Classic Portrait WIP

I asked my friend Kaitlyn to sit for me for me for a portrait. Of course I mean to get reference photographs - I wouldn't feel right to ask a friend to sit still for 12+ hours for me. She agreed, but was wary opf the process. She said she always takes terrible photos, so we compromised on a shot where her face would be in shadow and her cute looped over pony tail would be caught in the light.

It is so much fun to work on having the entire face in shadow like that. I try to work like the painters who have many thin layers in their darks and thick lights with less layers. I think having the darks more complex in color is really beautiful.