studying faces

[sugar-soleil]

Well I'm trying to step into the frightening world of realism, here.
Anyway, I've been using all kinds of tutorials to draw this face. But I'm still having Lots of trouble. First of all, I can't draw the face structure...No matter how hard I try, it turns out looking really cartoony and slim (or more like, distorted) And I also need help in the nose area. It looks...funny, no? And If you find anything wierd can you point it out? And give me some help and tips, please? This is just a rough and I'm hoping you guys would walk through the whole picture with me! XD You can ignore the crazy eyelashes. I was just fooling around. :]

[Dose206]

hmm, well i guess i'd say that her jawline is too narrow and her chin is too pointy. The general outline of her face is okay, other than the jaw, but now it's time to actually make it contour. seems to me that the edges right next to her eyes can be brought inward a little bit, and then outward again as it goes down into the cheek area. I hope that makes sense
Also, her right (our left) eye seems to be a bit higher than the other. of course, people aren't actually symmetrical, but for the sake of this painting I'd put them on the same line.
The nose, to me, seems a bit long. I'd move the bottom of the nose up a bit as well as moving the mouth up just a tad. However, I'm terrible at drawing noses so I can't help you much more.
Overall you have a great start. Your tonal values look pretty good, although I would make the transistion between dark and light on her right side (our left) a little more gradual and less harsh.

I hope that I've helped you or given you some ideas, and though I have several crits I think that you have a great start!

[bloopatone]

work on the skull, study it as much as possible. Someone on his forum once said you must "own the skull". It sgreat advice. Also, chcek out books by George B. Bridgeman. Remember that there really is no such thing as "realism". Truly drawing human perception is near impossible, wht we call realism is acrually a set of agreed upon manners in which we depict the human form. That being said, you just need to study a lot and practice. Try sculpture as well. What you really need is an understanding of how the human head works. "paint forms, not shapes" is some good advice I hear at the last Gnomon live event. if this stuff was easy there'd be no need for this website.

[sugar-soleil]

Is this better, Dose206? Thanks for the replies you guys!! I'm sure there are more flaws, so please pick 'em out for me! BTW the shading doesn't really match since I corrected the face a bit ^^;

bloopatone, I'll check out those books for sure. Well, you're right, since I just used some rules to balance the face out and place the features. And i agree that the best way to learnd is to understand the skull. Last time, I drew a skull for a school project and I was able to apply alot of that to some of my drawings...but mostly drawings of men. I find it hard to aply the structures of a skull to a girl's head because it's less bony and rounder/softer than a guy's.

[Elwell]

Well I'm trying to step into the frightening world of realism, here.

As Dan Dos Santos has said (forgive me for not finding the original post), if you want realism, you have to look at reality. That means reference, either life or photos. You have such ingrained schemata in your brain that whenever you work directly from your head you're going to fall back on the same ways of doing things. To break free from them you have to learn how to really look.

[Skunkitorium]

The chin and jaws are still a little too narrow; a chin is usually about the same width as the lower lip (not all the way to the corners, but where the fullness of the lip ends).

[elpez]

I think you´re getting this wrongly started.
The first thing you´ve got to do is take your piece as a whole. You CAN´T start drawing nothing without getting an overall view of the complete picture.
You are trying to draw a perfectly rendered eye without a thought about her ears, her neck, her hair... You don´t even had single trace of the complete head.
As it was said before, get in the shape of what you are drawing, know how it works, how is conected. If you keep drawing things on it´s own your work will become something plane, bidimensional, and you´ve got to feel it tridimensional.
My advice is to step back, and stop worrying about the lighting and start thinking about structure.

Know that the key is to understand that you are building something instead of just tracing the things you see.