MyOrangeHat's lofty goal--100 SP's by March '07--- 8% Done

[MyOrangeHat]

Feel free to critique anything in this thread. I'm here to learn and I'm not afraid of criticism.

I need to make myself draw and draw and draw more because I'm naturally a lazy procrastinator. So I've set a goal; to complete 100 self portraits between now and March 1, 2007. I believe that works out to roughly 2+ portraits a night. What I hope to gain from all this is enough experience so that by portrait #100 I can look back at the early numbers and be shocked at how bad I was. lol

Sooo off I go:

I'm going to cheat just a tad to get things started and post a couple SPs from earlier in the year. After all I've only EVER done a handful of SPs so may as well post them all in the thread to truly documet my progress.

#1 My first ever SP (June 2006) I have no idea what tragic thing happened with this picture. It's bad....just bad. But nowhere to go from here but up, eh?
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/MyOrangeHat/WTF_by_MyOrangeHat.jpg

#2 Next one is from July 2006. Thankfully with progress made already. I don't think I could have taken another one like the first.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/MyOrangeHat/Self_Portrait_by_MyOrangeHat.jpg

#3 September 2006. My nose is huuuuge in this one and I just looked so much like John Travolta in it that I just stopped.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/MyOrangeHat/Family_portrait_WIP_by_MyOrangeHat.jpg

#4 December 2006 featuring my arch nemesis, pastels.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/MyOrangeHat/Self_Portrait_in_Color_by_MyOrangeH.jpg

[MyOrangeHat]

#5 And tonight's portrait January 8, 2007 This one is a better actual likeness than any of the others I think.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/MyOrangeHat/SP1_08_07.jpg

[MyOrangeHat]

#6 This one I actually did last night because I couldn't sleep but I was too lazy to fire up the scanner at like three in the morning so here it is now....horribly out of alignment features and all. I'm really trying to challenge myself with different angles even if they may not be the most flattering, like this one.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/MyOrangeHat/SP1_9_07.jpg

[MyOrangeHat]

#7 Just having a blah day today. Couldn't get this to go right. Maybe my 2nd of the night will go better than this one....off to find out.
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/MyOrangeHat/SP1_10_07.jpg

[guggemmaneuver]

orange hat's off to you for challenging yourself like this!

Things i'm noticing here:

your eye shapes are looking a little stylized, try to draw them more accurately. I'm not sure at what point you are adding in the iris and pupil, but certainly you should try to do that last with regards to the completing the eyes. more accurate eyes will give you a good sense of expression. practice makes perfect.

it seems like you're desperately struggling to get a symmetrical head. start off with very basic, sweeping lines to indicate the form and then start adding in the planes of your face, in a very tentative and geometric kind of way. correct the angles as you go.

lastly, add in the tonal aspect. at first broadly and with soft tones and later with darker areas. since the tonal aspect is so key to having a good image, you'd do well to stick with one medium and get good with it. switching around too much will cause you to not really understand one before moving on to the next. What i'll call "Artistic Medium ADD," i've struggled with it too, but it can be defeated with a little consistency... :)


keep the momentum going fiend,
:heart: gug :lens:

[MyOrangeHat]

Wow! What a helpful and thoughtful critique. Thanks so much, Gug. And thanks for the encouragement too. :)

Symmetry really does give me problems. A just when I think I have it, I look at my picture in a mirror and realize how far off it still is. :(

Eyes have always given me problems, but even more so when I'm constantly looking to the mirror and then back to the page to draw. There's subtle shifting going on and it's hard to hold any expression through the whole drawing(I draw very slowly). I draw better from pictures(they're easier to get proportion from, you can't shift perspective, the pose in the picture doesn't change), but I know that there are things I need to learn by drawing from life so for this self challenge it's going to be just me and a mirror.

I'll be careful not to go the way of "Artistic Medium ADD." I'm easily distracted anyway so I can see how I could fall into that trap really easily. I think I may switch to charcoal for at least the next dozen or so portraits. I find shading with pencil tedious and difficult.

Okay now I"ve got the excitement and momentum back for the evening. I think I"ll see if I can do two more tonight. And maybe those will turn out well. :D

[MyOrangeHat]

#8 Symmetry kicked my butt again. :nohope:
Oh and the hair is crap. I did have some awful messed up hair going on but not quite the bird's nest I drew.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g282/MyOrangeHat/SP2-1_10_07.jpg