Opera singers, Liyuan Theatre, Beijing

Just outside the auditorium, the opera singers were putting on their make-up for everyone to see and, presumably, take photos. There were crowds around the tables so it was only looking at the photos afterwards that I managed to get a good look at the details. I especially liked the arm of the singer on the right - obviously that of an acrobat with bruises and red knuckles to show there is more to Chinese opera than singing. He is the singer I've drawn twice before. I used mainly Cretacolor Aquamonolith pencils. My two favourites, English Red and Ochre Light are perfect for skin and I used them as a base but tried out other colours like purple, mauve and blue/grey shades for the shadows. The Albrecht Durer 'mauve' and 'magenta' seemed to work especially well.