Thursday, July 5, 2012

Flawless - sold

'Flawless' sold
6" x 6.5" colored pencil on Bristol

The other day I really wanted to draw a portrait where the features were the focus and the skin tones were very light. This is what I came up with. I like how it draws your attention to her eyes, which are always my favorite part to draw or paint.

I usually start with the eyes when I draw in colored pencil, but then I get bored with the rest of the drawing and quit after a while, so this time I was a good girl and drew her hair and the base of her skin tones before I drew her eyes. :)

This drawing is also my loose interpretation of another character from Cassandra Clare's book series The Mortal Instruments. This is close to how I imagine Clary Fray. 

And I've been experimenting with taking different photos of my artwork for my Etsy shop listings. Etsy gives you five different spaces (I think) for different photos of whatever you're listing so the viewer can see it from different angles. Here are a couple me and my son did today:



What do you think? You guys have any other ideas for photos I could take? I'd love some suggestions.

Reference photo by Katlinn Lewis, thank you!


26 comments:

  1. So beautiful Crystal! I must say your heartfelt portraits have tempted me to try some human sketches/paintings, I far from have them mastered, but have ventured a tad down that path! Love the photos as well, they really show off your painting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Chrystal:) According to me you have outdone yourself. What a wonderful portrait. The skin looks like velvet. And those eyes are gorgeous. Also the color of the hair fits perfectly with there. Really very nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Incredibly beautiful! Awesome eyes and love the striking contrast of skintone and hair.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh Crystal, that is just beautiful. Beautiful young woman, and so achingly beautifully rendered.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Whaaat?!?! when I saw that hair in the thumb I thought it was watercolour, I'm positive it must be almost ilegal that you can do that in colored pencils, baaaaad Crystal :P

    It's pretty cool how those eyes stand out with such fair skin, lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  6. me encanta la utilización del color y la expresividad de tus retratos.
    saludos
    aurora

    ReplyDelete
  7. It is lovely and the light pink skin make her glow. Red hair often mean light skin, so it all fit so perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The thing about redheads is the flawless skin (unless they get in the sun and freckle up). Their eyes tend to be green ...and the best of them tend to marry handsome men called John who draw mostly with pen and ink.

    Great picture ...but I'm the world's worse photographer

    ReplyDelete
  9. She is amazing Crystal......I too thought it was watercolor. Do you have a small, clean easel you could stand your painting on to photograph it. You could also show it with two different color mats which would change it's appeal. Just a few suggestions which you've probably already thought of. :)
    Enjoy your evening!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm too busy scraping myself of the floor to be able to give suggestions... I am flabbergasted by this drawing! And I genuinely didn't think you could surprise me more than you already have! You write as though you are oblivious to just how exceptional this is!! Wow!!! :0))

    ReplyDelete
  11. You never stop amazing me, she's wonderful. I really love the angled photo of her, for some reason it captures the subtle shading you've done. The 3 shots you've taken are great, I suppose you could stage it, slide it in a frame show it on a table or something to help customers visualize.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Crystal this is so beautiful. Love that red hair! I really like the angled photo.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I LOVE the drawing! Amazing! Really. And the photos are superb. But seriously . . . that drawing. It's incredible. I don't know how you do it. Oh and thank you for that link. I don't think I thanked you yet. Yeesh! My manners rot! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. The bar's so high I can't even see it anymore. Stop that! : ) Wow. Beautiful perfection my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  15. It really is flawless. Crystal! Gorgeous!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow Crystal! I love her! You are amazing! So beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Is gorgeous!!! i love it! the ligth is magic.. very very beautiful. You did a great job!
    happy weekend.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. WOW!!!!!!!! stunning crystal, ethereal and light!

    ReplyDelete
  19. It's absolutely wonderful and perfect, those colours with color pencil!Bravo

    ReplyDelete
  20. Beautiful!!! It's hard to believe this was done with pencil. I am seriously jealous.

    ReplyDelete
  21. "Flawless" is the correct title for this painting, Crystal..this portrait is beautifully painted..LOVE IT.!!!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I think you should definitely do fairy tale folk! You could start with the fascinating faces of the actors in Once Upon a Time -or...make up your own. I'll be waiting.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Oncore! do more like this. It just fits your style perfectly and no one else could have done it better. I think you did nicely with the photographs showing size and color contrast with the real world in the one with you holding it. That gives us an idea of what the colors are really like as opposed to photoshopped images. I do like the idea of showing versatility with different colored mattes or frames. I'll ditto that suggestion

    ReplyDelete
  24. Your talent never ceases to amaze me Crystal. I love this one.....

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is fantastic!!! Amazingly beautiful! And being a fellow super pale person I appreciate this:) Her eyes are amazing and that little bit of hair is so dramatic!!! Love the different angles, may have to incorporate that into my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great piece with your trade mark eyes ;) I like your latest sketch too!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment they really do mean so much to me! Because not all bloggers have their email enabled so I can reply directly through email I will try to reply here in the comments. If I don't please forgive me, life must have been hectic that day! :)) Huzzah!!

Related Posts with Thumbnails