[Papi]

Hi,

I'm trying to improve in drawing portraits right now. I used a photo of Orlando Bloom as a reference, because it was quite simple, not a lot of details, and I wanted to try charcoal. I'm not experimented in drawing in general, so I know the best advice for me is : keep exercising , but if someone could make some critics, it would be appreciated...

Here it is :



Here's the reference (200 kB) :

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ksauzerk/8416_orig.jpg

Thanks
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"D�cid�ment les temps comme les oeufs sont durs, et la b�tise humaine n'a pas de limite" Ken le Survivant

[jr]

if you really want to get better at drawing, try to see it in planes (think iceman). right now it looks like you're seeing shades. shades are nice but the way you have it, it doesn't describe the forms too well. think about the direction the planes are going. think sculpture!

(sorry for the bad spelling)
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[bearsclover]

I think jr nails it.

It's a nice rendering and you've captured the values of light and dark well, but it looks like you are copying shapes and shadows more than doing a face. Not that this is necessarily bad, but understanding the structure behind the head is also good too. (And, I think, integral to learning portraiture.)

Though I want to stress�you've done a very nice job here.
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Madness takes its toll - please have exact change.

[Papi]

Thanks a lot to both of you !

I didn't see it, but now I realize what you say...I think it's because I didn't really learn face structure, so I'm just copying the shapes, without taking account of the whole being...a face.
I guess I drawed it like I would have drawed a landscape or whatever. Time to go read that loomis book...

Btw, I was curious : whenever I finish a drawing, doesn't matter how bad it may be, I'm allways kind of stasfied with it...I have to look at it weeks later, or better, after doing another drawing, to realize it was bad. Is it the same for every one ? Or is it because I'm still beginning to learn ? It's pretty annoying, since it makes it harder to learn from your past mistakes, that's why I love posting drawings here, to get objective critics

Well anyway, don't know if someone will answer this one, but thanks again for the critics

[Drew]

No matter how many mistakes you spot right after you finish, you'll spot a few more after after a day or two.

[Capt. Fred]

Yeah, I can't tell you if its only a noobie trait or not, but I can tell you that its same for me. after working with producing a picture from refernce (life or photo) i think what you're doing is programming you brain with what line realtes to what line and you just programme the unobjectivity into yourself, unless you're real quick. you're saying to your brain "that bit corresponds to that bit" and you see/teach yourself that the two versions are being the same. The only way to aviod it i think is to get the most general proportions out straight away, all of it, while you still have ur objectivity. and then refine.