No single part of a painting can be done without taking all other areas of the work into consideration. I could not continue on the face shading until I painted the background. That would determine how dark the face shading could become and what colors to use.

You might assume the artist would have decided beforehand how the shading should go. And one does…sort of. But as soon as color is applied to paper, things look different than what is imagined. And so, like GPS, one must “recalculate”.

In this photo, I only want to see a bit of the background. The shirt will become dark but not blend with the background. Once again, I cannot complete the skin shading until the shirt is done. I have covered up the face so as not to distract me. I want to use the same Payne’s gray that was used in the background picture. The camera will be done in a different and darker black so it won’t fade into the shirt.

I have circled the two shades of gray that will be used on the shirt.