Egg Tempera Practice

I have recently switched back to egg tempera versus oil painting. I n both mediums I am Trying to learn the best techniques and materials for my desired results. I am finally starting to get a handle on how my brain works and realize that i am going to jump around a lot . Because of this i forget much of what I learned the last time I was using this medium and have to do the same experiments over and over. I am a little better about being prepared for the next go round such as having several gessoed panels prepared for egg tempera. That was good. But with this recent round I found i had pretty good success with a small practice painting and then I forget many of the details of how I got there such as brushes, paints etc. I have decided that i HAVE to keep a log after each painting session so I remember exactly what I did and dont have to repeat myself and waste time. In this day and age t seems thaat it is easier and more convient to do it here, so I will:

Expression

Support: 5 x7 true gesso panel
Paint: egg tempera (egg only 1:1 water)
brush: WN series 7 # 1, flat taklon

reference photo taken from deviantart. 

Image transferred to panel with graphite paper.

 Traced in india ink with brush. 

Terra verte (hue) underpainting

Trying to use verdaccio for shadow areas.

Following advice from Fred wessel, I tried to use verdaccio (black, white, yellow ochre) to create a warm green for shadow areas. Found it was best to keep white out of the mixture as much as possible because it takes away transparency. Terra verte for highlight areas worked well and mixed well with white although the consistency when mixed with egg is very gloppy and needs more water.

reference from Fred Wessel

layer of white white/TV mixture over darks

Colors for skin were:

Yellow ochre

vermillion

some burnt sienna

lines are black

 final version

After many many layers going back and forth and reworking things. Unfortunately I am writing this after the fact and I already forgot alot of details.

Overall, I am happy with the brushstrokes and the highlights and shadows. The green is a little strong and it is a little to comic booky.