Portrait critique
3yr
@pollypopcorn
This is me trying to draw a realistic face from imagination. I'd love to hear any critiques or suggestions for improvement.
3yr
Hello, as I see many people have given many detail feedbacks, I will not do the same thing . However, I would like to suggest how you can improve in the future. For me, the best way to be good at drawingb] anything in general is to understand the subject of your drawing. I would suggest that you study the 3D head model such as the loomis head ( there are videos on that on Proko YouTube channel) or the Asaro head.
@pollypopcorn
3yr
Thank you. I drew the picture based on my best present understanding of the head, but I'll continue learning and I'm sure it will get better and better.
3yr
It is looking good but Think you should work on shading and drawing hair. Try to give some highlights to it .
Making artwork out of imagination is a great and fun activity and challenge to make you a better artist. But the thing about drawing from imagination, especially if you're just starting out, is that there's a lot of inconsistencies that you may unconsciously make. So what I will advice you to do in future is 1) imagine the scenario (a portrait with light coming from the left upper side), 2) then you look for a reference image which match the scenario you just made. Voila, you got yourself a hybrid!
And for this particular artwork, I just did a sketch over it (if that's okay) to point out the things you may want to integrate to your own. I see that you're trying a Rembrandt kind of lighting situation and it's one of my favorites! The key to Rembrandt lighting is that you need to be bold with your lines separating the light and the shadow (like the triangle on her left (our right) cheeks). It creates a great contrast, and that's what a Rembrandt lighting is all about.
3yr
Thanks for all your advice. I think drawing from imagination is good as an exercise and because it can help you see what you don't understand yet. It's probably best to draw some from imagination, some from reference, and a lot of in between.
3yr
I just did this quick draw over with some ideas. Hope it helps. I mainly changed the eye size, tried to make the lighting consistent, and give shape to the hair, while trying to keep the face 'the same person' as yours
3yr
Thank you for taking the time to do that. It is helpful to see your changes, especially with the hair.
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3yr
Hi Pollypopcorn! Nice portrait and especially being from imagination! You did great on getting most of the features on the same virtual horizontal lines except for the eyes. The eyes are off a bit from each other. You may like trying the rhythm method for the face. I find this rhythm method helps a lot in designing faces from imagination. The rhythms are meant to be adjusted to the overall head shape and look you want to draw. Hope that helps. Good work!
