two Thunderdome-related pieces

[masque]

these two worx are a direct result of spending way too much time here on CA the first started as a study for the Gods @ War TD now heating up, but took on a twisted life of its own. second was my contribution to the winning Selfies team effort in the Self-Taught v School-Taught Artists TD.

Title is self-incorporated


Brahmagupta as a Young Student


Thanks for lookin'!

[Angroc]

Even though I love all this, what I really liked was the texture on the skull.

[Ostrander]

I really like the small brushstrokes you use. Not to say I don't like large, juicy brush strokes. There's just something soothing when I look at them. Especially the second piece. Love it!

[sve]

Hello, Chip. i will comment on the first piece and maybe if I get all agitated to the end I will talk more about the sobering effect of BG on me in the second piece too. But probably not. I think you know all I have to say about it.

About the first image. It is very delightful and engaging. Mostly thanks to personality of the girl. her personality is in her eye to eye contact, it is not not bold, more like shy or elusive. and in the curved corners of her mouth and in the whole gentleness of her portrait.
So it does make a strange combination together with moody BG and many skulls in the picture. Ironic, humorous, more like getting prepared for Halloween, than really living in those distanced times.

I like the composition of the painting. Her face expression, her glance from beneath her forehead, it is very refreshing and new for my eyes.

I like all outfit details and how you did it.

I like the dark paint around her eyes.

I like and in doubt in the same time about her mouth. I like that it gives to her portrait this abnormal, grotesque touch, I personally immediately thought about Joker's (played by Jack Nicholson) creepy smile from Batman, or his damaged girlfriend from this movie.

But in the same time this mouth is weird and maybe it is a good thing. The upper lip is so thin, more like knife cut thought the skin actually, than lips that can grab a food and hold it with its muscles. So yeah, some indications of specific muscles around her mouth is absent.
It might be not a bad thing however, it does give a creepy and disturbing nuance to the portrait.
And it is very consistent in this portrait, different objects and details in the image have different level of realism and a different manner, style. And all this creates a slight fog in my head. Maybe it is always there .

Hair are painted in super realistic manner and I like them the least, I wish they were more random and, less restrained and you gave more for your viewer to add with his imagination. They are painted very symmetrically, very strictly too. And that's a really strange mix, if you ask me in the whole image. Playfulness and strict control.

The other thing is you gave it very dramatic lighting and in the same time her skin looks so evenly lighted. But it will be shadows big and small from every little bump or wrinkle on her skin in the strong artificial light like this. Skin looks deprived of truthful details.
Skin is not finished in my opinion, I wish you added a texture and the same velvety feeling as in your Indian student.

Well, strictly speaking her eyes will be in deep shade and I doubt you will see them shine like this.

But nevertheless I like this image very much, it is dubious. and painted with a smile and in a good mood.

[Stark]

sve took the words out of my mouth concerning the woman's mouth (though not in so many words)...

[masque]

[She] looks deprived of truthful details.

once again you've found the heart of my intent, Sve, if you don't mind a small paraphrase. part of the out-of-kilter pageant queen/America metaphor is that we rarely see past the glossy surface, but if we manage to, it can be disturbing, even frightening to a degree. the "Joker-mouth" wasn't intentional, comes lot from the color use as well as pose, but i didn't want to quash that slightly twisted aspect, either, it fits the rest of my intent.

and the simultaneously appealing and somewhat repellant nature of my Miss is definitely where i wanted to go with the image. you may not fully "get" the metaphor, but if you see her character as ambiguous, then you've seen the heart of the pic.

thanks to all for your comments!