Nick
 

This is as far as I got with Nick yesterday, I have never tried the pastels on such a dark paper, that was interesting. I see various problems with it now that I am looking at him on the computer. Amazing how seeing it in a different way lets you see all sorts of things you don't see right in front of you.

I feel like his light side of his face is flat looking and have tried various things to fix it and can't figure out how. Not sure if I handled that shadowed side of the face ok or not. Any advice on how to finish this? And what about that chest area..do I go further or let it just fade out?

Hi Mary,

This is coming along nicely, but I see a problem with the chin. It doesn't look centered to me. Also, the eyes appear to be in two different positions, though they still give the illusion of both looking the same direction, so maybe they're accurate.

I bought Daniel Greene's pastel video, "Jim", which arrived yesterday. I just finished watching it this morning. He has a great technique for getting an accurate drawing (calm down, Hockney. It's not what you're thinking). He starts with four hard pastels, sharpened to a point. They are earth tones, and have different values, and he starts drawing with the lightest one. As he progresses, he re-draws with the next darker, then the next, getting progressively more accurate before moving on to color.

If you don't have this video, I recommend it highly. I bought it to learn more about drawing. I'm not sure I'll get into pastels. I wanted Peggy's sauce video, but she was out of the country, and I was impatient.

Yep
 

That chin was the FIRST thing I noticed when I loaded it.. and it is the only thing so far that I think I have fixed,

There are SO many pastel videos I would like to have, just need the cash!

Mary,

I'm no good at articulating color temperatures but I do have a couple of impressions.

Maybe you just haven't gotten to it but I think I would finish out the torso. Also, I would give the chair back on our left a little more description.

This is nice!! It works, the chin notwithstanding. Sometimes you cannot correct these light-on-dark drawings, so be careful! Sometimes you need to know when to quit. This drawing has a wonderful fresh feel to it.