Alfred Worden

Second one today and number ten in the collection is Alfred Worden, CMP of Apollo 15. David Scott was commander of this mission and James Irwin the LMP. Alfred’s second colour is blue pearl, a very light blue. I thought blue pearl might be one of the better supporting colours but it feels slightly lighter than the ideal value.

Maybe it’s time I detailed the exact process I followed for these portraits because I’ve changed my approach slightly for these:

• I used the Notanizer app to create three value plans (that’s plans with three values, not value plan x 3)
• I gridded up the paper into a 5×7 lattice
• I marked down all the dark areas. In some places I used a ruler to pin down particular points exactly, then interpolated between them. I also marked down some other edges where this would help me with the dark edges. For example, in every portrait I marked in the rim of the space suit whether or not it was all dark.
• I rubbed out all the grid lines that were within dark areas and rolled the putty eraser over the rest of the painting so that any remaining edges were as light as I could get away with
• I coloured in all the dark shapes with the back marker. But rather than being a slave to the outlines on the paper, I kept looking at the ungridded value plan on my iPad, trying to get all the little nuances around the edges of those dark shapes down accurately.
• Then I rubbed out all remaining pencil lines.
• And finally, I added the second colour over all the darks and midtones. I generally didn’t outline the midtones, working instead direct from the value plan and using the darks already on the paper as a guide

It’s another good portrait, this one. It fits perfectly with the rest of the collection.