Moving On To The Next Area:
Now then, we have a little rough but accurate area finished (for now). Take time to celebrate; It's all about the little victories. So what next, Should we try jumping down to the hand to start up another little area there? In short, no; Always work around an already established area in an expanding or roaming fashion. Some folks would choose to move to the nose next, or the forehead, or the other eye, etc. All of these are decent choices but remember that all these pieces are connected; many artists starting out think of all parts of the face as separate entities and forget the transitions between them. How I choose to work is to paint these transition areas first. For example, I have the eye finished and plan to move left toward the other eye. Before jumping right over to the other eye or even the nose, I will start on the transition area between the established eye and the nose. This small area will be my next goal. Once I'm pleased with that, then I'll move on to the nose, then on to the transition between the nose and the other eye, and then I'll get to the other eye. This example to the right is a rough idea of how I worked through painting the first pass of this face (click play again to see this breakdown). You can clearly see that I chose a path through the face always working directly next to an area previously defined, as opposed to jumping all over the place. Each step is a small goal and I worked up each goal before moving on to the next one. This is not to say that once you work up one area that you should consider it finished and beyond further refinement. As you are working you will always find new things that you missed in previous areas. Whenever you find such an occurrence- get that first, then go back to the area you were working on. Continue with this process over your whole painting.

Painting Takes Time:
Keep moving and do not rush yourself. If you ever find yourself getting impatient, stop working, and come back to it later. There is no time limit for any of this, and the painting isn't going anywhere. If you are rushing through any step, it will be apparent once the painting is finished. Rushing through a painting leads to- "good enough", thinking. Working in this manner will never make you into a good painter; and will frustrate you to no end in subsequent layers. I never finish the first pass (or any of the passes for that matter) in just one sitting. I find that time away from a painting is sometimes just as important as the time you spend on the painting. This is a strange sentiment, I know, but there have been times when I'm pulling my hair out over a certain part of a painting. After taking some time away and I start back into the very same area, everything falls into place and I wonder what all the fuss was about.

There is one last piece of advice that I'd like to impart to you about the first pass before we move on. Yes, you are painting in rough shapes, but do so with careful observation. The more accurate your shapes and values are in this pass, the easier time you will have through the rest of the process. Once your under painting is finished, allow it to fully dry before moving on to the second pass.

Now, lets move on to the second pass.