self portraits... comments please... im new

**manaray** · April 16th, 2006, 03:06 PM

i am pretty new to this site. i have posted some of my paintings but i would like to hear more feedback. what do you think?

this is not a self portrait but a portrait of my friend. I did this to show my hopeful improvement in shading and style. I did this today. what do you think?

here is a closeup.

**asoir** · April 16th, 2006, 03:55 PM

great shading, not much to criticize. i'm guessing these are from photo's? the first one looks as if the photo had pretty high contrast, maybe if you try sketching from a lower contrasted photo you could gain better results.
either way these are great. and if you don't model already, you should.

**manaray** · April 16th, 2006, 04:37 PM

thanks. i did the first one with extreme lighting because i thought it would look cool. i don't model either.

**JoeHell** · April 20th, 2006, 05:15 AM

I just see red x's..

**Atlas** · April 24th, 2006, 01:21 PM

hey manaray. not a bad start, but your shading is really choppy right now. it looks like you may be using a stump to blend?-not good. these could be 10X better if you would blend better- try using kleenex to blend and shading evenly, building up your tone value with several passes, then clean up. you've got good contrast and are well on your way to having really good portraits. and i agree with Asoir: it's always cool to see beautiful people, creating beautiful artwork. continue to work on it and do yourself justice.

**manaray** · April 24th, 2006, 01:29 PM

i actually use q tips. I also use cotton swabs. These kinda got smuged.

**Atlas** · April 24th, 2006, 01:44 PM

nevertheless, it's not working very well as far as I can tell. kleenex is a really smoothe fabric that you can also use as a drawing tool. i've never heard of using cotton swabs. may try it someday.

**manaray** · April 24th, 2006, 01:48 PM

okay... okay. Maybe I will use a kleenex. The thing is... I never really go back to old pictures. Do you think I should smooth out the first one? Maybe I should do some new ones because I have been painting alot recently.

**Atlas** · April 24th, 2006, 01:52 PM

it's probably a good idea to come up with some new ones. i'm with you- i never go back to old drawings. i've just been sketching a lot lately, but it's good to keep doing as much as you can, with as much as you can. i think you'll never use cotton swabs or Qtips again.

**yoshimitstu** · May 19th, 2006, 05:30 PM

these are better than mine... but it looks good. i could get mine up but i dont know how... umm yea great job... how long have u been drawing?

**manaray** · May 29th, 2006, 12:00 AM

Thanks. I have been drawing for about 8 years.

**the_allejo05** · June 1st, 2006, 06:14 AM

Manaray they are very nice..I like the second of the other two..Im not a fan of using photos..only from life..but thats a personal choice I guess.. you are in a good level already..If you wanna push yourself more

hehe..look on the internet..or your library for old master drawings..Dover publications has a good affordable collection of them (about 8 bucks on amazon), if you ever seen a master drawing in person (it is the best way) you'll go nuts if you love drawing..they have a way of teaching you hidden things..they sure will help you to go for more..their softenss and delicacy is truly admiring..hmm to help you on your choppy shadows hehe....hmm get a small white ball or a white egg put it by the window of your room...on top of a table... you can put a white ground (a white paper under the egg/ball will do..so you create reflected light) where the sun enters ..only in one direction ,no artificial light from the room..make your room a bit gloomy by shutting everything but that window.., let the natural light fall on the object ..and try to match that shadow as exactly as you can and see it. go soft..no stumps only your pencil and patience......it is the most beautiful shadow and the hardest of all..

..anyways..you wanna model for me? hehe

**aqueous** · June 17th, 2006, 10:29 PM

I am also new!
These I must say are absolutely gorgeous!
The simplistic shading really fits them well.
Keep up the wonderful work!
(PS: You have beautiful eyes!)

**SergioAntonio** · June 25th, 2006, 04:25 AM

Are your highlights truly as white as the paper? Is the background as bright as your highlights. Establish a scale of what areas of your drawing are to be left completely white, and which areas are as dark as black. You'll find that, generally speaking, in portraits there are more mid-tones than shadows and highlights.

**Egets** · June 28th, 2006, 07:44 PM

well wow you are so beautiful with long neck !!! it appears your drawings were very succesfull cuz they look very believable in sense that I can imagine the reference photos and nothing is off !!!

**horsebum** · June 28th, 2006, 10:08 PM

im with the_allejo05 about the old master drawings. You are definitely at a good level of draftsmanship, maybe you can take some chances now that you know the safe way. Use those sublte tones with some unplanned actions, it may add some spice to your portraits, because right now you are being so technical, it kind of kills the whole idea of a drawing, which should be a balance of spontaneity and the oposite. Really do look at those old master drawings, they dont feel like they are refrenced they just feel like truth.