Are you using reference for this Charlotte?
Yes and no...
I never have any "exact" references to follow but usually use several for different things. For instance I have one for the neck area and the way she holds her head, but none for the lighting (which is a drawback because my made-up lighting isn't as realistic as it could be). I have refs for the hands but it's not helping me at all, for some reason
For the cloth I've used fabric references and a ref for the folds in the skirt, but again not a "complete" ref and nothing with the right colour or light. I am quite pleased with how all the different fabrics came out and was considering the dress almost finished (considering adding more patterns) so if there's a particular reason I should bring out the tutorials, I'd like to know what is looking off. I'm not really seeing anything particularly bad myself...
For the jewellery I tried using refs but didn't find it helpful so in the end I went with the opaque ink and mess as described earlier.
I don't want to get too tied up with the refs so I always start a sketch (and preferably colour sketch) without them and then try to find refs that show particular bits and pieces that I feel I need help with. I also usually try to maintain some of the bits and pieces of a sketch even if they turn out to not be entirely realistic once I look at references, because I feel otherwise I might lose what made me like the sketch in the first place. So for instance while I've shortened her neck twice, I don't intend to make it "normal length" because the long neck is part of what I liked from the beginning. (I'm not sure if this was part of what disappeared when one of my posts were accidentally overwritten earlier but I did check if there are women with necks as long as this and yes, there are. Also checked the proportion of the head and while there are women with larger heads there are also women with pretty much exactly this proportion - though maybe with somewhat skinnier torsos... think fashion models, mostly.)
And to answer Dave's question, No I'm not painting Lena Headey as Cersei. (I would hope that if I tried that, it would be obvious...
)
So... uhm, can anyone tell I
should be working...?