STYLE MIXING: MAREK OKON PROGRESS 21/03/2013

         Unfortunately, other course commitments have pushed back further development of my Marek Okan work. It seems like forever since I last held a digital pen and it was showing through initially. Not only that, but the drivers for my Wacom tablet are having a fit, so the pressure sensitive features and calibration are off. I've tried downloading the recent driver(s) but it just isn't having it: maybe it's the tablet itself. I hope not.

   Anyhow, today I started the daunting task of adding in the eyes, ears and hair. The eyes are complete (aside from some more refining), the hair is slowly coming along and the ears are being stubborn, and now I don't have a Marek Okon tutorial at hand, it's proving quiet a challenge getting this done.

MAREK OKON STYLE - PROGRESS GIF
by Christian Whelan

MAREK OKON STYLE - IN PROGRESS
by Christian Whelan

     At first, I started by adding in the basic lighting for where the eyes would sit, then I added in the highlights to get the shape of the eyes and flesh around them (over a basic eye colors). From this point, I could refine the eye, adding in the color and shine until eventually, adding in the darker shadows so they didn't seem to 'flat'.

     The ear however, is much, much, much harder - harder than I expected actually. The shape of an ear is incredibly complex, especially when you consider the lighting and lighting source(s). It's an absolute nightmare and clearly still in progress - it's extremely rough at the moment.

The hair is turning out a lot better than I expected. I've never really tried hair because of it's specific complexity and awkward co-operation with the light. The hard part now, is refraining from making it too complex and adding in the highlights without them becoming foreign to the whole piece.
    When I had the tutorial, my initial progress took me half an hour, this however, has taken me 2 hours. It's not easy trying to paint a realistic portrait of a human using only your imagination. The only thing guiding me in this work now is family feedback and trial and error, I guess that the beauty of digital painting.

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