STEP by STEP – day 5

Started day 5 off with that right hand (at left). Probably should have done it with the rest of the flesh but my painting time has been erratic these days. This hand was actually really hard to get right, due to the weird angle of the fingers. this is one of those things that doesn't look weird in a photograph but when painted, no matter how realistically, always looks a little wonky. once the skull (it's a skull) is laid down, I'll try and tweak things a bit to get those fingers and fingernails pointed in the right direction.now that my figure is down loosely, I'll add the background before I try and re-work anything. I've always had better results adding the hair after the background is down, so I'm doing the same here.

below is a quick (and blurry) example of how i'll initially soften the edges between my figure and the background. because the figure is completely dry at this point, I'll get the edges close together, and then go in with a dry flat brush and blur them. I'm planning on reworking much of this side of the face with glazes, so I'm not too concerned with getting the edges perfect yet.