I am both proud and at the same time slightly guilty. This portrait is really an exercise in more of a copying approach. I hate to admit it but I spent a lot of time going between this and the reference I had and I think in some ways I lost sight of bringing the big shapes into play. It is inching closer to more of a photo realism finish and while I think that in itself is a display of excellent technique and focus, it's really kind of getting closer to a copying machine which I am not. I think I kind of got into the weeds with this and started focusing on smaller details probably too early in the process.
What do you think? Do you tend to approach portraits with a sharp focus on detail or are you more the big picture kind of artist? I'd like to see where everyone lands on this idea.
Thanks for looking!