Adding Highlights

I have really made a lot of progress in terms of the hair since my last post, as the highlights and different colours within my hair are really starting to work well together and I am blending them in to look natural.

There is still a lot of blending to do, however I am adding in the main blocks of highlights and colours.

I think the top of the hair here looks extremely realistic and natural and I am very pleased with how it has turned out.

This side is still very rough and as you can see, I have blocked in the main colour of brown in the background and then I have started to add in the main highlights over the top, using the same technique with a thin paint brush and then a dry paintbrush to blend.

This is slightly more blended, however this is still a lot of work to do to ensure that it looks more realistic and natural, however I have progressed further with the neck as I have added in the colour and the shading around the shirt collar. 

At first, I made the mistake of making the hair far too wide on the left side, as it carried on to the edge of the page and it doesn't do that in the picture that I am painting from. After I realised that this wasn't working, I blocked in the colours of my cardigan which I have on in the picture, using white and black to create the grey colour and from them, I added in the fine detail including the folds in the cardigan material. 

I have also painted in the shirt which has made a big difference and it is starting to look more like a final piece and it isn't long off being finished. I just need to make more intricate and fine detail within the hair to make it look more realistic and I will be well on my way to adding it to the fireplace.