portrait practice

[Steph]

Ok, this is my third serious attempt at painting a realistic portrait in photoshop. Im more of a cartoony/pencil drawing sort of person trying to expand my abilities.

I spent about 5 hours on this, it's based on a photo (of myself).
I focussed mostly on skin, I wanted to try something different from regular sunlight, so it's like fluorescent lighting...

All crits/advice welcome.

[[void]]

Its looking really good so far, forms are reading well. My crit would be its almost all soft edges, maybe add some sharp edges where you want the focus eg the eyes.

Heres elwells edge tutorial to give you some ideas,

'Edge basics 101:
There is a scale of edges, just as there is a scale of values. It goes from hard>firm>soft>lost. Just as with value, you can use the whole scale in one picture or just a piece of it. The careful manipulation of edges is one of the most overlooked, but most important, tools an artist can use to create form, atmosphere, and believability.

In general, edges are:
Harder in the light, softer in the shadow
Harder in bright light, softer in dim light
Harder in focused light, softer in diffused light
Harder in the foreground, softer in the background
Harder on smooth forms, softer on textured forms
Harder on hard forms, softer on soft forms (Duh, but really)
Harder on flat forms, softer on rounded forms
Harder on thin forms, softer on thick forms
Harder on still forms, softer on forms in motion (on moving forms they are harder on the leading edge and softer on the trailing edge)
Harder at the center of interest, softer as you move away

The above are additive. So a kitten, far away, in the dark, would be really soft.

Of course, any of these guidelines can be ignored/modified for pictorial effect.'

[welch99]

Cool picture so far. I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said. I would sharpen the edge of the hair over the face.

[sousterrains]

Works very well, draws you in. The way it is executed makes you really focus on the eyes, it really does not need much more work, if any.

[Novbert]

I really like this picture's atmosphere.
I'd add some more detail to the hair (not too much), some refinements to the body (to his shoulder on the right side of the picture - it don't seem to match the other side), and sharpen the edges as it was said before.
If some background was added to it, it would become a real masterpiece.
Keep up the good work!