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I drew inspiration for this image from a number of sources, most importantly a painting by Modigliani. Here I describe how I painted the image in SketchBook and then made some final adjustments in iColorama.
I was inspired by this painting by Modigliani.
I also liked the pose of this photo.
And this was my inspiration for the background of my image.
I started by opening SketchBook and importing the black and white image. I like the pose but I’d like her head tilted at the angle as that of the woman in the Modigliani painting. So I used the Select tool to select an oval around her head, and then rotated and repositioned the selected area. I reduced the opacity of the layer to around 50%. I will use this layer as a guide to placement of the head and figure.
On a new layer. I drew the oval of the face and the outline of the hair. Then I turned off visibility of the photo layer. Then I drew in the features, using the Modigliani painting as a reference. I colored in the hair, eyes and lips. I like the Copic brushes for coloring in areas. There are many suitable brushes to choose from in making outlines. For the irises, after painting them with blue, I then went over them with a low opacity paint brush for highlights.
On a new layer under the layer with her hair and features, I used an airbrush to paint her face. I used a large brush size to get a smooth look.
On a layer just above the airbrush layer, I painted the whites of her eyes.
On a layer just above the whites of her eyes, I airbrushed in shadows.
I used a dark marker to emphasize the outline of her brows and nose.
Now I added a new layer above the hair layer and made some highlights in her hair near the part. I used one of the synthetic flat bristle brushes with white paint, then reduced the opacity of the layer to tone down the highlights.
Now I turned visibility back on for the photo layer (still at 50% opacity). I created a new layer under all the face layers, and used the photo layer as a guide to drawing outlines of the rest of the figure. Then I turned off visibility of the photo layer.
I airbrushed her arms in a similar manner to the face, with color, highlights and shadows on different layers. I used a Copic brush to color her ring. These layers were underneath the layer with the outlines of the figure.
On a new layer below the airbrushed arms layers, I used a Copic brush to color her clothing.
On a new layer just above the layer with the clothing color, I used the coarse watercolor brush to paint in some shadows onto the blouse.
On a new layer just above the clothing shadows layer, I used a texture brush to paint a pattern on her blouse. SketchBook does not have a lot of textures, so an alternative is to blend in your own texture by importing it to a new layer, adjusting the layer opacity, and using an eraser to leave the texture visible only where you want it.
I decided that the skirt color was too bright. So on a new layer just above the blouse pattern layer, I painted a darker green over the skirt. I chose this new green skirt color to match the color of the shadows on her blouse. Then I used a darker shade to paint in shadows on the skirt.
On a new layer underneath all these layers, I imported the flower photo and adjusted its size and position to try out different background ideas. I reduced the opacity of this photo layer to around 50%. Then on a new layer just above the flower photo layer, I drew in some outlines of flowers and grasses. Then I turned off visibility of the flower photo layer. I continued drawing outlines of flowers and grasses until I filled an area that looked about the right size.
On a new layer just above the flower outline layer, I used a Copic brush to paint the flowers. Blue is a good color for the flowers, as it echos the blue of her eyes.
On a new layer just below the flower color layer, I painted in the green for the grasses. I used a Copic brush. I chose a shade of green that is not too dissimilar to the greens that are already in the image.
On a new layer just below the flower color layer, I painted in a gold color for the flower centers. I used a Copic brush. The gold of the flower centers echoes the gold of her ring.
On a new layer below all these other layers, I painted in a green/yellow color for background of the flowers. I used a Copic brush.
On the bottom-most layer, all you can do is change the color. I used the Fill tool to fill the layer with a light yellow color. This becomes the background color for the entire image.
On a new layer above all the other layers, I used one of the synthetic paint brushes to paint a softer outline for her hair. I saved this image to my camera roll.
I opened the image in iColorama. I applied Effect/Glow at low opacity to brighten and soften the image, and Effect/Sharpen Preset 4 with a small radius to sharpen the image.
For a more pleasing composition, I used Form/Crop to crop a bit from the bottom of the image.
After a bit more work in Elasticam to stretch the face and narrow the figure, SketchBook to make some repairs to the output from Elasticam, and iColorama to add content to the right side by blending the image with a mirror of itself on that side, I produced this final image.
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