Paint Like Swanland

I have always found I learn the most about a specific style by recreating a piece. I spent today working through a painting process I found on Raymond Swanland's web site. I really like his lighting and coloring and learned quite a bit from working his process. I started from his original sketch and referenced the steps along the way. Click the link to check the steps in his process.

My copy

Original

3/4 Head Definitions

Profile and front views of the head are relatively straight forward for me but my 3/4 heads can sometime present more of a problem. I wanted to do some 3/4 proportion plan drawings to have a specific plan to use as a basis for the turning head to keep all of my features in correct placement and proportion to each other.

Oil Techniques

Looking at some of my old oil painting books and trying to recreate some of the exercises digitally. Thanks to Athony Ermio for the brush posted on his blog. I used that as a starting point for my rough brush.