I like to do black and white portraits to warm up. There is no planning. Just some reference and a white piece of paper. It is relaxing for me and a good way to ease into a more complicated piece later. I named this one "Ella" after a book character from the current audiobook I'm listening too. I often name my portraits after songs or book characters.
I had a lot of fun with this one. I wanted to add a little narrative since I often don't with my portraits, so I needed to consider what environment she was in. The character has a lot of curves to her face and hair, so I knew I needed some strong straight lines to help compliment all those curved shapes. A forest. I added debris to her hair to let the audience ask questions about this character's story. Why is she in a forest? Who is she? Who or what is she staring at? so on and so on....
The inspirational reference I used for this portrait. I looooved her hair. I also thought it would be a good challenge working with the texture of her hair vs. the feather thing vs. the smoothness of her skin. I also loved how her face *pops!*