Portrait trial run

[fresnojohns]

This is the first time since 2004 I have really tried to do any type
of face. This was a photo I found of Willie Nelson. The funny thing is that
I found another one on another site and its in sepia color and he has a hat.
SInce this was a greay scale with pretty much a face and bandana I thought I would give it a try. There is only one place I used any shield was around his bandana. This face is drawn using the grid style, one inch to one inch. Createx black very thin, comart smoke transparent and comart opaque
black thru a Iwata hp-cs. This is only done on business card stock. I need to use a light gray background as I just washed out the hair. I will do it again
on bristol board. The beard was done with createx trans gray by brush and airbrush. This is only 8 1/2 by 11''. You are welcome to critique it.
Fresnojohns

[zero420]

very well done im dyeing to try a portrait but wouldnt even know wher to begin my fadeing among a few other things isnt doing so well and as far as opaque and transparent dont know when to use wich one anyway i kinda got off the subject overall i like the way it came out ill post up my 1st try at a portrait (when decide to try one) im sure it will give all of us a good laugh
well done

zero420

[egneg]

Looks pretty good to me. Not saying I could do anything near as good but it seems a bit harsh. I think if you had more midtones in there it would be much better.

[aixguy]

I think what looks stange is the mixture of grey black and smoke. Personaly I would have used nothing but smoke .. maybe some comart black to really fill in the background rather than the createx.

[grinnen30]

Fresno...Please accept this critique as trying to make future portraits better...and coming from my own recent learning experiences. The highlights and angle of the nose are off...his mouth is looking at you straight on (as is the nose), but the eyes and top half of the head is slightly rotated. I photoshopped the picture (I hope you don't mind) and changed the angle of his nose by moving the highlights over 1/4-1/2 inch and his right nostril (left as you are looking at it) over as well and adjusting the crease...see if you notice what I am talking about...his mouth is still off, but I think it helps...

Now good stuff...I thought you did a good job on the eyes, which is the part that I have the hardest time with.

[AirTodd]

I think it is pretty good for the first try.

[fresnojohns]

Thanks all that looked at it. I knew it was not completely to a t. I have a hard
time drawing faces. I just used a one inch grid and drew this out.
I don't mind anyone altering any image I do. I want to improve. And the only real way to improve is to have all of you look at it with your own eyes. Thats what this forum is all about. And to improve also I need to slow down and practice more. One mistake I think I am going to solve is not draw directly from my screen. I am making copys of my disk at the 24 hour printer. That way the color and everything is much truer too. Thanks for the help and maybe in a week or so I will have another one.
Fresnojohns

[grinnen30]

I agree, faces are hard...which I think is why I try them so frequently...the challenge. For every one I post, I toss 3 of the exact same photo.

What I do for the nose is draw the line on the outside of the highlights and the outside edge of the dark area...that gives me a reference point to work on my shading. A good way to do this is to draw on the photo where the highlights and shadows will be with a pen (so you can see it clearly), and then just draw those on your grid (VERY LIGHTLY). I had to go to a projector, but the cheap one is still very iffy, because you can't get details at all...but it does make it faster...

But, I think if you had the nose going the right direction, the photo would have been REALLY damn good. The mouth would have been self correcting because of the visual parts (I start with eyes and nose...then fudge with the mouth until it looks right...then start coming in with cheeks, chin, etc...things just seem to fall in line...and the more practice, the easier it gets). I refer to many of my pictures looking like they got slapped upside the face when I don't get the highlights right on...because that is what it looks like to me. In your case, I see many areas I wish I could get incorporated into mine, and see just a couple of things that would be easy fixes with a good starting drawing.

[landsbro]

you can hold up the painting infront of a mirror,,easy way to see if you got things right or not,,,,sometimes it's very hard to put the finger on what's not quite right,,,this can help..
/kimmo

[quickchange]

John Not bad, not bad.
It passed the "what is it test" So that is a definite good thing.

See what you are saying about washing out the hair.

Using a mirror to see what you have done works, give it a try. Sometimes I hate that dang mirror. LOL

The beard and lower face if really pretty darn tight. Seems you stopped short of finishing it though.

The fact that the rest of the painting is not complete it tends to throw off the prospective of things. I note the nose and eyes are a bit off. I think both could be adjusted with a bit more tweaking of the high and low lights.

I know you said you are going to redo this painting on board.

One last thing to add..
don't skimp on the eyes and his hair.

[brushbyair]

Freejohns, for a first attempt, I think you gotten off to a really good start, eyes and nose areas have already been addressed in earlier posts, all good ideas. One thing that stands out to me is the background, being as dark as it is, it almost looks like Willie is sticking his head out of one of those cartoon cutouts that you see in the fairs, try lightening up the area closest to his head and get darker as you get further away from the head, this will give it the appearance of a light source behind him, and lighten up the entire painting. Just my 2 cents worth.

[quickchange]

John, anymore on this one?