Painting Yennefer from The Witcher | Portrait Practice

This portrait was a fun challenge for myself. Usually I will sketch or transfer proportions with graphite or carbon, but I wanted to try and do a full portrait with only paint and brushes. It was difficult for me to get everything in the right place and I spent hours on the underpainting, but I am actually impressed with the finished painting. This was also my first time painting in a sketchbook! I've been so curious to try oil paint in a sketchbook but I always talked myself out it. One afternoon I finally decided to get out my gesso and prepare a page for practicing. It was really freeing to not have the pressure of a canvas, with the sketchbook I could experiment and not have to worry too much about the result. The funny thing is, in the beginning I actually thought that nothing would come of this and that I'd have to delete footage of a failed painting. But, I am so glad I ended up filming this one because it feels like the beginning of a huge improvement in my portrait skills. It's