Portrait sketch from life
3yr
Caroline
This is oil on gessobord, 8 x 10 inches. I wanted to document my fiance's pandemic ponytail. I've already decided that I want to keep it sketchy and not develop it further, but since I'm thinking of giving it to his mother as a gift, I'd appreciate it if someone could take a look and let me know if there's anything off. If the ear is too low or the neck is too long, I don't want my mistakes haunting me from a frame on her wall over Thanksgiving dinner.
3yr
It looks very good! My only comment would be to do a little more with the background to get a better overall composition. I keep my backgrounds simple as well, but it looks unfinished.
Caroline
3yr
I'll keep that in mind for the future, thank you! Just curious, do you feel that way about all portrait sketches that don't have backgrounds, or is there something specific about the way I did this one? I'm not crazy about the texture of the gray ground myself, so maybe this wasn't the best surface for this project.
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3yr
I am not sure if that was intentional but the neck seems a little too wide. Typically, the neck attaches a little deeper from the chin but since everything else is placed so well, I am guessing that this is my ignorance of anatomical variance.
I also agree with Kross Hatch about using bolder shapes and being more confident with your values and brushstrokes. Pushing your values further at either side will add more depth to the head, which is even more important when dealing with flat angles like profile and front on. Even if you don't see it in the reference, adding ambient occlusions and highlights can do a lot with making the forms looks more 3 dimensional.
About the ear, it does seem like it is a little on a large side and is positioned lower than the brow line and the nose line. However, ears can vary so much from person to person that it isn't even a real issue and could have been completely intentional.
Overall, a great painting. Good luck!
3yr
Funny, I was worried about the neck being too long. Thanks for your feedback. My fiance does have strangely long earlobes but I'll take a look at the proportions and placement of the ear next time he sits for me.
3yr
Looking nice! I always loved brush strokes! I work small so I don't typically get chance to enjoy broad strokes of colour but this "fading" effect, whether it's done purposely or not (I think it was the under-laying sketch?) it looked great!
3yr
Hi Yiming, thank you for your comments. I'm not sure what exactly you mean by fading effect, but I did intend to let parts of the grisaille (the initial sketch in burnt umber) show through. I'm trying to be efficient by only putting down brushstrokes that contribute to the overall result I want. So for example in the hair, I felt like the grisaille was working well enough on its own, so I decided not to do another pass in color on top.
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