Quilled Picture Portrait of Girl - Graphic Quilling

I quilled a portrait which I called pouting penny and followed it up with quilled Christ portrait for which I used the method I use for landscapes and another Christ portrait for which I used multi strips with which I filled the whole piece.

For this quilled portrait, I tried something slightly different for the hair, as the shape I used for Pouting Penny's hair had spaces in the middle.So I  made Zig-zag circles like in the water for the quilled waterfall landscape.  ( The tutorial for the basic shape are here). I have combined dark shades to get shadows in the hair to create depth. Make sure you use dark colors to create a shadow for the hair that envelopes the face to give the impression that the hair is sitting on top of the face.

What I concentrated on here were the eyes, which I wanted to look lively and I think it turned out very well as it really looks alive.

 I folded the strips zig-zag and then looped it 3/4 of the way instead of making a circle and encircled it twice to make it like a  tear. Then I quilled a small black peg. I allowed the black coil to unwind just a tad so it is easier to shape. I needed it to look like a half circle, so I flattened the top and pasted it into the top of the green tear.

 The pic gives a clear idea of how the eyes are quilled. For the highlight I cut a small white circle (preferably  shiny white paper) and pasted it. Remember the highlight comes from a light source, so it should be placed on the same side in both eyes.  Highlights are most important  in making the eyes light up and give life to the portrait. Dead pan eyes make your piece look like an alien !! Always try quilling the eyes, instead of pasting plastic eyes, as it makes the image more lifelike.

I finished off by graphic quilling the face.

The next post will be my landscape styled portrait.