[Jaguar Wong]

Hello there. I've been a lurker here for quite a while now. I never posted anything here, because all I did before was comic style pencil drawings. Anyway, I've been really looking into learning digital painting, and I've found a lot of good resources on the net, but I still have to go get some good books on actual painting and color theory and all that crap.

Here's my first official attempt at a digital painting. It's a portrait of my son, Chase.
1st Attempt at Digital Painting

Of course I came here to learn more, so feel free to rip this thing apart...just don't take any pot shots at my son . His face is a little yellow because of the baby food he was eating at the time, but I didn't want to paint his face with those "food colors", so I just picked my own colors.

Anyway, this was done in sort of a cheat/learning way. I took the reference, and traced a bare outline of his head shape, and where the nose eyes and ears were, then I set the image to the side, and used it as a reference while I did all the painting. I'm still learning, so I hope to one day skip the trace, and go straight to the portrait, or perhaps work from a non-referenced sketch.

I appreciate all the help you guys can give me. As I said, I'm new here, but I'm not afraid to hear some harsh truth thrown at me

Thanks a lot guys!

[Mharett]

hey thats pretty good! you captured his likeness there pretty well. only crits are that the colors in yours seem a bit more dull, the reference pic is brighter on highlights and darker in the shadows than the painted version. also, his right eye seems off somehow.

welcome to the forum!

mhar

[Beowulfthefallen]

His forehead appears to be a bit too large =P

[Dr. T.J. Eckleberg]

If you move the highlight on the eyes up and to the left or right it will be more aesthetically pleasing.



It takes the "flash photography" look out of the picture. Unless someone walks around with a flashlight on their forehead, their not likely to see a highlight in the dead-center of someones eyes.

[ April 12, 2002: Message edited by: Dr. T.J. Eckleberg ]

[Jaguar Wong]

Mharett,
Yeah, I think I was a little too scared to throw some serious shadows and highlights on there. I don't know why. it's all digital, and can be undone pretty easily . My color choices are also in need of some work. I tried to stay away from the dropper tool, so the colors turned out kinda fake and dull. Also, besides being funky lookin' I think his right eye is also a bit small too

Thanks for taking a look.

Beowulfthefallen,
LOL, yeah, I kinda screwed up on the hairline. Actually I had a pretty good hairline, but then when I painted the hair in, I couldn't get it to look right, and with all the fixing, I raised it up too high. Of course this is always stuff you notice after you're done, eh? Thanks for the help.

I appreciate you guys taking the time to have a look and let me know what you think. I really hope to improve, and speed up. Of course I still need a lot of time for practice and stuff.

Thanks!

[Jaguar Wong]

T.J.,
LOL, you know I never realized that. It's something that I never paid attention to when doing this. I was so caught up on the learning process that some common sense stuff kinda faded out of my mind . You're right that example does look much more natural. Thanks a lot!