Frustrating Portrait

[HunterKiller_]

That's the picture i'm trying to draw from.
No matter how hard i try to figure it out, i can't get the subtle emotion in his face, nor the direction that he is looking - mine always just look like he's looking directly to the left.
Any tips please?

[ricksmith]

let's see your WIP so we can try to give you a hand...

[HunterKiller_]

Well i haven't really even finished the basic constructions yet, so i'll add some more and scan it in a minute. Thanks.

EDIT: Here it is. It's not finished obviously. I think this is the closest out of all my attempts.

I just noticed the cheek bone's too big... Why do i always notice these things only after they get posted? -.-'
On second thought, i'm noticing alot of other errors... *sigh*

[Noah Bradley]

From what I've heard, achieving a likeness is all about correct proportions and angles. Pay really close attention to them. You may want to do some Bargue drawings or perhaps a cast drawing. Spend a long time on them and really train your eye to see even the most subtle errors in your work.

Should help.

(doesn't look too bad, though. Work on those lips, though.)

[HunterKiller_]

Thanks silvir. I'll do some more work on this and keep posting.

EDIT: I've just quickly read a bit about Cast drawing. I never knew the important of drawing from sculptures. Best give that a try. Thanks for bringing it up.

[nafa]

As long as you train up your observation skill, drawing from photo and drawing from statues will lead you to draw realistic portraits (or whatever).

The likeness of your drawnig should improve if you work on the following:

Mouth too small and too low. The tilt at the end is missing.
Eye shapes are wrong, and irises too small.
Nose too long.

[briggsy@ashtons]

The multiple light sources (quite typical of American movies) are perhaps the most urgent challenge: two from our left (notice the double shadow of the nose) and one from our right (hitting the cheek). You really need to subdue or eliminate the weaker light sources and model the head in relation to a definite main light direction. If you've read any of Robert Beverley Hale's books you'll know exactly what I mean. Try to work on things in this order:
First, get a simple pattern of a lit front plane and a shaded side plane.
Second, model the lit front plane of the face, concentrating on the big structures rather than features (e.g. model the volume of the whole mouth region before worrying about the red lips).
Third, leave the shadow zone as a flat tone, or introduce a little modelling in relation to a secondary light direction, but still keep it simple.
Only then worry about refining the likeness and the expression. If you look more carefully at the actual shape of the irises it will help you to get the direction of the eyes right.

Hope you're not one of these people who hate step-by-step instructions!

[HunterKiller_]

I think i'm finished. I actually managed to get eyes to look in the somewhat the correct direction, i was so happy, i almost orgasmed.
Not perfect, but i'm quite happy with how it turned out, especially considering i didn't spend too much time with it.

[HunterKiller_]

Thanks briggsy. I don't know how your post managed to sneak up there. It wasn't there when i posted, so i didn't see. x.x
I don't actually completely understand what you've said, i'm not too savvy with art technicallities.