Basic model

Because I don't have the budget to hire, nor do I personally know models of the races and age groupings that I want to depict, I rely on willing family members to pose for me. Every member of my family cheerfully dons costumes and poses for my needed references when I'm doing an illustration.  Here is son number 2 posed as a figure in the foreground.  I decided his race should be African/American.  First and foremost it was to balance the composition and direct the eye with the needed color values that the painting needed.  Secondly, I wanted to depict a variety of children of God.  It is not intended to be all inclusive though....that would necessitate dozens and dozens of figures.  I'm after a simpler composition, and I needed to edit drastically the number of figures. It was so tempting to focus in on the details of each of the secondary figures, but I wanted the tight focus to remain on Christ's face - even though his head is about 1 inch tall in the painting.  All the details and sharp focus had to be toned 'way down on each figure, even though they are in the foreground and much closer to the viewer.

The idea is to direct the eye around the canvas and circle back to Jesus Christ in a continuous eye movement around the painting.  No eye movements off the canvas into outer space, no jarring stops.