First digital portrait, tell me what you think?

[jgoods]

I just finished up this portrait and I am new to this site. I would love some of your comments, suggestions, questions, criticisms... Thanks so much!



Adjusted levels...

[Chris Sanders]

The face is looking okay, the nose and mouth don't look as if they are lining up with the eyes and the bridge of the nose looks very shallow but its working. However the values in the hair and the coat/jumper are completely jacked. in no other situation than if you where working from a heavily blown out photo would the hair appear so flat. Also try and avoid having a flat texture in the background as its very unsettling, try to make it slightly lighter than the dark in the eyes. And have a colour in there and mix up the angle of the strokes to add some interest. I like the way you've handled the lips; they feel like tissue sitting together quite realistically. Try doing a few faster studies from a variety of angles in greyscale.

[jgoods]

Thank you so much Chris. I reworked it a bit and this is what it looks like now. Did I understand you correctly?

[Venger]

I'm assuming you're using a photo for reference? Can you post it up?

[Chris Sanders]

I agree with venger. But it's looking better.

[Elwell]

But it's looking better.

I disagree, but it's impossible to really say for sure without seeing the source image.

[jgoods]

Here is the photo reference.

[Havok Reed]

I would say that you need to do a lot of studying. Self studying of the human head, learn proportions. Copying a photo will only get you so far and not far enough to improve. There are just so many tiny things about the face that makes a HUGE difference when rendering. But right now, you are at the stage where you need to study up on anatomy and practice your heart out. I would also not start right out on the computer. Go with pencil and paper and if you want to try to rendering digitally again, make sure you have a SOLID line drawing first, then scan it in and go over it.

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful after all.”
― Michelangelo Buonarroti

One of the greatest artist's to ever live said this and his words keeps me going and working hard every day. You will get discouraged and you will hit brick walls, believe me, I do alllll the time. But just keep going!

[hakepe]

Drawing or painting people is one of the most difficult things you can try to master. I am still trying to learn it and I am far from being an expert. I like the colors you have chosen on her skin I always struggle with colors.

Here are just a few things that I noticed. In the picture her head is turned away a little but you have drawn her looking strait at you. The eys should be wider (head width = aprox. 5 eyes), the distance between the eyes should be the same as the widht of the eyes. The nose and the lips should be wider.

I think that you should not worry about the details in the beginning and focus more on the 3 dimensional forms of the head, because now it is looking very flat. So forget the eyes and nostrals for now and focus on the big planes of the head. If you can get your hands on a geometrical model of the head, then you should really practice on drawing that. Learning the proportions of the head from books is also a good idea. It helps when you know how things should go. I am still learning these things and struglling as I go, but I hope that the little things that I have learned will help you on your way. Keep it up!