Newborn Portrait - Midtone Stage

I took this photo late, this afternoon, so the colours are, again, a bit faded and the picture is slightly blurred. Seeing the portrait come together, like this, gives me a better idea of the adjustments that I will have to make. I can see that a lot more contrast is needed. I will need to apply more darks to the shadows of the baby's face to improve depth and create interest - at the moment, it is looking quite bland.

The adult face is at a particularly ugly stage, right now. I have applied washes of cream, pale peach, jasmine and pale pink (a Coloursoft pencil, as there is no suitably pale pink in the Prismacolor range that I have).

On top of the washes, I have begun the modelling of the face, using a number of different colours, including yellow ochre, rosy beige, pink rose, salmon pink, peach, rose beige, blush pink, mineral orange, pink, brown ochre and pumpkin orange. As always, I use a very light touch and move from light to dark through the tonal range. Next, I will continue to apply the darker browns, reds, and, even blue/purple shades, blending them together with further washes of peach and pink colours.

As I have been experimenting, I have discovered that my problems with the Coloursoft pencils were more a consequence of there being a too limited range of colours available, rather than there being a quality issue. Because of insufficient midtone colours, I had to move up to the darker colours too soon and this affected the smooth, flawless skin texture that I was aiming for. Now, I have a good range of Prismacolours, with some of the paler pinks and peaches of the Coloursoft range making up the perfect combination for my style.