Jeff Buckley - Step by Step

Step 1 - Basic colour applied in blocks with no blending. Lots of white space is showing through the gaps, which is something I try to avoid now. I originally painted in his curl of hair over the forehead, but then I painted it out, as I realised I would have to work on the flesh tone first, then paint the hair over it later. The general layout is looking good at this stage. The microphone is painted in reasonable detail, and remains like this pretty much throughout the whole painting process.

Step 2 - Some initial blending brings out the curvature of the face. The collar (which is a kind of shiny, furry golden fur type thing) is approximated in orange-browns and black, and will be worked on later. The flesh tone on the forehead is ok, so the shadow of the hair is applied.

Step 3 - More blending, more colour in the face, shadows on the neck and head. The hair shadow is deepened and most of the hair is finished, just leaving the piece over the forehead. The hand is worked on, beginning to look more lifelike.

Step 4 - The whole thing is starting to come together now. The hair over the forehead is painted on, paying attention to the highlighting, which gives the curled effect and looks good against the shadow on the face. The highlights at the back of the hair are defined with a fine brush. White is added to the collar, ready to be blended with the other colours to create a shiny fur effect.

Step 5 - In the final stage, the lights are added to the background, making the highlights on the hair stand out. More highlight is added to the entire face, and the zipper detail is applied to the cord around the neck. Finally, the collar is finished off, by blending the white, black and gold colours, giving a shiny effect thanks to the background lighting.