👑 HRH Charles, Prince of Wales

028 HRH Charles, Prince of Wales

Artists notes:  Really very pleased with the outcome of this one.  He was hard work but I think I have got him as good as I am going to get him!

Here's how I did it

So going back to my Heirs to the British Throne Collection and my challenge of painting a public Figure, as I think I'll always need to practice drawing and painting Human Beings.

The beginnings of Charles, The Prince of Wales and first in line to the British Throne.  It is using my usual technique of printing out the photo and then using it as a cutout template.  This photo shows that I have finished the background and I am now ready to work on the template.  Here is the Original Photo.

Stock Photo

Looking good so far.  The darker reds in the face may seem a little exaggerated but that tells me when I am looking at it extremely closely where darker areas need to go.

These are the colours used for facial skin colour.  

From Left: Winsor & Newton Galleria 'Raw Sienna' 552, Daler Rowney Graduate Acrylic 'Titanium White' 011, Daler Rowney Graduate Acrylic 'Naples Yellow' 634, Winsor & Newton Galleria 'Mars Black', Pebeo 59ml 'Soft Skin' & 'Pink'

I spent the afternoon working on Prince Charles again and it is so close to completion now.    Though in every project there is always a problem area and with this one, it is his mouth.  I keep getting it wrong.  I honestly thought I had finished it today but I knew it needed better inspection this evening.

There is certainly improvement in the rest of the painting it literally is just the expression made by the mouth.  On looking closely at this photo I think I need to start the alterations in his cheek on the left hand side.  I have the smile line going up in a diagonal direction but I think it needs to have a little corner in it.  Do that first and see how it changes the expression if at all.  I think they are really small changes that are needed, but they're the ones that make the biggest impact!

👑 HM Queen Elizabeth II

 020 HM Queen Elizabeth II

Artist's Notes:  I can still see areas around the chin area that don't look correct to me but I have chosen to leave as it is.  I could quite easily 'do too much' now and ruin the good work I have done.

Here's how I did it

Her Majesty had started out as a New Challenge for me.  Painting a Famous Public Figure.  You can't get much more famous than Queen Elizabeth II.

I am going to attempt to paint Her Majesty the Queen.  Rather than draw freehand, I am going to try something different.  It is a completely new idea I had and I want to see how it turns out.

First of all I printed out the picture I want to paint on a sheet of A4 paper.

I then prepared my 8"x 8" Canvas panel by taping it (using Masking Tape) to a larger board so I can handle it easier without messing up the 8"x 8" canvas with fingerprints and smudges.  After this I painted a background.  

In the original photo, her Majesty has greenery behind her so I used lots of Sap Green and daubs of Naples Yellow here and there, stabbing at the canvas rather than stroking it.

The next step was to cut her Majesty out of the printout.  I actually put it against a window and drew around it which was quite un-necessary and could've just as easily cut out that original, duh!

Anyway, I then drew around the figure so that I had the basic outline.  I then drew the rest in free hand.  

It is quite faint in this picture but you can see the pencil lines in this photo.  Once I had the basic shapes down on the canvas it was just a case of colouring it in.

At the end of today this is how far I have got. I have used various yellows for the Queens attire.  This is really pretty good so far.  I am really very pleased with how it is progressing.  

But for me the challenge will be the next bit.  When I study a photo of someone I see the face as irregular blocks of different colours. The colours may only differ very slightly in another shade but at 2 metres away it looks completely realistic.  

The trick is to get the right 'colour', the right 'shapes', and then getting them to 'blend'.  Not Easy!