Arturo Elena - Female Face Break Down

I am going to continue concentrating on one of Arturo's facial illustrations to develop my skills further.  My break down process is outlined below.

First 4 steps involves marking the centre-lines on
the face, before adding the lips, nose and eyes

The next stages involve adding more detail to the eyes as well as
drawing the remaining facial features including the ear and hair

Once I had finished drawing the outlines of the face, I then used watercolour paints to add the colour to my illustration.  My finished work is shown below and I think that watercolour paints worked well although I feel that colouring pencils would have allowed me to create a smooth effect which would have been better suited to Arturo's style.

My finished illustration completed using watercolour paints

I made the decision to work on my illustration further in Photoshop so I opened it in a new document and used the blur tool to blend my original watercolour paint.  I am glad I decided to use this technique as it allowed me to create quite a sleek finish on the illustration which I feel is appropriate for Arturo's style.  My completed work is shown below, with Arturo's own illustration displayed underneath and I am happy with the result.

My completed illustration which was hand painted and then edited
on Photoshop to replicate Arturo's own work shown below

Arturo Elena's original illustration
Image available at: http://www.arturoelena.com/
[Accessed: 25 January 2012]