As an acrylic painter, I work in many purposeful layers. Currently, all of my paintings have the exact same beginning:

I choose to paint my base layer a saturated red because I have found doing so helps breathe a little life into my skins tones as I tend to go towards a more muted palette. Once I have my base layer down, I then sketch everything in with charcoal. This makes revisions quick and easy but also allows me to get a sense of the lighting I will use. Once I am happy with the sketch I have, it will be sealed with a matte finish spray. Once everything is sealed I paint directly over the original sketch.

Then comes my long process of applying layer after layer of paint and acrylic glaze. In my undergrad I was particularly inspired by Paul Finniak, an oil painter. The subtle ways he applies his paint really stuck out to me so I began to incorporate some of that subtleness into my own work. My painting process involves almost dry brushing on thin layers of paint. A less elegant way to put it is that I scrub on the paint. I do this in order to let the colors underneath come through. In some areas of my paintings the very first layer, that saturated red can be seen. Yes, this is not something that can easily be viewed from afar, however I do not think my pieces were ever meant to be viewed from a distance.

Fun fact: I do all of my own photography for my reference photos!