Critique my work, Thankyou!!

[samrayiii]

Hey, Been painting off and on for years and now finally trying to hustle down and move myself out of noob status. Please be Brutal! Im about an hour in on this.

[JessiBean]

before you hop into color, you need to make sure you get the proportions down - planning and preparation before you get into a piece like this means you don't hit a wall and have much bigger problems later. You've shortened and moved up everything from the nose down (paintover to show what I mean):



Go back and re-draw this to make sure you get those proportions down, then see about the color parts. Good luck.

[Razorleaf]

I agree with JB - sketch until you have it all down on paper then slowly add your color, lighting and shadows. You have your cart before your horse. Take your time. Your reference is beautiful and deserves your complete attention.

PS: Its only advise but I'd ask for a "critique" as opposed to a "critizism". With a critique you will get strong solid advice from the many fabulous artists that frequent this site but a "critizism" well ..... that could just get you a bunch of crappy comments. Good luck!

[Elwell]

[Bai Fan]

You, elwell, are a wild one.

[samrayiii]

-Maybe I will, Elwell

[Max Challie]

Elwell, you are so aweso-Elwell. The word awesome just doesn't compare. You just come in and post critique so accurate it seems abstract to those in need.

And samrayiii, do it. You will learn more from it upside down. Artists often flip the canvas because it instantly gives you an objective point of view on your work, and you notice innacurate proportions that you wouldn't if it was the right-way up. After all, you're doing to this learn, aren't you? How much does it matter if you get your piece close to the photo? Zoom right in, 2000% to get all the pixels perfect. The finished result will mean nothing. Come on, do something that doesn't make sense.

[samrayiii]

Elwell and Jessi your input has been more than helpful. I was kinda starting with paint blobs before and sculpting in and around the face but I guess drawing it out first does help more. I would have kept going but alas I must go to my 9-5 now. Very unfinished, and quite frankly I've never finished a painting of this level of color rendering before, So I'm not even sure I'd know what finished would look like when I get there. Sorta still wrestling between hard and soft brushes, Its frustrating me trying to figure out what act or technique would get me the look I want but I guess thats all apart of learning new skills. With that said any experts please feel free to tell me what I need to hear. And razor, i agree. She is ... and she does. hehe!!!

[samrayiii]

Oh, yeah and another thing, Most speed-painting vids i see, when painters paint in photoshop they tend to start in grayscale get a lot of shading down and then change the gray to a color/skin color of their liking. should i pursue this method rather than starting straight out with color or is this just another technique. Just wondering?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFXjO...eature=related

[grinn]

My biggest critique would be to choose a better photo to work from. She is a very pretty girl but flash photography usually does not make the best reference for drawing/painting.

[samrayiii]

Yeah, I AM feeling the henderance of the look of the photo, I'll def keep that in mind next time ...

[samrayiii]

Im intimidated by this hair. Everyone seems to suggest not to use pure black, but with that knowledge im wondering how to attack the hair.

Still open for any random words of wisdom.