[scallywag]

Reference from domai.com.

Comments or suggestioms on how to improve from here very welcome.

[Gort]

Respectfully speaking and with all seriousness, but her breasts seem a bit too perky regarding the position she's in; a woman's breasts should lay downward across the rib cage, while these seem to protrude upwardly.

Is all the water green in the UK?
_________________
- Tom Carter

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" - Jack Kornfield

[scallywag]

Uh-oh, it's the breast police...

I take your point, I think in this case they are being supported by her arms, either in compression (her left) or by skin tension (her right). I tried to be faithful to the reference on the whole breast issue. I fixed the link beneath the picture so you can compare the two now.

As for the water... sometimes it's brown

[mikewilson]

Overall, nice job! That lighting situation is a hard one to pull off.

A few of things I noticed were:

1: Check the axis of the nose and eyes, they are slanting away from the true front plane of the face.

2: Try to group your detatils in the foreground and around the center of interest (I think in your case this would be the face. If you decrease the details toward the background, we'll get a greater sence of space and we'll have a way of comparing areas of detail with areas of little to no detatil. This will create more intrest in the painting overall.

3: You may want to consider pushing more saturation in the darks. Cool darks in the background and warmer darks towards the foreground. This temperature change will provide even more spacial difference and visual interest.

4: When you block in your painting you might want to try to emphasize the sillowette of the elements within the painting more than actual moddeling of the form. If the basic sillowete is right then you won't need much in the way of detail to get a good likeness. Once the graphic sillowettes are established you can then carve out other graphic shapes within the bigger sillowete, such as the hair shape of the head and the overal shadow pattern of the figure. If you can get the form of the figure/object to read with only one value per shadow side and light side then the you won't have much work to do to moddel the form. The only thing you will have to consider at that point will be edges, local color, and darker darks. Doing this will increase the speed that it takes for our eyes to read the painting. Keeping everything as simple as possible and then only focussing on those important areas will keep our eyes speeding up and slowing down. Where you labor in a painting is where the viewer labors with their eyes to see everything you've done. Remember the human eye really sees things as shapes and outlines more than textures and pattern.

[nafa]

I think you have exaggerated the perkiness of her breasts because you have painted them quite a bit fuller. I would not be surprised that she now needs bras that are two cup size larger.

[Feral]

If you are going to use reference like this, then I suggest you work with negative space. It will really show you your mistakes.
And also stops you going blind from your subject matter

[Warhead82]

nice stuff
_________________
When you look at a blank canvas or drawing paper, it stares you in the eyes and thinks it can beat you.~ Justin Beckett

[The Real Mark]

things i've noticed - sorry if they've been mentioned

*distance between eyebrow and top of eye lid
*her right (our left) should is sticking out more in ref

I dont know if pointing those things out helps or not, but it's looking good.

[stacy]

[scallywag]

mikewilson: Wow, thanks for all that, I'll try applying that advice.

nafa: Size is a different than perkiness (which I'd say is defined by angle). I didn't intentionally exaggerate either but after superimposing the ref on my picture I have to say you're right about the size.

Warhead82: Thanks.

The Real Mark: Yeah, I definately need to do the undersketch more carefully.

Feral: as in flooding the "skin" layer with white and looking at it against the background? I'll try that, thanks.

Stacy: Hmmm, I think there was a compliment there in amoungst all the insults.. thanks

[scallywag]

mikewilson: Wow, thanks for all that, I'll try applying that advice.

nafa: Size is a different than perkiness (which I'd say is defined by angle). I didn't intentionally exaggerate either but after superimposing the ref on my picture I have to say you're right about the size.

Warhead82: Thanks.

The Real Mark: Yeah, I definately need to do the undersketch more carefully.

Feral: as in flooding the "skin" layer with white and looking at it against the background? I'll try that, thanks.

Stacy: Hmmm, I think there was a compliment there in amoungst all the insults.. thanks

[stacy]

scallywag sez...
"Hmmm, I think there was a compliment there in amoungst all the insults.. thanks."

For whatever is there, there aren't any insults.
Let's take a closer look:

I think you've exaggerated the perkiness
of her breasts because, you need to
find a girlfriend...bad!
Just a straight forward observatin closed
with the hope you'll find a great girl and
the abatement of backed-up hormones.


It's an unusual painting to critique'.
Some of it's amateurish but yet there
are things that are brilliant.
Obviously the main thing here is the brilliant
parts. There's nowhere to go with that
but forward, getting better as you go.

"Maybe you're a genuine primitive, kind
of like a Grandma Moses that likes hooters."
Hey, I LIKED Grandma Mose's work and
I like hooters too.

"Painting her taking a bath in Gatorade is
a nice touch...
A very creative thing, full of deep and meaningful
social commentary.

[scallywag]

Just take a deep breath and chill Stacy. Everything will be okay.

[Yarik]

Thanks for the site!

[stacy]

I'm as cool as they come scallywag.
Take your own advice...relax.

[Feral]

This is what I mean about negative shapes.
These are areas within your subject that relate it to its surroundings.
You can also try looking at your subject and art upside down or reversed to show you where you have slipped up.
you'll notice that your reference and your image are different.
The red outline is of the same area of your reference and then your painting, you'll notice that they show two different shapes, a sure way of telling you somethings wrong
Try it.

[kimchi]

Classic case of an artist asking for critiques, and then when they aren't showered with praise, decide they are being insulted. Deflate your ego a bit buddy, and learn to accept helpful advice when it is given, and when YOU ASK FOR IT.

[shft5]

Besides his one comment to stacy im confused where he should be deflating his ego from kimchi? Elaborate.

[ldyinkr]

this is a beautiful piece the only thing I don't understand is the bath water...the part I missed is what in the world does drawing,painting,sketching,etc. a nude have to to do with anyones personal love life...I wonder how many "Stacy's" were lurking around Vargas or Elvgren...or Soroyama for that matter...?

[wdwonka]

Nice except for the mouth and nose ...I tend to have the same problem.
I esp. like the gauchy coloring.
The breasts are actually pretty much true to the original, which is probably one of the reasons you chose the subject in the first place.