I finally finished this guy successfully. Painting Tom Holland was something I didn ‘t think would be too hard. I mean, he’s caucasian and I have done that before. Plus his face seemed to be easy enough. So I had set up myself for an “easy Sunday painting afternoon.” WRONG.

I had a really hard time with my first attempt. I did it in Khadi Handmade paper, which I really don’t get along with. That was my first mistake. I thought that since I had some, I should use it. But I had a hard time getting all my tones together and I also had some sizing issues with that paper. So It was not a pleasant painting experience at all. I learned to choose my materials wisely. I have to be aware and test first before jumping with both feet in and painting away, to avoid frustrations and heartaches in the future.

Second mistake, I chose a difficult reference. I chose a picture of Tom Holland with different lighting. and I thought I could recreate it. But it was a total nightmare. I couldn’t get him to look right. I was confused by a lot of the elements in my reference and I didn’t know how to fix them. I learned that I really need to be careful in choosing my reference pictures and not choose them just because they look cool. I need to see if they are good references for me. I am still learning.

Finally, I learned to start over and do it again. I learned not to give up and persevere. This time I chose Bockingford Hot Press and I slowed down my process. I also chose an easier reference and this time, i thought about it more. I kind of succeeded, right? I was really happy with this one and I reallly like how it turned out that I released the timelapse video. Check it out below.