Portrait painting

[Tyn]

Hey guys, this is my first portrait painting, and I'd like a critique on it. Like, what's wrong with it? I was trying really hard to get the colors and everything right, I wasn't color picking. I would only pick colours from the reference to see how accurate I was at recreating the colour. I know that I should practice more since this is my first painting, but what would help me improve from this level?

This painting took me around 4-5 hours, no lie.

And when I want more work critiqued, do I put it in this same thread, or another one?

[sone_one]

whats the point doing a study if you in the end paint something completely different? different colors, different cropping, no mustache, no hair, no background... just wondering.

[Giacomo]

You'd do well to sketch in the basic forms (contours plus "light" and "shadow" areas) with some kind of line-drawing tool before you start putting down color.

[cfhd]

I'm definitely no pro but the way I do studies like this usually is to sketch in the basic form with just lines. I mean the really basic stuff, not massive detail at all, like do the head, neck, body, ears, some hair. Don't line in all the wrinkles or anything like that. Just make sure that what you are about to paint is actually going to have some resemblance to the picture.

Then start adding the colour and then paint out the lines with colour on a top layer.

In your case, you may want to just use black and white to get the values down. Once you've done tons of studies in black and white and are a value master then move to colours.

Just my $0.02.

[Tyn]

Cfhd, Giacomo, thanks guys. Will do.


some_one: It did resemble him in the beginning, but then I got really caught up in trying to get the colours right. Then, that became my main focus.

[Tyn]

Hey guys, here's the redone version of the guy above, any advice would be appreciated. It's just b&w now.

[derekdedgell]

your second attempt looks much better than your first so far, good job!! I would suggest double check the vertical axis of the nose in relation to the rest of the face. The eyes feel a little low to me as well, or it could be the top of the head is a little big. I would recommend double checking those relationships as something feels a little off. Also, you have not captured the angle of the head present in your reference. Don't know if that was intentional or not. This guy's head is no joke, definitely a challenging image to work from, but cool looking. Keep practicing!

[cfhd]

Ya dude, looking much much better. Its actually recognizable as the guy in the photo. Keep it up!