Where this path starts: expressive, gestural, wet-into-wet figure painting — strong colour instinct, bold marks, a real voice already.
Where he is: academic classical realism — sight-size measured drawing, controlled value structure, anatomy, edge control, layered indirect rendering (poster study → underpainting → form pass).
The bridge is draughtsmanship + value + edges. You build the full foundation, then re-fuse it with your gesture so you can drop an
accurate, alive face into your abstraction whenever you choose.
You already own
Colour confidence · bold mark-making · figure-in-abstraction · emotional alla prima · willingness to commit paint.
You’re building
Measured proportion · value scale control · soft/lost edges · head & figure anatomy · the multi-pass indirect process.
The law of this path: do them in order, don’t skip the drawing stages to get to paint — that’s the exact gap between the two styles. One task at a time. Tick it only when the reps are done, not when you’ve watched the video.