How I remember you - final work part 2

Continuing from previous post, the one on the left below is from the previous post.

I was making minor adjustments. I wanted to follow the photo but it made him looked sad (middle painting). Lighten the shadow on his head and leaving out the details and dark shades.

I used a different paper, they are both the same weight 280-300, I can't quite remember. But the previous one above is made in Taiwan and a lower grade paper for practicing. I bought it in bulk, so it was fairly cheap. 

The one below is Japanese paper, unfortunately they don't really specify what type or the differences. I only know the difference of origin. Not unless you bought it from a specialist store, they may know more. 

The paint I used was exactly the same, the mixture of color would be fairly similar. The colors on the Japanese paper are far more vibrant and transparent, and the different layers of color are much more obvious.

How I remember you - final work part 1

This is the draft from last post, the eyes are a little bit far apart or so I thought and the shadow on his face is not illustrated. It does capture his playfulness, the younger version of him.

Hence I painted the second one, with the eyes closer together. 

Turns out it wasn't the distant of his eyes, it was the size of the nose. The shadow on his face is illustrated but it is not quite right. 

The gaze looks like him, soft and happy, looking far away but very much aware of your present. 

He was always a little bit camera shy. In the past, when he spotted the camera, he would look away or walk away to avoid it. On odd occasions you get to catch him looking at the camera. 

I really like this one, the earlier versions I kept painting the younger him. The fur on his face has faded in the last few years, this reflect the period when the photo wa taken. Gentle and content. 

Here is the 3 versions next to each other, from left to right. You can see here that it the size of the nose and the improvement of the shadow on his face. Improvement