Face emblem process (updated)

Oil on A3 illustration board.

Process:

 

Sketch from moleskine pocket.

 Trying to decide the colors. It has been said that what sets apart a graphic designer and  a graphic producer is that creative design is about making promising alternative versions and then choosing the best idea instead of working straight on the finished piece.

After settling for a satisfactory color scheme I transfer the sketch to A3 paper by grid-to-grid method. Then I insert it to lightbox and trace it to illustration board with red pastel pen (it smudges less than black charcoal, and graphite would permeate through oil). I start colouring face first, dry brushing since turpentine and linseed oil would soak through paper. 

I decided not to use much shading as someone mentioned this would look better if left like this. This is closer to drawing than painting because I used thin brushes (as opposed to contemporary concept of painting which is often defined by expressive, large brush strokes) and I wouldn't call this an illustration either since this does not have a particular purpose other than aesthetic pleasure. Almost finished...