[L99Relm]

Relatively quick for me. I did the sketch when I was bored and hot yesterday (that might be why I have such a blah look on my face in the picture), and I colored it today. I used a small handheld mirror for my reference. Please tell me what you think.

[edible snowman]

no offense, but all your pictures look the same to me. [edit] im retarded...[edit]

[ June 18, 2001: Message edited by: edible snowman ]

[dr . bang]

I agree with edible snowman until the hippie part. Anyway, the reason why all your picture look the same because its in the same perspective and same skin tone, i'm not saying its bad but you shoould explore more about the true skin tone of a human face. So far, i like this picture though, keep up the good werk!

[L99Relm]

edible snowman: Since when is it "hippie" for girls to have shoulder-length hair?

dr . bang: *sigh* so much for my trying to make my pictures different...

[Bubonic]

I think it looks pretty good, and i don't know how someone could get you mixed up for a guy with that kinda facial features you have, i think the lips were a big giveway..anyhow..

I like the detail you have done in the eyes.. they stand out the most in the whole picture, and the lil freckles your added are pretty cool.

The bg has a cool swirvy brushstroke type look. Nice job on the hair and good shading on planes in the face..

keep up the rally good work,

[Tinusch]

Looks like a girl to me. Looks good. Might want to vary the skintones a bit, and maybe shorten the whole head. It looks a little tall. But yeah, it looks really good.

[TheSourPatchKid]

Regardless of whether it looks like a girl or a guy I like the style of this.

The lips and the eyes are not drawn in perspective with the head. The lips and the eyes are both straight on. While the head is turned.

I would study your lips and eyes more in your drawing.

Good work

[patrick]

I have to agree with sourpatch, my take was that your lips were off and the eyes looked wrong. I also think your forehead seems a little flat above the eybrow area.
As far as coloring goes, you dont look like a cartoon, so i would say its not too far off, but maybe some better contrasts might help.

[Merekat]

I do like it as a style, but if you were going for realism... It seems to me that the eyes, forehead, ear, side of head and a little bit of the mouth are all facing forward, but the rest of the face is heading towards the profile. This is distorting your face considerably, and is drawing attention away from the portrait and onto the anomalies. I also agree a greater degree of color variation would help a lot.

But, it reminds me of some old colonial work, and I do like it. ;} really nice work on the eyes.

[Awetopsy]

I would say that the width of the shoulders makes you look a little androgynous. I couldnt tell if I was looking at a boy or a girl until I read your second post... and then noticed the signature on the pic.

sorry.

narrow down the shoulders a bit and lighten up the eyebrows, would be my only crits.
-awe

[L99Relm]

Thanks for the replies everyone...I tried to fix a lot of the stuff, but I'm not really sure how to fix the perspective (I did mess with the mouth and I eye a little). I also added glasses. Hmmm...well I think this helped at least a little. What do you think?

[Spooky]

I like it. I think it's a good piece to begin with but you've improved it in the revision. In fact, I'd say your piece has something in common with the some historical art. Sadly, I can't place what I'm thinking of. Nice job anyway. I like the addition of the glasses as well.

[Bishop_Six]

It looks to me like the neck is a bit thick. Since women have slimmer necks than men, that might cause some confusion. At least it looks that way to me.

[feebsaint]

Here:



This may very well look nothing like you now, but at least it shows a few points. When I first saw your portrait, I could immediately tell your draftsmanship is sound, and that if you keep at it, you'll be a marvelous portrait artist... do not give up.

I was immediately struck by how flat it seemed. I should have saved out a couple of stages of what I've done here, because as soon as I put the smallest amount of cool shadow on the dark side of the face, the form came right out. I should have stopped after 10 minutes, but I stayed with this friggin thing, and couldn't leave it be for about 40 minutes. Bleah... now I need to get to bed (and being tired also counts for my inability to do this intelligently).

The painting, Laura, was crying for some form and contrast. I went extreme with lighting, but like I said, it may prove a point.

I moved the mouth WAY back... the tendency, when doing a self portrait, is to turn your head a little, to make sure you get the features right... and it ends up looking like an egyptian tomb... profiled face with eyes and lips facing forward. You drew your mouth a little incorrectly, considering perspective... your lips and eyes wrap around your head... your lips do so at a much more dramatic percentage than your cheeks do... as do your eyes. You had drawn them sorta pointing at the viewer... death to proper perspective...

Forgive me if I moved your features around too much... but I applied basic principles in perspective and construction... lips just don't go that far forward on a face... I'm sure it was a perspective thing.

Last note: Notice how I gave the portrait a focal point... light comes from one direction, and fades out at all edges... this creates a natural border to the piece, as well as a focal point... bringing solidity and depth to the piece. All of these elements I've done corrections to (although drastically), are all I've mentioned. I wish I weren't so tired, so I could have done a better job (colors too saturated, etc), or explained it better... but I couldn't leave this be... after your second attempt, your efforts seemed to be missing the entire point. Putting glasses on a flat head does not make the head round.

Anyway... it really is a great painting, and is a wonderful foundation for building up your abilities to new heights. Good grief... I'm so tired, I'm trying to be overly profound. I give up. Bleah.

[worthless_meat_sack]

Yes, Mike nailed the baboon jaw problem, so I won't bother with that.

I remember your other images and they all are kind of timid when it comes to light and shadow. That is your friend, if you are trying to show form.

If you are interested, try this image again, but in a dark room with a bright light. Make a difference between light and shadow and don't confuse the two. Where a form turns away from the light and goes into shadow, make the edge soft. Where a cast shadow falls on a form, make the edge hard. A simple and greatly abused system, but one you should know.

I played up that feeling in these lips. There are many examples of form and cast shadows here. You should ignore the light coming in from the opposite side, just let it go off into dark.

Also, when you are drawing, constantly check alignments of things. See the corner of the mouth and where it lines up with the eye? The top of the ear and the brow? Be precise and make all these relationships as accurate as you can. What you are doing really is putting an invisible and informal grid onto your minds eye. very helpful.

[feebsaint]

"worthless" my ass... that comment was right on the money...

actually, I look at my last post, and that 'touch-up' I did on her was horrible. I didn't line up the mouth and eyes, like I learned 15 FRIGGIN' years ago! Believe me... I was VERY tired. My brain wasn't working, and my town blew up. <-- my story. Leave it be.

I may go back and fix the image, but like he said, the corners of the mouth usually line up with the pupils of the eyes... your mouth is WAY forward, and your eyes so far back, that you don't qualify as human. I'd redo the original, but I simply don't have the time... Keep it up!

And thanks, "worthless!"

[L99Relm]

Finally got a chance to try again...feebsaint, thank you for the paint-over you did, even though say that you forgot to do some things in it I still think it is a valuable illustration on lighting. In this I tried to experiment further with lighting and I moved some of the facial features around in an attempt to get them lined up and in perspective. Well, is it better of worse?



[ June 19, 2001: Message edited by: L99Relm ]

[Nick2k]

wow your new version is working wonderfully. That is much better it shows more form and the perspective and proportions look very good. Nice work, It is actually very similer to a portrait i had done for my college, i am not going to spam your thread by posting an my image init so heres a link to it instead click here to view my image
Great work

[lilsis]

Well, despite what others say. I don't think its bad at all. In fact, I like the color scheme you used for the background. I have never actually seen any of your other images, so I can't say anything about this being the same or not. Overall, the eyes came out the best, however, its a good thing that you added the eyeglasses... because before they were added to the image, I thought that the left eye looked a little off balance from the right eye. Otherwise, good job!

[Frosted Flame]

Gah! This is driving me insane!

worthless_meat_sack is Craig/Spooge/God .. that's why the advice he gives is nothing short of spectaular.

Sorry, it had to be said, the "worthless_meat_sack, you're far from worthless! I love you!!" lines were getting to me.

Ignore me, I'm batty.

[edible snowman]

sorry... i was thinking of all your pictures of the guy video game characters. ill bet that came off as insulting.

[Peaches]

i think with the glasses the facial perspective works better. it looked a bit off in the beginning.

[wildgrey]

oh snowman...you're so charming

[edible snowman]

oh dont i know it. you follow me around and only post after i do something stupid though.