[Davem]

Its been a while since i put progress on this so i thought i'd begin a new thread... old thread is here.old thread

Anyway, i havent done a hell of a lot and its been taking me a lot longer to get back into the swing of it. I've just started on the forehead which i am having a bit of bother with the wrinkles. I blocked in the background and tried a colour test on the shirt.

Trying to paint a differnt shirt from the reference pick (see earlier thread) is a bit hard. I think i'll definitely take a new reference pic of someone in a shirt and put that in the pic instead.

I'm also having a bit of bother with the eyebrows as the reference pic is a bit hard to distinguish in those areas. My Dads eyebrows are really thinning so there's not a lot there. Any Ideas? Any other crits or suggestions?

Dave

[SynrrG]

Wow, I remember seeing where you were. Im very impressed, damn good job! Keep it up =)

[tdl]

Great job!

I also remember where you were and you've come much farther, congrats.

Here's my opinion on it. I'm not too sure that the green bubbly background works, it seems you wanted to go for a brushy unfinished look, but it's a bit distracting. Try different colors, and different patterns (darker here, lighter there, maybe even lose part of the definition between his head and the background).

For the shirt, don't worry about reference pics or anything. It looks great as it is. Remember that you shouldn't render everything out, as you want the focus of attention to be the face. By leaving the shirt unfinished and brush you make it interesting and make people look at the face.

The only thing I'd change about the shirt is using a different color for the darker tones and shadows of it, it seems you used a desaturated green. Sometimes it's good to repeat a color from another part, for example the background, to provide unity, so a little green in some of the shadows could be a great idea, just think darker and more saturation.

Don't worry too much about the eyebrows, just suggest them with well placed strokes, kind of what you're doing, just do it with more confidence

The hair and the neckline (where his skin meets the shirt) looks a little drippy. Try to get a different feel for it if you're trying to make it look brushlike.

All in all, great job, i'm sure your dad is happy.


sincerely,

[Davem]

thanks SynrrG and Tdl.

Tdl: Thanks for you suggestions i will definitely be trying out your ideas though i'm a bit confused about what you mean about the background and i have to admit its the area i think i have the least idea about. Any chance you could clarrify or even add a rouch pint over? it would be much appreciated.

Oh as for the shirt i'd just roughly tested under shirt colour and didnt seam those together yet, i'm going to smoth that area out a bit. I have the whole shirt ensemble in a separate layer underneath so the neck has a bit of overpaint going on. You were spot on about the what i did on the shirt. I was trying to add colours from the backdrop but i guess i picked a desaturated green and kind of blended it in. Again if you have any ideas that you think you could demonstrate well in an overpaint then plese feel free as i would greatly appreciate as much help as i can get on this.

Dave

[Anthony J]

your use of skin tone is great !
i like the expression

keep it up, i'd love to see it finished.
i enjoy doing portraits myself, take a look at what ive done on my site.

[Davem]

Nearly finished...background to go now...will prob get it printed and framed today or tomorrow as i will be travelling 500km's on friday to be at the party where i will ive the portrait / present.

Any last quick suggestions?

Dave

[soilborn]

this sucks. no seriously, it's coming out damned good. i really like the rendering on the face section. only complaint, and it would be me and my suck face, is that his eyes are not balanced. one is bigger thatn the other (> his left one is fuct =p) and his <right ear, the one barely showing is weird. colors are nice too.

[Probus]

cool piece, no doubt. i would add some extra texturing to the skin, it looks a little too smooth, compared to the reference