rippermonty

Thank you! If the laptop screen has pressure sensitivity, and came with a stylus, you are golden. I use krita on desktop, with a graphic tablet. It's a Huion, i don't know the dollar price but it was cheap and it's quite decent. You may have a lot of software choices like Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint etc but I'm on Linux so Krita is the best option for me.

As for the painting process, I just rely on observation and constant failing. If you put enough wrong brushstrokes, happy accidents begin to happen eventually. Learning a little bit about values, blocking and colour theories is a good starting point.

Is that Vermeer reference? i hope I'm not embarrassing myself by thinking that. Ha h

I do like to use textured brushes but here, it's sorta deliberate. I wanted to do this type of chaotic and broken gradient of values.

Thanks!

thank you!

So it's not hot anymore

ha nice! Familiarity brings out warmth, I think.

I strayed away from the reference image a little bit, I wanted a bit of typical Eastern look.

I saw your posts, especially Sam L.J portraits, made me envious actually, cool work.

yeah, in a sea of AI garbage, I like to see people do something just for the pleasure of doing it. that's why I participate.

that's a high praise, lol. I'm getting there though

thank you!