[eyewoo]

This is a portrait of Andrea Michalek, a friend and top notch computer programmer/engineer. It was digitally painted from a reference photo using a Wacom Tablet and Photoshop.



Detail 1

Detail 2

Detail 3

Initial Trace

Reference Photo

[ March 22, 2002: Message edited by: eyewoo ]

[angle]

somethign about the eyes...

dunno wut, just somethign about them that weirds me out...

-angel

[el scoono]

i'm in agreement about the eyes. i think if you look closely at your reference, you'll see that the whites of her eyes are showing too much in your painting.

[MeRE]

i think her right eye is somewhat big

[palladia mors ']

yikes
the expression looks...well, ghastly. the overall feeling here is that you just snapped a random photo (thus the awkward look in her eyes) and painted a copy of it. the office hardware in the background makes it even more banal and creepy...don't get me wrong, I think it's still a very well done image. technically, at least.

...or this could be the start of a new era in portrait painting

[Pat]

I think he's taken some artistic liberties on the facial features to make them more flattering. I can live with that.

My issue is that the painting feels like a photo. I know you've monkeyed with the lighting, but it still has the "look of the lens" all over it. Take a look at these portraits by famous artists:



From the left, Sargent, Rembrandt and Ingres. I chose them because the tone was warm and similar to yours. Notice the more dramatic lighting? See how the backgrounds are in direct contrast with the figure, which serves to focus attention on the features? The sense of lighting is not just accurate, it's intentional. Your lighting looks accurate, but it's incidental. There's little sense of drama --it's all far too objective, which is how the camera sees things. This is the hidden danger of using photo reference.

It's kind of like when Obi Wan told Luke to turn off his targeting computer and to trust his feelings. We rely on the machine because it's commonly more accurate; but to really nail something, sometimes it's best to trust your own judgement. Even when you come up short your work will never lack integrity.

-Pat

[ March 22, 2002: Message edited by: Pat ]

[tyron]

i agree with pat.
i think the paintings aren't much more exciting than the photos.
the technique is probably awesome but i still think the paintings are dull.

[eyewoo]

Thanks for the crits... This was a tough pose... I think the problem with the eyes has to do with the fact that she has virtually no eyebrows... that along with the fact that she also has a very intense look. Below is a picture on which I've added eyebrows... but it doesn't look like her...



I think I'm just going to have to darken the eyebroiws a bit anyway...

[ March 22, 2002: Message edited by: eyewoo ]

[eyewoo]

Changed the eyebrows and did some more work on the background... Also added a third detail

[[666]Flat]

next time take a photo of a hot chica as reference, k?

[kahboom]

Hmmm... tell you what- It seems to me that the relationship between the hands and chair is a bit off. The hands are "hovering"- they don't seem to be resting on the chair. Don't really know how to address that though.

[eyewoo]

kahboom... yeah... I added a bit of shadow under her left arm which helps establish the relationship...

666... predictable, eh!