Concentration: The Sun

Initial sketch 

On the big sheet of paper  

Coloring in the hair 

Highlights and the shirt  

Starting on the skin

After I added the sun 

With the background

For my second concentration piece, I focused on my long-time friend Aiyana, whom I've known since I was in third grade. In all that time. Aiyana has been one of the nicest people in my life, and she has always been there for me. Whenever I am feeling doubtful about myself, she is there, an unyielding pillar of hope and change that inspires me to be a better person. As the sun card, in tarot, is a symbol of optimism and the promise of a better dawn, so Aiyana is a constant reminder of all of the joy of life.
      Speaking more to the mechanics of the piece, I am not happy with how this turned out. Looking at it now, I'm going to have to add more hair to her forehead to make anything proportionate at all, and the hand itself still really angers me.  Before I put the background in, everything was looking alright, but the moment I put it in, her hand and arm seemed much too small in proportion to the rest of her face.  Hopefully I will be able to fix that.
     Also, I sort of tried to do something with the colors? Like, the top is supposed to be yellow, her shirt is supposed to be predominantly blue, and the background is green. I don't know, I thought that it would be an interesting composition? But, upon reflection, I see that it doesn't work out so well.
    I think the gradient in the sun works out very well. I wasn't going to do it, but I think that it was a good decision. Also, I had a lot of trouble with the skin, and I'm proud of how well that turned out. I used a pale peach color as the intermediate color, and then used white and pink for highlights as well as orange a light brown for the shading. I was really proud of that innovation, because the orange definitely made  her skin more vibrant.
    I don't really have anything else to add to this dissertation at the present moment.  Other than the fact that I will be changing her hairline as soon as possible.  And also possibly doing some more shading on the arms and on the hand.  Also, over the right eye.

Final picture