[LoTekK]

so i figure i need to get back to basics after getting out of touch due to a bit of a hiatus... i went out and bought two small swivel mirrors to practice with self-portraits, but i figured i should really get a planes and lighting study done first... spent more time on it than should be necessary, but here it is for comments...



i'm much happier with the right side of the study than the left...

ps. the shadowed area around the eyes are the result of cast shadows from my glasses, in case anyone thought they looked a little funny...

pps. quick question... what's generally the preferred way of blocking in your values? is it extreme to midtone (ie. high and low working towards middle values)? or is it preferable to middle values outwards?

another study i did last night... overhead light from a lamp about 6 inches from the top of my head...



ps. i tried different ways of building my values... for the first one, i started with black and white, then hit up 50% grey, then blocked in the 33% and 66% grey... for the second one, i tried starting with grey, then outwards towards white and black...

[lel]

This is good practice, watch the proportions.
Midvalues and outwards is better.

[Ian Jones]

Generally I think the accepted 'norm' is to work in your shadows first. Then progress until finally getting to the brightest highlight. This makes sense in terms of traditional painting, where layering the paint is a part of life. Also makes sense in establishing a tonal range. Perhaps it is techncially the best way to achieve the most contrast. I am curios about the work from mid outwards... because of the layering problems. You would have to watch for going over edges much more, a process which I geuss would be impractical. Painting in bands of tonal values would be a really odd way to do it.

I would suggest that you work with only two values to start with. Use black and white. Define the major shadows first. Look at some purely b&w artwork and study the shapes and forms. Then get some photos and try to interpret them into pure b&w, just like using your photoshop contrast filter.

I'm mainly trying to stress the importance of the drawing stages. You have some fairly haphazard shapes in your pics here. I think you need to consider those shapes for longer before moving into the complexitites of value. That's why I'm suggesting the use of just B&w, because I believe that will force you to consider the placement of shapes much more carefully. Only then should you continue working with more value options.

Hope that helps. I could be wrong though, so await a few more opinions.

[lel]

"From mids and outwards": I was thinking of C.M's wetcanvas-article (and as he's my god I follow the advice :-)

"Now the form definition begins on the figure. You have the middle tone created by the initial grad, so now you have to go up in value and down in value to show the form as revealed by the overhead light. So the logic here is a surface that is horizontal is in halftone and will be left alone. The darks are surfaces that face downward or are recessed in between objects or anything that is in shadow. Block these in with nice big general shapes. Do not make them black, remember, we are working from the middle values out, we have not gotten to the dark darks yet."
http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Digital/PhotoshopSuit/page2.html

[worm]

it might also help to study the planes of the skull first.. knowing which bones of the skull are visible on the face helps a lot