WIP:Classic Lady Painting II

[Androgs]

another update :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/Androgs/LadyII_WIP_03.jpg

[Androgs]

last for today
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/Androgs/LadyII_WIP_04.jpg

[CybrGfx]

Beautiful pose and composition.

Your contrasts are becoming too high key, though. You've lost a great deal of the skin tones of the shoulder and body on the LH side, and the highlight colors are bodering on glaring, they are so bright.

I personally, do not care for your background color. It is too close to your models hair color and skin shadow tones, to where she is swallowed by them, leaving only that too-bright dress, which looks like a spotlight is shining on it. You also have a very discernable horizontal line running across the top of her breasts, where the skin tone turns darker above it. Is she illuminated by light from a window, with her left breast and the area just above her left knee, being struck directly from the sunlight?

I also object to the "dead" expression on her face. I am not sure if it is a current "trend" to paint flat and expressionless features, with various backstories of "waiting," "thinking," or other artsy-fartsy justifications for it, or if it just poor rendering skills, but in general, the human face is expressive. The wrinkles we get as we age are from repeated facial muscle contractions as we LIVE. We laugh, we smile, we frown, we grimace, we scowl, we pout, we cry. We are surprised, scared, shocked, happy, sad, angry, confused. Seldom are we expressionless, unless we are bored, and even THAT shows some muscular positioning. We DON'T go through life aimlessly staring like a dead fish. This rant is not aimed at you, as much as it is at all artists who seem to forget that a face is not a blank mask. Even the Mona Lisa has the hint of a smile at the corner of her lips...

Her left shoulder, where it connects to the neck, looks wonky with that highlighted ridge there. What IS poking through her skin that much?
Her right hand looks too big, and the fingers look too long. Additionally, the fabric folds as you are painting them, blend in with the too dark, too low contrast, fingers, making the ring finger look like it is not bent, and is REALLY long, and the middle finger looking like it is bending up at a 45 degree angle.

The pink tones at the bottom (which are also too bright for the rest of the dress) are not a color that is going to look good on this woman with her skin tones.

I do not know your work process, but you need to seriously step back and re-evaluate your latest version against your original. Even roughed out, it was showing a different light source, better anatomy, and much better background. Now, it is looking like a dark, overworked "airbrushed rework" of what you started with.

~Cyber

[Androgs]

thank you so much for your crits and comment, CybrGfx. this is what i really need right now..i can't see my own mistakes and you help me out. thanks again...will carefully rework with this painting in the next step...:)

[Androgs]

here it is, decided to get back and take it as a starting point for the next step..please let me know what you think..? thanks for viewing.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/Androgs/LadyII_WIP_05.jpg

[Androgs]

refine the neck, background and the drappery...please let me know what you think..?

[CybrGfx]

This is really starting to pick up speed. It looks very nice, and the dress is looking good.

You are still too high-key contrast on the skin tones, especially the right arm and hand. It is like you have her being interrogated to confess to something, rather than a classy portrait.

You have no real background setting for her. Is she at a dance? Waiting for a date that never arrives? Why is the light source so hard and bright?

Just some things for you to think about as you refine this.

~Cyber

[Androgs]

Thanks, Cybergfx..your comment really help me a lot.
heres an update, tone down the contrast..hope this one is acceptable. i concentrate on the face, is she looking better now? btw..maybe this one sounds silly..but to tell the truth..i don't think the background story for this piece..just want to make an image like an old time portrait or painting where the person just look straight to the right or to the camera..dunno if this one suit with that style? i hope so...

how is it right now?

[Androgs]

err...sorry..a little fix..i don't like the hand :D(btw i lost the original file.suddenly i can't open it in painter..argh..!!)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/Androgs/LadyII_WIP_07.jpg

[CybrGfx]

btw..maybe this one sounds silly..but to tell the truth..i don't think the background story for this piece..just want to make an image like an old time portrait or painting where the person just look straight to the right or to the camera..dunno if this one suit with that style? i hope so...

how is it right now?The highlights on the skin look much better, but there is a strange "dent" on the front of the shoulder on the RH side of the canvas (her left shoulder). Her forehead also appears to suddenly dip inwards at the hairline, which makes her hand seem too large. The length of the hand is basically from the chin to the hairline. Your hand is so large that the tip of the finger is actually above the top of the head...

Old Time portraits usually had a background of some sort. You didn't often see people posed against blank backgrounds, except for those cheesy photo portrait studios, and even those have a mottled painted background. So, yes, your excuse for no background or setting for this pose sounds silly, but more like you can't paint backgrounds. You're far from alone in that regard, but that doesn't change the fact that it, too, is a technical skill you need to work on...The figure is "flat" from a personality standpoint. You have her "floating" in the middle of an orangy nothingness, with no real expression on her face, no eye contact with the viewer, nothing. A portrait (a good portrait, to be more precise) captures the personality of the subject. That is actually of more importance than technical perfection in the execution. Without a personality, this is just a painting of a female in a dress, e.g. boring. There is no excessively fine detailing to capture the viewer's attention and hold it. It's just a "that's nice" painting that one looks at, and then moves on...It gives nothing to the imagination to retain it's place in your mind any longer than it takes to look away.

It is an excellent practice piece, and will help you learn more about values, skintones, and lighting, but as a portrait, it will always be lacking depth.

[Androgs]

CybrGfx, thanks a lot for your honest comment, now i know the greatest mistake i've done with this piece..want to looking good but lack of personality..i wonder if i still can add one into it...

here's so far..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/Androgs/LadyII_WIP_08.jpg

[Androgs]

here's with color adjustment...i'm still thinking for the background set now..hmm...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/Androgs/LadyII_WIP_09.jpg

[Androgs]

decided to continue working..because there's a lot of mistakes especially the cloth and the legs under it. I also change the expression..
I think I need a rest now...my point of view to my own work seems blurry now.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=302169&stc=1&d=1202928295

[CybrGfx]

I honestly think you need to put a fork in this one. It is past done, and is becoming overdone.

You've now made the hand floating in the air strangely, instead of resting on her leg, and you've shrunken her head, to where it is now too small for the body, and is displaying a very odd "wattle" of skin under her chin...

You are now having to spend more and more time trying to tweak a personality into this, when there is not a strong enough foundation, regardless how perfect you render it.

You've put some good effort into this, but as you have discovered, a portrait without a point does not progress very smoothly.

Life is short, you have many more works waiting to come to life. Put this one to rest and carry forth the lessons it taught you.

~Cyber

[Androgs]

well..I think you're right, CyberGfx. can't thank enough for your last comment. here's the last one. any crits and comment will very welcome..they will be my foundation for later work..:)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/Androgs/Classic_lady_painting_final_lo-1.jpg

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