Soldier Portrait WIP 2

UPDATE: Here is an updated pic of this young man's portrait. His skin looks a little rough but it will be smooth out as I go along. Nothing is finished in this portrait at all yet! I'm still getting the basic layers down and starting the blending process. Also, this pic is a bit darker than it is in real life. I just noticed that. Sorry.

Now, the decision I have to make is whether or not to remain true to the photo and make his forehead as light in color as it is in the photo. In reality, this young man's forehead is very light colored because it has not been exposed to the desert sun as the rest of his face has been. I would rather make it all evened out and not such a drastic change in color. However, his natural skin tone is, in actuality, quite light. So, I have a few things to think about and work out.

I'm using my brush method to blend the colors and smooth out the painting. This method has worked wonderfully for my paintings on Art Spectrum Colourfix paper, but thus far it's been a bit harder to get as smooth a look on Pastelbord (I'll post examples of those at a later date). I'll see if I can get a close up soon of how I use the brush to blend the colors so you can see what I am talking about. It's a great technique that I love to use, but it must be used carefully so you don't fill up the tooth of the paper.