PS portrait sketch

[tom4president]

Hi all, I'm a first time poster, long time reader; there are some really talented people here

well here we go


Hi Res

PS CS from photo reference

please crit and comment

Thank you

Tom

[dogfood]

This has very nice proportions, a compelling composition, solid values, but the color is dead. It's as if you went in and said, "OK, her skin is kind of brown, so I'll use brown... now some pink in the scarf, and to finish it up, green. Whew, I'm glad none of my colors mixed!" There are an amazing number of colors in skin (green, blue, yellow, red, pink) and it is generally affected by the colors around it. I would point you to any of the modern masters or really any really good portrait artist (I can't get el coro out of my head as a good example).

From a technique standpoint, I would recommend using larger brushes; there's a lot of inefficiencies with little scribbly lines not doing much to help. Check out Prom's tutorial. It's tough to do , but pays dividends.

I think you've got a great start. With some color study and experimentation, you're going to really start pumping out some striking work.

[DSillustration]

i think part of why your color looks so "dead" as dogfood put it,
is because all of your highlights were created by adding white.

light describes color and texture.
shadow decribes form.

so, typically, the highlightsare brighter and have more saturation than the shadow.
by only adding white, you lose that effect.

for instance.
make the cloth green.
but make it go to a brighter, yellower green for the highlight.
then, if you still need more,
you can go white.

remember, lighter does not equal brighter!
(ie. bright red=cadmium red, light red=pink)

your light source should have a color to it
not just white.
ask yourself, "if its yellow, how does that react with a pink cloth?"

quick adjustment:

[madster]

* The eyes are misshapen, and do not match in size or shape.
* The eye crease on her right eye is far too big and exaggerated in comparison to the left.
* The eyebrows are uneven, and poorly rendered as large swashes of dark color, rather than hairs.
* Her left cheekbone looks like a small egg under the skin, while the right cheekbone is flat.
* The nose is crooked on the face. Her head tilts to her right, but the nose is placed on the face with a vertical alignment to her left. Also, the nostrils are unbalanced, especially noticible on her left.
* Her left upper lip is too sharply angled and narrow.
* The chin is "shaved off" on her left side, with the side of her mouth looking like it is on her jaw.
* Her bindi is crooked and off-centered.

~M

[DSillustration]

madster is accurate in his crits.

however,
realism lies in the imperfections.

most peoples nose is crooked.
and no ones face is symmetrical.
if this is someone you know, and you are going for a likeness, look for those imperfections.

[tom4president]

tough but fair, i'm actually really glad to get some helpful crits. thanks for the tips and for the paintover guys.

i went back and worked on adding more color(still need to push it a bit further) and tried to straighten out some of the anatomical problems.

this is what i got so far

[madster]

madster is accurate in his crits.

however,
realism lies in the imperfections.

most peoples nose is crooked.
and no ones face is symmetrical.
if this is someone you know, and you are going for a likeness, look for those imperfections.

Only up to a point. Crooked noses are not offset on the face, as skeletal skull anatomy evidences.
Noses are crooked from breaks, not from birth. And even then, the bridge is where the crookedness begins. You do not see a straight, even bridge, with the entire nose off at a ten-degree angle to the rest of the face...

Asymmetrical faces still do not have one side of the jawbone noticibly thinner than the other.

Cheekbones are not extremely more pronounced on one side of the skull, unless damaged or suffering elephantiasis...

* The eyebrows look a bit better, but the upper eyelids still show misshaping in size and width. The eyeliner and lashes are too thick in width on the right eye, and the left eyeball is too oblong, rather than spheroid.
* The nose is still too crooked in relationship to the entire face, although the bindi is now placed better.
* The upper lip still needs work, and the highlight on the left cheek still gives it too much height from the skeletal structure underneath. This is mainly due to the ovoid shape of the highlight itself. It should be wider than it is long, which, at present is reversed.

Also, the light brown/beige hair for the bangs looks out of place. For highlights in hair that dark, you would see more blue-grays of a very limited application.
Perhaps you could post your reference pic?

Looking better, though.

~M

[tom4president]

worked on what you suggested some more, i can't thank you enough, it's a lot better than when i first posted it




here's the ref, it has strayed quite a bit now
reference

[madster]

She looks SO much better now, Tom! Especially that left cheek!
As you can see in the ref pic, the tip of her nose IS slightly crooked, but the bridge is straight (having had surgery to fix a broken nose, I do tend to notice those a bit more easily than others... )

You actually didn't stray all that much, more along the lines of you interpreted the reference, which, after all, is what you want to do. To simply copy a reference pic so closely that there is hardly any change is a waste of time, as photographs do not always capture personality as well as a good painting...

I think you've improved this piece immensely from what you started with.
Good job!


~M