The Pig as an archetype, learning as I go

Now that I am pretty comfortable with my concept, I need to execute it.

I am basically on uncharted territory.  This painting now has become an experiment, a game for me.  I'll research, apply, and make corrections as I go.  Quite stimulating I must say.

I reworked the face and tried different ways of shading

I did not gauge the position of the snout correctly in the above example.  I had put in too long and wide a shading on the left side of the snout, which seemed to end on the cheek now, instead of along the smile line.

again the same mistake as the first example; improper shading of the snout, forming a weird structure.

As I was doing my research and reading up on portrait photography, I found out there is such a thing called the Rembrandt triangle.  It is the illuminated triangle under the eye on the dark side of the subject.  This triangle is bordered by the shadow of the nose and the sunken eye socket and renders a pleasing geometric form of the face.  Such Rembrandt triangle was sorely missing from the 2 examples above.

I knew my pig had fat cheeks, but I still would like to test the theory, so came yet another attempt

 This one did look more natural and pleasing with the Rembrandt triangle in place except that I messed up on the lower lip and now the pig seemed to have forgotten to put in his lower false teeth.  His lower lip was caving in.

I must also tried to find out what is the best color for the Marshal's clothing.

                                                                        all blue

red robe with blue pants

blue robe with red pants

I also tried different hand positions.  The bottom example has a higher grasp by the left hand.
I thought it left too much exposed real estate on the belly and chest.  I'll probably go for the lower grasp.

I tried a more relaxed and spontaneous brushstroke rendition, one that was not mired in a lot of details

I also fell in love with the paper with the heavy fibers.  This is a unbleached, unsized paper that reminds me of the ass-wipers from way back.  I certainly remember it from my childhood.  It has such a un-pretentious, wholesome feel to it.  The fibers also complement well with the lines of the figure.  I know the term organic has been way overused these days, but this is a fine example of an "organic" paper.

I definitely shall gravitate towards that as my choice paper for this painting.

Oink Oink Oink