Selfridge's V (Henri Leclair)

Henri Leclair.

This is the fifth (of fifteen) in a series of practice pieces painted in Manga Studio 5, based on screen caps from season two of 'Mr Selfridge'.

Much like the first in the series, this one had some false starts as I was determined to try out new things. In particular, I tried using a more accurate color comp. For all of the previous paintings I had created a tiny color comp beforehand to prepare my color palette. I like to use pure, bold colors in my color comp and then save the glazing/adjusting for later in the actual painting. I decided to glaze the color comp for this particular piece however and tried to paint the colors more directly. The background went swimmingly but the face was a disaster. I ended up starting over and then scrapping my new attempt, only to return to the first one. Turns out I simply need practice at painting large portraits, especially of men. Adjusting my brushes to give a drybrush effect for texture helped out a lot, both for his face and his coat. I tend to get lost in the details of large faces, overcomplicating them. I think I should have made a bolder attempt to exaggerate his features too.

I take another stab at Henri at the end.

(Finished March 15, 2015)