Beefcake - USDA Prime!

After seeing his great self portrait, I asked friend and photographer Ray Prevost to send me a copy for a digital study in B&W.  I used Painter X and just the 12 Custom Brushes included in my "Digital Painting for the Photographer -m2" tutorial.  I love how it turned out!

In the very first step I found myself adding a one color accent into the background. The hue I chose is close to a natural media oil color called "Naples Yellow."  The loose under-painting was achieved with the first two of my m-2 oil brushes in a wild frenzy of skin-inspired painting!

Next I began working on building the body forms.  Yikes!

While paying particular attention to how the light defined those muscles, tattoos and facial features, I worked down my sequence of specially-designed custom oil brushes. Butch!

Edges are very important in a painting so I always experiment with the process.  The goal is to "build" a painting while using different brush applications in search of an interesting edge…

I finished up by working on the details of Ray’s facial features while paying particular attention to keeping my technique “loose and painterly.”  

So there you go, Ray; let me know if you still want to hang!  A painting, I mean.

 Cheers, M