Trying out gouache · Society of Figurative Art

Trying out gouache

I've been meaning to get more familiar with gouache after a few (fairly encouraging) attempts a while back and my plan is to do more value studies before I go back to colour (because colour is scary). I did a block in a week or two ago and now finally got the time and will power to paint it. The whole thing is quite small - the actual painting area is about 10x15 cm.

I think the subject needs no introduction - the one and only Poirot played by David Suchet.

Lessons for the next time: I think I toned the paper too dark and also got a few ugly streaks as some of the crumbling dry paint got into the mix. I can see looking at the photo that some areas could be blended more as the bottom layer shows through the brush marks. It's not as apparent when looking at the actual painting though - for some reason photos paintings and drawings never look as good as in real life. I might need to focus on getting the paint consistency just right for good coverage.

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