Commissioned Portrait Step 1

Commissioning a portrait is great fun. This is a portrait of a young lady that I also completed a portrait of her when she was a baby. First determine the full design of the portaint. I initially thought of a large pair of butterfly wings. I thought this distracted from the face, so I tried several smaller butterflies. This is better. 

After that, I did a few sketches of how I wanted the butterflies to look. I wanted a botanical back ground as well. 

Here is a drawing of the entire composition full size. 

Here is my desk with the reference photographs, sketches, and color pencils. 

Next I did a sketch of the face to make sure I liked the coloring of the skin correct. 

Below is the final portrait with one layer of color on the face and hair. 

Here is a second layer. 

Here is a third layer on the figure. Then I started the shirt and background. The 1st layer of the background of watercolor paint. 

More to come!