[micke]

This is simply a painting wich i've copied from a photo of a friends girlfriend.


Closeup:


My intention with this was to practice and experiment in how to finish a picture. Tried to experiment with different brushes too.
I always find it very hard and i have'nt found a way that works out for me.
This has been bugging me for ages..
It just ends up the way it ends up somehow. I have a tendency of loosing overview over the picture when i start to refine edges and clean up areas. Anybody have a technique for this that they wanna share?
Craig Mullins has it down so good, even though his pictures are rough many times they still look finished. Please, help me out.

Thanks

[ December 30, 2001: Message edited by: micke ]

[Sukhoi]

I'm no expert but I can identify whith your problem. I find it hard to get things finished because I loose interest in the subject after I feel I have illustrated the shape properly. In most cases anyways.

I think a solution could be to refine the most important areas first. The eyes for instance, and then leave it when you feel you have no more energy to put into the image. That way you'll also get the tasty "Mullins-effect"

Perhaps....

Apart from that I think your painting is very good! The eyes seem a little lfat though, like pieces of cardboard stuck in her face...but other than that, I like it a lot!

Sukhoi

[ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: Sukhoi ]

[ December 31, 2001: Message edited by: Sukhoi ]

[Bg]

Hi Micke!

This is kinda hard to explain.. but lemme try: The left side picture is the original, and the pic on the middle shows the areas I would refine (black needs the most work and white is secondary = the black areas are the most important) and the pic on the right side is after 10 minutes of refining the black areas. After that I would take a look at the image as a whole and decide what areas need more work and so on. And the funny part is that you can go on forever =)
The trick is to force the eye to the most refined parts.



Take care,

[oKKun]

Very nice.

BG has go a point there, however you might also want to work a little more on the hand too. What struck me about the picture was that everything had a pretty well defined shape except for the hand. Rough shadows defining fingers would probably be enough.

-okkun

[balistic]

You probably do this already, but I find that if I constantly flip my image horizontally while working on it, I end up with a more robust composition. I usually try and flip every half hour or so.

[micke]

Thanks for the replies!
Sukhoi, i agree with working on the important areas first. Actually this is just a small piece of a bigger painting, but the rest is so rough so i just cut out the area that i had worked the most on in order to show.

Bg:Thank you for the help. I agree. I guess my problem is that my eyes are going all over the pic at the same thing. You and Sukkhoi have some good points

oKKun: I mainly worked on the face. The rest of her body(lying in a chair) Is just blocked in colours.

balistic:I flip, baby!

Posting soon!
Thanks