anything glaringly wrong?

[Barefoot]

Uh, I've been practicing faces all day, and this is the first one I think I've got right, apart from only having one eye, can you see anything wrong?
I'm not good at eyes, I've tried to get the one I've done right, but uuh... yeah, I know the eye is wrong, can anyone tell me how to fix it? and anything else you see?
the second one is the latest but I couldn't remove the first
Ta in advance.
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/att...1&d=1326926509

[ErinLein]

Hair looks a bit flat, give it some more detail and oomph towards the roots. The eye seems too big and round, perhaps make it smaller (which you already are doing) and make sure to remember the detail of the inner line of the eye (the fleshy pink part that is in the tear duct and lower edge). If you don't want to make it smaller, you could try placing a thin shadow underneath the lid on the upper line so that the pupil is more connected.

[vineris]

Where's your reference?

[Lightship69]

Hi matey

I looked at this for a while and couldnt quite put my finger on what it was that was bothering me, then it came to me! her face seems to be a bit flat, you need to bring the planes of her face up more so that we can distinguish the various lights and darks and lumps and bumps.
I couldnt quite pin down the light source you used either so to show you what I mean I did a quick paintover to hint at the planes of her face and made the bits that I painted on lit up from the front. I hope this is ok I havnt gone to town on it or anything but I have tried to make her a little more three dimensional.



I hope this helps you out and doesnt put your back up mate, I'm just trying to help, oh and just in case its a bit crap and you cant tell which one I messed with it was the bottom one LOL!!

[arenhaus]

To make it look more 3-dimensional, it is not enough to draw in the labionasal folds... you need structure. Which, incidentally, is the only thing "glaringly" wrong with this picture: the lack of structure. What you should do is construct the face instead of just assembling it from facial features. It should all fit together, as if you were sculpting, not drawing. The eyes fit in the eyesockets, the planes of the nose in the definite relation with the planes of the cheek, mouth with structure rather than a symbolic drawing of lips.

[Lightship69]

Sigh!! Sorry!

Eugene is right (again!) of course, but I was attempting to sweeten the pill a little. You do need to study the structure of the head a lot more and how to light it (and so do I). I did think that I brought out her cheeks and nose a bit too but that ia by the by.

I do however think I showed some of the detail in th paintover and possibly hinted at how you could ammend it and turn it into a learning excercise. Indeed there is a good thought mate save the image and try to light it from all over ie. Broad, Split, frontal, three quarter, edge, top etc etc. by doing that you will get a better handle on the various facial planes as well once you get the structural aspects in your artistic arsenal.
Dont be too sad and unhappy with this mate, its not bad and shows progress from some of your other work.

all the best with it.

[JJacks]

I think you have a good amount of contrast going but fine-tuning your understand of value transitions will assist you in making things have more volume. I do think you have some proportional issues. Her nose ends too far up her face and the nostrils seem miles about her lips.

[Barefoot]

labionasal folds

I don't know what that is, I guess its a muscle in the face or something?

Thanks guys, you've all been great help.

Does anyone know a good site for references / book I should get, that'll help me with faces? I've been working off google images and I can't think of any searches that don't supply you with hundreds of pictures of oddly proportioned models taken with the exposure turned up

[syrella]

I don't know what that is, I guess its a muscle in the face or something?

Thanks guys, you've all been great help.

Does anyone know a good site for references / book I should get, that'll help me with faces? I've been working off google images and I can't think of any searches that don't supply you with hundreds of pictures of oddly proportioned models taken with the exposure turned up

Labionasal folds... I haven't heard the term before, but consider that labia = lips and nasal = nose. Hence, I'd assume it means the skin surrounding the nose and the lips. In this case, it most likely is referring to the two lines that are coming down from her nose to the tips of her lips.

As for how to structure / set up a face, try the Loomis books. Fun with a Pencil is a good one to start off with. You can download the PDF for free. Just google for it.

[vineris]

I don't know what that is, I guess its a muscle in the face or something?

Thanks guys, you've all been great help.

Does anyone know a good site for references / book I should get, that'll help me with faces? I've been working off google images and I can't think of any searches that don't supply you with hundreds of pictures of oddly proportioned models taken with the exposure turned up

I usually search through "newest" on Flickr (most are useless but if you happen to get someone who took a lot of crowd pictures at a festival or marathon you get a lot of faces, and some people post high-res photos), and the Photography->Photojournalism or sometimes Self-Portrait sections on deviantArt. Look for photos taken outdoors, the vast majority of indoor photos will be taken with the flash and the lighting will be awful. It takes a while to draw a face so you don't need all that many photos to start with.

Also, you can start taking your own, if you have a point-n-shoot camera. Take photos of your friends and family outdoors, make sure there are some lit and some shadow areas on the face so you can see the structure more easily.

[Revidescent]

Does anyone know a good site for references / book I should get, that'll help me with faces? I've been working off google images and I can't think of any searches that don't supply you with hundreds of pictures of oddly proportioned models taken with the exposure turned up

For books, can't go wrong with Loomis. Drawing the Head and Hands is great.

For reference, I've personally found that strong, dramatic light setups make it way easier to see facial planes. Movie stills are good for this - I've been doing a lot of studies from Blade Runner lately. (If you're interested, here's a zip of 100-odd stills I took, mostly faces.) A good stock source is mjranum - his stuff is mostly full body, but high res enough to zoom in on the faces.

[Barefoot]

Thanks guys, I'll be sure to check out what you've told me and post the results. This is why I love this site.

[Barefoot]

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/att...1&d=1327099156

I did the first one and was told it needed more cheekbones (from people in real life, not on this site), so I changed it, but I really don't like it (the second one).
what do you think? I've tried to build it up like Arenhaus said, and I've used the references and stuff the rest of you guys suggested, I hope this one is better :)

[inkjetcanvas]

I have a copy of all the Loomis books saved to my website. They are very awesome and you'll find the Head & Hands book to be very helpful in understanding the planes and measurements that make up the head -- which is what is missing here.

http://inkjetcanvas.us/howto/files/i...oomisBooks.rar

Good luck, keep practicing!

[Barefoot]

I have a copy of all the Loomis books saved to my website. They are very awesome and you'll find the Head & Hands book to be very helpful in understanding the planes and measurements that make up the head -- which is what is missing here.

http://inkjetcanvas.us/howto/files/i...oomisBooks.rar

Good luck, keep practicing!

Thanks pal

[JeffX99]

You need to 1) work from life more and 2) study head construction and proportions...and I mean a lot, not just a few little sketeches and "I've studied that". You're trying to paint before you understand drawing fundamentals and anatomical structure. It's ok to get feedback and critique, but you really need to just learn the stuff yourself from the ground up. Otherwise people will tell you all kinds of things...and if you don't know yourself, you'll just continue to be lost.

[Lightship69]

Hi buddy

The loomis books are now in print again from "titan books" but "amazon" have them in as well, I would say buy them rather than go for the .pdf file you cant beat having the books to hand while you try this stuff out.

all the best with the art mate, keep pushing!

[Lhune]

I agree with everyone else, I'd just like to add that hair isn't that dense and doesn't cast so strong a shadow (especially not blonde hair). I'd suggest you don't add so much scribbly detail. It distracts more than anything.

[Barefoot]

Thanks guys, although I have pretty much zero spare money, so life drawing classes and new books is out of the question. The PDF file seems much more the ticket.

2) study head construction and proportions...and I mean a lot, not just a few little sketeches and "I've studied that". You're trying to paint before you understand drawing fundamentals and anatomical structure. It's ok to get feedback and critique, but you really need to just learn the stuff yourself from the ground up. Otherwise people will tell you all kinds of things...and if you don't know yourself, you'll just continue to be lost.

I've never really studied head anatomy, but I have done body anatomy, so I know the method, in fact, what I mean is, I know how much hard work it is, lol. I just wanted to try and see what I could do myself (eg: without advice, help, books), I used a little reference, but multiple bits, I know I can draw a face with the picture right there (not indistinguishable from the photograph, but who'd want that anyway?), I want to create my own characters, with personal identities, you know? Don't think I'm trying to big myself up, and I am going to take your advice and all, I just wanted to explain what I was thinking

[Barefoot]

I agree with everyone else, I'd just like to add that hair isn't that dense and doesn't cast so strong a shadow (especially not blonde hair). I'd suggest you don't add so much scribbly detail. It distracts more than anything.

What advice could you give me as far as drawing hair goes? I mean, I know you've told me about it's shadow and density, but how can I avoid that? Is it just a matter or using a thinner brush or?

[Barefoot]

I've been working on heads, they're in my sketchbook, would you guys take a look?http://www.conceptart.org/forums/sho...71#post3356571

[zephyri]

Great that you're working on heads... definitely keep at it, and maybe use ref like Lhune posted to get a feel for what real heads look like too every now and again, it can become easy to just slip into the 'everything must conform to the loomis rules' trap (though it's a great basis for drawing from the imagination!).

I've done you a quick paintover of the first image you did, just to show you what it might come to look like with some more study. The very black and white tonal range makes it difficult to get that nice smooth look in the end - you really have to understand the form of the head and which way the planes are turning, and also how to blend the transition from light to dark properly in order to communicate that. Every smudge of very pale grey you leave will suggest a turn in a plane of the face, often resulting in a lumpy-feeling face. I actually worked on it by filling a whole new layer above the artwork with a 30% grey set to multiply... this way the blends are subtler, and you can get it a bit smoother as you're only going from 30% black to 70% black, as opposed to 0 - 70. Once I'd done, I simply used Levels to bring it back to the pure white. The eye in the image felt very large, and also maybe just a touch too close to the nose, given where the shadow was suggestion her other eye was.

As far as Lhune was going with the hair, I've tried to illustrate it here - don't use tiny brushes, and try to draw every strand, try to see the larger shapes in the different light and dark areas, and paint those first - try googling for Imagine FX's hair workshop (I forget the name of the artist - John Kearney maybe?) as that had a download with a great 'base' hair brush that allows you not to get caught up in the details of every strand. Once you're happy with the blocks pick a couple of smaller areas to add some finer detail (but probably still not individual hairs!) to suggest that level of detail overall, and leave the hair that's off towards the back of the head a little fuzzier. Again, like the overall head, it's useful to do studies of human hair to decipher how it falls, depending on the cut and the weight of the hair (first two ref pics of Lhunes are a good example!).