DAY 1: SOULFUL EYES

Day 1: Bringing Charlie’s Eyes to Life

🎧 Listen to today’s encouragement from Erica (1:29 minutes)

🎨 LIVE CHALLENGE REMINDER
If you’re participating in the live challenge, remember to share a photo of today’s progress, questions, wins, or breakthroughs inside the Telegram group so we can celebrate and support you. Every artist is at a different stage, and your progress may encourage someone else to keep going. Plus, active participants will be entered into our live challenge giveaway. 👉 JOIN THE TELEGRAM GROUP

If you haven’t sketched Charlie onto your canvas yet, please visit the Preparing for Success page and complete those steps first.

Today we’re beginning with the eyes. The eyes are often the first thing we notice when we look at a portrait. They’re where connection begins. Don’t worry about creating perfect eyes today.

Our goal is simply to establish the first layer and begin bringing Charlie to life on the canvas. Remember: every beautiful painting starts somewhere. Today’s job is progress, not perfection.

Color Palette

For today’s lesson, we’ll keep things simple:

• Mars Black

• Raw Umber

• Titanium White

Before you begin painting: Take a moment to read through all of the steps before you start painting. Then come back to Step 1 and work through them one at a time.

Instructions

I’ve highlighted the area we’ll be focusing on today. If it’s easier to use your downloadable reference photos, please do so.

Left Eye

  1. Begin with Charlie’s left eyeball. We’ll paint the surrounding areas later.
  2. Using Mars Black, paint the outline of the eyeball.
  3. Paint the pupil using the same color.
  4. Fill the rest of the eyeball with dark brown tones, using Raw Umber and a blend of Raw Umber and Mars Black near the outline.

At this point, the entire eyeball should be covered with paint.

  1. Look for the lighter areas within the eyeball and paint them using Titanium White mixed with small amounts of Mars Black to create various shades of gray.
  2. Add the white line along the bottom of the eyeball.

Congratulations! You’ve completed the first layer of Charlie’s left eye.

Remember, acrylic painting is often built in layers. If your paint is thin, you may need additional layers later. That’s completely normal.

Right Eye

Repeat the same process for Charlie’s right eye.

Take your time and focus on progress rather than matching the reference perfectly.

Surrounding Areas

  1. Mix Mars Black with a small amount of Titanium White to create a very dark gray. Paint the darkest areas surrounding the eye.
  2. Repeat this process around the right eye.
  3. Leave the remaining surrounding areas for later lessons.

 

Review

Take a step back and look at your painting from a distance.

Ask yourself:

• Have I covered the main shapes?

• Are both eyes fully painted?

• Have I captured the darkest areas around the eyes?

If the answer is yes, you’re exactly where you need to be. If your painting feels awkward, unfinished, or even a little messy right now, that’s okay. Most paintings go through an “ugly stage” before they begin to come together. Trust the process. You’re doing great.

Look for tomorrow’s lesson, where we’ll continue bringing Charlie to life one section at a time.

I can’t wait to see your progress. If you’re participating during the live challenge, post your progress inside our telegram group.

xo,
Erica

DAY 1: SOULFUL EYES

Day 1: Bringing Charlie’s Eyes to Life

🎧 Listen to today’s encouragement from Erica (1:29 minutes)

🎨 LIVE CHALLENGE REMINDER
If you’re participating in the live challenge, remember to share a photo of today’s progress, any questions, wins, or breakthroughs inside the Telegram group. Every artist is at a different stage, and your progress may encourage someone else to keep going. Plus, active participants will be entered into our live challenge giveaway.

If you haven’t sketched Charlie onto your canvas yet, please visit the Preparing for Success page and complete those steps first.

Today we’re beginning with the eyes. The eyes are often the first thing we notice when we look at a portrait. They’re where connection begins. Don’t worry about creating perfect eyes today.

Our goal is simply to establish the first layer and begin bringing Charlie to life on the canvas. Remember: every beautiful painting starts somewhere. Today’s job is progress, not perfection.

Color Palette

For today’s lesson, we’ll keep things simple:

• Mars Black

• Raw Umber

• Titanium White

Before you begin painting: Take a moment to read through all of the steps before you start painting. Then come back to Step 1 and work through them one at a time.

Instructions

I’ve highlighted the area we’ll be focusing on today. If it’s easier to use your downloadable reference photos, please do so.

Left Eye

  1. Begin with Charlie’s left eyeball. We’ll paint the surrounding areas later.
  2. Using Mars Black, paint the outline of the eyeball.
  3. Paint the pupil using the same color.
  4. Fill the rest of the eyeball with dark brown tones, using Raw Umber and a blend of Raw Umber and Mars Black near the outline.

 

At this point, the entire eyeball should be covered with paint.

  1. Look for the lighter areas within the eyeball and paint them using Titanium White mixed with small amounts of Mars Black to create various shades of gray.
  2. Add the white line along the bottom of the eyeball.

Congratulations! You’ve completed the first layer of Charlie’s left eye.

Remember, acrylic painting is often built in layers. If your paint is thin, you may need additional layers later. That’s completely normal.

Right Eye

Repeat the same process for Charlie’s right eye.

Take your time and focus on progress rather than matching the reference perfectly.

Surrounding Areas

  1. Mix Mars Black with a small amount of Titanium White to create a very dark gray. Paint the darkest areas surrounding the eye.
  2. Repeat this process around the right eye.
  3. Leave the remaining surrounding areas for later lessons.

Review

Take a step back and look at your painting from a distance.

Ask yourself:

• Have I covered the main shapes?
• Are both eyes fully painted?
• Have I captured the darkest areas around the eyes?

If the answer is yes, you’re exactly where you need to be. If your painting feels awkward, unfinished, or even a little messy right now, that’s okay. Most paintings go through an “ugly stage” before they begin to come together. Trust the process. You’re doing great.

Look for tomorrow’s lesson, where we’ll continue bringing Charlie to life one section at a time.

I can’t wait to see your progress. If you’re participating during the live challenge, post your progress inside our telegram group.

xo,
Erica

DAY 1: SOULFUL EYES

Day 1: Bringing Charlie’s Eyes to Life

🎧 Listen to today’s encouragement from Erica (1:29 minutes)

🎨 LIVE CHALLENGE REMINDER
If you’re participating in the live challenge, remember to share a photo of today’s progress, questions, wins, or breakthroughs inside the Telegram group so we can celebrate and support you. Every artist is at a different stage, and your progress may encourage someone else to keep going. Plus, active participants will be entered into our live challenge giveaway. 👉 JOIN THE TELEGRAM GROUP

If you haven’t sketched Charlie onto your canvas yet, please visit the Preparing for Success page and complete those steps first.

Today we’re beginning with the eyes. The eyes are often the first thing we notice when we look at a portrait. They’re where connection begins. Don’t worry about creating perfect eyes today.

Our goal is simply to establish the first layer and begin bringing Charlie to life on the canvas. Remember: every beautiful painting starts somewhere. Today’s job is progress, not perfection.

Color Palette

For today’s lesson, we’ll keep things simple:

• Mars Black

• Raw Umber

• Titanium White

Before you begin painting: Take a moment to read through all of the steps before you start painting. Then come back to Step 1 and work through them one at a time.

Instructions

I’ve highlighted the area we’ll be focusing on today. If it’s easier to use your downloadable reference photos, please do so.

Left Eye

  1. Begin with Charlie’s left eyeball. We’ll paint the surrounding areas later.
  2. Using Mars Black, paint the outline of the eyeball.
  3. Paint the pupil using the same color.
  4. Fill the rest of the eyeball with dark brown tones, using Raw Umber and a blend of Raw Umber and Mars Black near the outline.

At this point, the entire eyeball should be covered with paint.

  1. Look for the lighter areas within the eyeball and paint them using Titanium White mixed with small amounts of Mars Black to create various shades of gray.
  2. Add the white line along the bottom of the eyeball.

Congratulations! You’ve completed the first layer of Charlie’s left eye.

Remember, acrylic painting is often built in layers. If your paint is thin, you may need additional layers later. That’s completely normal.

Right Eye

Repeat the same process for Charlie’s right eye.

Take your time and focus on progress rather than matching the reference perfectly.

Surrounding Areas

  1. Mix Mars Black with a small amount of Titanium White to create a very dark gray. Paint the darkest areas surrounding the eye.
  2. Repeat this process around the right eye.
  3. Leave the remaining surrounding areas for later lessons.

Review

Take a step back and look at your painting from a distance.

Ask yourself:

• Have I covered the main shapes?

• Are both eyes fully painted?

• Have I captured the darkest areas around the eyes?

If the answer is yes, you’re exactly where you need to be. If your painting feels awkward, unfinished, or even a little messy right now, that’s okay. Most paintings go through an “ugly stage” before they begin to come together. Trust the process. You’re doing great.

Look for tomorrow’s lesson, where we’ll continue bringing Charlie to life one section at a time.

I can’t wait to see your progress. If you’re participating during the live challenge, post your progress inside our telegram group.

xo,
Erica