Hey everyone, it's time for another update!

I didn't mention it last time around, but for this first week I'll be doing studies in black and white exclusively. The week after will be color studies, and the week after that will be full studies, color and composition. So I'll be covering a couple of different things this month to keep it interesting. Anyway, on with the show!

Here's the piece I worked from today.

"A Bedouin Arab" - by John Singer Sargent

Mr. Singer Sargent's gonna be my go-to guy for this week. Though the color he uses is wonderful and expertly chosen, when I look at these pieces that's the last thing that jumps out at me. The differences in value is used so deftly that all of these paintings could be in black and white and not loose any of their impact. Alright, on to what I painted!

I'm actually surprised and impressed with how well this turned out, I'll elaborate a little more on why in a moment. Let's get down to the critique first. The folds on the fabric around the head look great, the ones below a little less so. They're not quite in the right spot, but they're close enough for me not to be too upset. The one glaring issue is that his head's sitting just a little bit lower than in the original image, so that's a bit of a problem. Other than that, this one's pretty solid. I'm slightly concerned about how much work I did though, because a composition study should just include shape and value. I feel like this might be a little too finished for what I'm aiming to do. Oh, well. It looks nice, so I'm happy about that. Now, back to why I was surprised and impressed. This is actually my second attempt at this piece, and it's way, way, way, way, better than the first. I'm gonna put that down below for your amusement (and also to shame myself into never doing this so poorly again).

Not great, not really great at all. Kinda hate it. Hate it less now, so I guess it grew on me? I don't really know, but here it is.

Who wants to see a fun little gif? You do! That's right! Here it is.

(Kinda looks like he just saw something he didn't like and his expression changed.)

Added bonus animation! Here's the one I didn't like.

(The position of the cloak isn't too bad here, I guess I'm just hatin' on the face.)

This was a pretty long post, I hope you enjoyed reading. Check back again tomorrow for another update!