil right in the first layer would make the paint "fatter"? Or am I getting those concepts wrong? Haha Thank you so much, in advance, for your time and the effort to put together such a valuable course!