[Fridayalex]

I been working on this portrait almost 6 hours straight. Just like to hear how it can be improved.

The hair is done, unless it can be improved. The eyes are nowhere near finish.Tring to get the skin tone looking right been tough. The mouth is giving me troubles. My reference is small, so its also making it harder. (Its the only pic on my computer I could find of my mom.)

Im using Photoshop 8.0. Using the airbrush, burn and dodge tools.



Reference picture:


Thanks

[Godwin]

The reference doesn't have to be digital, don't you have photographs of your mother lying around? The whole thing is very flat, push the values and contrast more (on the hair too), also you might want to start on this from a sketch, get the general shape location and proportion of the facial features right before going in with the colours.
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[patrick]

Not that I'm an expert on digital painting, but since it looks like you are trying to emulate a colored pencil drawing, I will tell you what I see.
First the shape of the face is too short, the length between cheek to jaw to chin is off. This is real common when you cant see everything you're doing at once. I would suggest zooming out every now and then during your sketch phase to ensure proportions are right.
The hair is far from done, you have no real highlights and shadows, exxagerate them if you need to.
The nose is not correct at all. the face is turned slightly but you are trying to draw the nose straight on. Also, her face is turned up a little in the photo, but you are not reflecting that in the drawing. Her nostrils are not round holes, they have a distinct shape, and the end of the nose has a "ball" of cartilege. The shadowing shows you how it is not straight forward. The Eyes are too flat, again, use shading to give them depth and shape
Don't be afraid to use dark shadows, you can always lighten them up easily on a computer.
Hope you don't get dismayed, I would like to see how you progress with this. Don't be afraid to look at your moms actual features when you see her, it helps.
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[crigg]

nice start! what i suggest over everything else is adding the dark crevicesin the eyes mouth and nose, adding darker tones until they 'fit in', trust me they are really important! eyebrows as well, I havent seen the ref but I trust she has them