You might want to check out Steve Hustons course on New Masters Academy, I'm going through it right now and I like it so far. But it depends much on that I like his teaching style I think. Also, he does some studies in there and if I remember correct both with Zorn and Sorolla.

Nice work! :) I especially like her eyes, and the movement in her hair and nearmost shoulder.

Is the hair in the bun colored red? I have never painted strongly colored hair becuase it seems hard. But I was curious. Actually I really like how handled the hair overall. Maybe some more highlight where it turns from the light. Bra jobbat! ;)

this is amazing sir

The only thing I can think of is that the joint of the arm seems odd, the whole arm have good lenght but the forearm looks longer than the upper arm, and according to proportions diagrams, the upper arm (counting all the way to the deltoid) is longer than from the elbow to the wrist. The rest og the drawing looks awesome. Hope this critique helps.

The right arm "maybe" looks slightly long (the radius and ulna), but then again she is stretching it out. The body looks perfect... really perfect. It's a wonderful drawing. The body is something that I struggle with always. The cloth looks amazing too!

There are short and fat bottomed people, one has made the argument that they make the rocking world go round (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMnjF1O4eH0). I think this is a great drawing, and the only thing to consider as far as proportion has already been said. Keep going. Lyka till!

Without looking at the model or original photo, I think the proportion is very convincing, as long as the pubic bone is at the 1/2 of the whole body, it can't be too wrong. The bottom, in this way, somehow captures the gracefulness of the female model. Very nice work indeed.

An updated, very small colourstudy, that will bring it closer to what I want.

About the oil + ventilation question - there is artist grade water mixable oils. Or paint with regular oils and don't use solvents.

Really cool painting @Mattias Wirf! When I get stuck on a painting, I kind of have a checklist of concepts I like to roll through to make sure each aspect of my piece is working. For this one, I brought it back to the value stage and focused a bit more on values, light, and a tiny bit on composition. So, the lighting logic on your figure is off, BUT I do like how it basically turns the figure into a very clear bright shape to help her stand out in the composition. I'd say if you want to keep the light like this, it might be ok in this scenario. I just cleaned up your shadows a bit so that the shadow value matches the upper part of the leg that's completely in shadow. Additionally, I added a cast shadow to bring a bit more light logic to the piece. To contrast with the idea of 'Spring', I think it might be a cool idea to add variety to the background through the trees. I've chosen to use trees without leaves on them, which gives them a more threatening shape that contrasts with the main focus of your piece. You don't necessarily have to go in this direction, but it is a good idea to consider how you can use background elements to add variety to your painting, and give greater emphasis to your focal areas. I also think that Yiming's comment on color is valid as well. The areas like the grass and dirt in the foreground seem a bit too warm, especially when the colors should be influenced by the ambient cool light that we can see in the background. Hope you found this helpful! Let me know if there is anything that I can clear up for you.

This is an unusual and interesting pose. I think what you could do next is to add indirect light reflections. You see the human colour is a bit "disconnected" with the whole frame, so it might be good to introduce some blue/green-ish reflections on her skin so the viewer can see it's united. the leg seems to have that idea already, it might be the brightness is too high as a reflection so it didn't quite unite the image that well.

That would be nice.

Hey Gabriel, have a look at the roadmap here: https://www.proko.com/roadmap ;)

Hey everyone! I am James, and I have done some form of art all my life. I have worked with graphite, charcoal, colored pencil, pastel, oil, acrylic, digital,... My recent focus has been on digital paintings of portraits and figures. Attached are some of my digital works done in Photoshop. I also have a PhD in engineering biomechanics, so I have a strong background in anatomy and human movement. I try to use that in my art.

Hello! I'm Mattias, 45 years old, from Sweden. I went obsessed with art as a kid, went to artschool in the early 90's. Got a job as a portrait painter in the late 90's - but it was not creative and took piece and piece away from my passion. When I quit that job I moved and got into a studio in Stockholm with my wife, but we lost the second hand contract on the place. Slowly I painted less and less. I also have an education and experience as a webdeveloper, and it was an easier way to make money. I still did small, occasional jobs with painting/drawing/illustration and such in my local area, but not very often. In 2017/18 I suddenly got a strong urge to draw and paint again, I'm not sure why (you may call it a midlife crisis ;) ) So I started drawing again, and just recently we got a studio with room for the whole family, and I'm getting back to painting. I've also found the local art school (one block away from where I live) have life drawing sessions. Life is good. Some images of inkwork attached.