Hip Hop Gouache

[ReAkshun]

Sup, everybody.

Well...



It's suppose to be Ali Shaheed Muhammed from A Tribe Called Quest.
Didn't quite get a likeness though. Some drawing issues and saturation issues. Composition could have been better (shoulda took care of that first really)...but overall, I'm just happy I completed a traditional piece for once.
Actually, this is my first full painting from imagination using gouache or any other traditional medium as a matter of fact...damn, that's sad...but it's at least presentable.

Tips on using the medium, crits and comments...appreciated.

[E.M.GIST]

Nice piece. Overall I don't mind the composition, other than the building going out the upper right corner. The microphone goes off the page oddly from a technical standpoint, but it doesn't bother me visually because the highlight on the butt end of it points back into the composition rather than out. To help with the saturation of gouache, build up transparently like watercolor, and only go opaque in areas of more detail. The reason for this is, as you add more white (which you have to do as you go opaque) gouache gets chalky and dull. Transparency on the other hand gives paint a luminous colorful quality. Hope this helps.

[ReAkshun]

Thanks, man. I'm in agreeance with everything you said.

[Gilead]

When doing the big head, little body type of caricature make the neck in proportion to the body both in length an thickness. Just stick that big head on that little neck and don't try to make a belivable transition from large to small. That just comes out looking like extreme forced perspective, but the rest of the body doesn't so it doesn't match. Make sense?

I like the good sculptural brushstrokes, and the values are right on. The tip of the nose could use a highlight I think.