[Golongria]

Hey all, I am completely confused and starting to get frustrated, I did this picture last night as some practice to try getting some likeness with the photo, and although I understand that some things are out of placement, even if I move them into the proper place, the painting seems to lack a real likeness. If anybody has some tips or wants to give it a try themselves, feel free...thanks!
Painting:


Reference:


-Matt

[edible snowman]

pretty much this whole post will contain what i've found from experience, since i don't really have an education in this. there are some easy things to help you out with getting a likenesses, like using your pencil to find angles and proportions. i tend to use the pencil mostly for the angles things align in and eyeball measurements, which is probably a bad idea but i'm lazy. another thing i've found is that when you start out trying to do drawings as likeness it can take several drawings of the same picture before you get anything close. each time you get certain features closer and build on the ones you got from last time. sometimes instead of erasing a lot its more helpful to just start another one. another thing that works for me is that if you repeatedly draw the same person from different angles, it gets a lot easier to get a likeness on the first or second try. there's certainly a lot of practice involved in this too. i hope this has been some kind of help, and not too wrong.



this is my try at it, i drew three or four total. there are still plenty of things wrong with it, especially that stupid hat bill.

[ March 20, 2002: Message edited by: edible snowman ]

[ March 20, 2002: Message edited by: edible snowman ]

[antx]

Easy way to find out whats wrong:

- load both in PS (or other program...),
- copy the head from the photo and past it in a new layer in your drawing,
- set this new layer to 50% transparency,
- scale it so that its general size matches the one of your drawing,
- then you can see which parts are off and where you still have to work on. (But resist the temptation too fix it with that help in photoshop cos that way your skill�s won�t improve. )

Anyway, your not that far off I think. Look at the lines one by one, compare them with the photo (angle and length) and correct them if necessary.

[Golongria]

Edible - Heh...I love how the most obvious tips can be so enlightening. I completely see what you are saying, and good job on the pencil version!
Antx - Yeah, I tried that, but it seems that even if I do manage to correctly place things, the drawing never resembles the photo to an extent that I want it to, which is why I posted this question, although that's a great tip.
If anybody has any tips for doing this digitally, please post! Also, if anybody wants to give this a shot using color, go for it! I'm too intimidated to try it with color...I don't know where to start.
-Matt

[ March 20, 2002: Message edited by: Golongria ]