After looking at my previous portrait again, I made some observations on areas that I felt could be improved.

• The values felt too grouped together, and it is hard to distinguish between materials
• The direct light appears too faded, and blends with the ambient light
• Hair could be rendered better (I struggle with this sometimes haha)

I find it interesting that sometimes returning with fresh eyes, helps spot mistakes that I was blind to before. I tried to do some corrections, and here is the progress so far. I am happy with the lighting, and think it works better now

Spent a few more hours adding some details

Update:
This will probably be final iteration, I need to move on to a new project. I have a bad habit of getting stuck working on the same painting for too long. I tried to add color during the repaint, but it was an absolute disaster haha.

It was fun to work on, and I am proud how it turned out

Thought I was done with this one, but I can't bring myself to move on yet

I decided to attempt adding color again, this time it worked out better - but it is difficult when the painting is far along. I usually paint directly with color, so I have not really found a good technique for coloring grayscale. Perhaps it is better to transition to color earlier in the painting process

@patrycja.lerch Thank you

I created another variant, which might capture the witch look I was going for better

@catsforsnacks Thanks. I am happy you think that

Having trouble overcoming the blank paper. I sometimes find it difficult to find inspiration after completing a project. I can be brimming with ideas and ambition before going to bed, but as soon as I wake up - it has faded away.

I started working on finishing a previous painting instead

Might do some late night drawing sessions again. For some reason I seem to get more creative when I am tired

I have not been drawing a lot lately, due to feeling drained. I want to work on getting my spark back. Armed with coffee and my tablet, I did some drawing during the night, which seems to work well for me. I think my brain stops caring less about the intimidating blank paper, and for a moment, can let go of perfectionism and not feeling good enough.

I rarely draw men, so this was a bit different for me. I tried to make him look like an angler. Perhaps the hat registers more like a fedora than an angler hat - I cannot unsee it now

Ahoy! Any fresh catch this morning?

I tried to use the inner glow effect on the lighting layer. I had recently watched one of Marks videos on lighting, and learned this approach. This was much faster, than what I usually do, which is locking the layer values and then manually adding warmth with a soft brush.

For anyone wondering how to use inner glow in Krita:

1. Create new layer
2. Set blending mode to overlay or hard light
3. Right click on the layer and select layer style
4. Enable inner glow and set its blending mode to hard light
5. Select color of inner glow - (red colors seems to work well)
6. Adjust size if necessary

I managed to do some quick gestures aswell, and might post once they are a bit more refined

I cooled the shadows slightly, and made the light appear more glowing

Final adjustments. I darkened the shadow areas with a multiply layer, and added a burn filter to make colors more vibrant.

I might call it finished now, as I want to retain the speed paint look

Sketches

I went forward with one of these, and ended up with this. I need to establish a more clear vision before moving any further. I often get caught up in drawing details, before identifying what I am even trying to portray