First real full face experience

I havent done many full faces in the past, except private sessions, and I wanted to see how it would go before this weekend ( I have a gig, yay!). I volunteered for childrens church tonight and managed to do 8 full faces (including two knights that I had to mix my own grey for lol). And four or five small things on the older kids and teenagers in the hour I had. I made quite a few mistakes and I had a hard time with crossing over to the rights side of the kids' faces for linework, but they all seemed happy with the end result.

Does anyone have any advice on how to make my lines more even on both sides of the kids faces. I've tried anchoring my pinky, bit it makes my hand cramp up. I usually rest my dominant hand (right) on the palm of my non-dominant and that elbow on my knee but that doesn't work for crossing over, cause I have to move my elbow off my knee. (I hope that makes sense!)

One of the tips that helped me a lt was to start on your "worst" side. Easier to get better symmetry that way.

martha wrote:One of the tips that helped me a lt was to start on your "worst" side. Easier to get better symmetry that way.

I agree with this! Then you just have to copy any mistakes when it's time to paint your good side.

Good luck with the gig!

Try to mentally remind yourself to use a lighter hand when painting on the right side of the face (if you are a right-hander).

and as Pashur will repeatedly say, "NO!" ... do you want to paint crappy on your worst side then copy crap to the other side? Paint well and try to copy what you did well... the best suggestion that I found was to paint one stroke on the good side, then the same stroke on the other side, then back to your good side... work back and forth between them.

Perry Noia wrote:and as Pashur will repeatedly say, "NO!" ... do you want to paint crappy on your worst side then copy crap to the other side? Paint well and try to copy what you did well... the best suggestion that I found was to paint one stroke on the good side, then the same stroke on the other side, then back to your good side... work back and forth between them.

This is actually what I've been doing. So why do I keep hearing the "paint on your bad side first" thing? I presumed that it would keep more symmetry, perhaps at the expense of a small difference in quality. Your words make sense though. As freakin' always.

Of course, when I'm painting on ME, there's "good side" and "non-existent sight so doing it by touch or guesswork alone" side... Which makes things fun.

Thanks Perry. On a spiderman today I alternated sides cause my hand was starting to shake and that worked for me.

I try to start with the "weaker" side ... my weak side is NOT "bad" BTW and it is then easier to match it when painting on the stronger side. And I also bounce back and forth to make sure to be as symetrical as possible if that is a requirement of what I am painting.

Shannon, you put it so much better than I did. Yes, "weaker" is a better word.

Perry Noia wrote:and as Pashur will repeatedly say, "NO!" ... do you want to paint crappy on your worst side then copy crap to the other side? Paint well and try to copy what you did well... the best suggestion that I found was to paint one stroke on the good side, then the same stroke on the other side, then back to your good side... work back and forth between them.

I agree whole heartedly...don't emulate what you perceive to be crappy painting...force yourself to duplicate excellence.