Life Book week 9 - overpainting

I missed out the week 9 class which was due a few weeks ago as I was struggling with it. I'm the type of person who either 'feels' it or doesn't and for quite a while I really wasn't feeling it.
The technique for the class was to take a magazine photo of a face and to gesso over it. You then paint over the faint image to create something that has a more pop-art feel to it. I don't buy fashion magazines so that was my first problem so I had to find something online and print it on a laser printer so it could be altered. The printed image wrinkled like mad when it was adhered to the watercolour paper and so that's when I stopped again! I finally forced myself to sit and finish this in one last push and it was surprisingly easy. I struggle with drawing realistic faces so having a reference image to work off made it very much easier. I could follow the placement of features and use the shadows that were there already. It was simple to create a natural real looking face.
If you find faces hard to draw and/or paint then you might want to give this technique a go. It's very simple and a good starting point for drawing. I'm pleased now I've finished mine, now on to this week's class!