Haruka Ayase

This is my first portrait done entirely on Photoshop CS5, and I guess it's also my first shot at complete realism. I've spent a few hours working on her during the last week of the holidays and in total, around 15-18 hours. The reference is here [link] and I hope everyone thinks I've done a good job.

I did originally paint in the background of leaves, but I decided not to use them in the final work because a white background stands out more. So it may be hard to tell that the white streak on her face is streak of light.

This piece was honestly a real killer to do... I tried griding the reference so I could draw the outlines more accurately but I still had to do a fair bit of tracing to sharpen things up. The colouring in was largely just *sample from reference* but I did some alterations here and there. The hair... was the most frustrating thing to do as you can see in the reference, there's just so much of it and it's all tangled up. Other than that I spent the most time on the eyes; it wasn't easy to get them right, because just the smallest changes could affect the expression on her face.

And, I didn't draw in that dot on her neck because I thought it was just something random, but I checked a few more photos of her, and it appears to be a birthmark. XD

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All your feedback is very important to me, and I make sure to read every single one of them, even if I don't reply. Thanks!