Malpractice: Maladies practice thread'

#104

Is this the “monster” you referred to in my thread? BAH! I think this could turn out to be a beautiful image. Really, I’m just going to repeat what pap87 said and say it just needs a little more contrast and details(darker in the corners of the mouth and nostrils, under the eyelids , the pit between her collarbones etc)

I like how the Egyptian queen is turning out, especially the attention you have given to the background. The drapery looks lovely!

Something I try to do is try and imagine the blobs of paint I put initially as a lump of clay. I try and sculpt the face out of it. I think it generally helps to try and visualise your image as a 3d image and place your darks and lights accordingly( if I want a depression in the clay, like the the eye socket for example, I’d put some dark tones there. Then I’d put lighter tones for those parts I want to project out)

The brush I use mainly (and almost all the time) is a Photoshop default brush. If you see the list, it starts with the hard round, then goes to the soft and then after the largest soft round brush (no 300 I think) it goes to brushes that are the hard round brush (I think) with the opacity set to pressure.I just use those, I must start using more texture brushes :smiley: If you don’t find it let me know and I’ll upload it for you :slight_smile:
edit :Here you go.

One more thing to remember is that the background always gets reflected in the face, mainly in the darker tones. So if you’re stumped about the colour to use in the shade, just colour pick it from the bg and paint with low opacity, gradually building it up till it looks ok :wink:

edit: I just looked back at your WIP thread. You’ve come such a long long way since …March! Your progress is really phenomenal. Keep drawing and you will get much better! I’ve had 4 years of life drawing/painting and I’m still stuck here :stuck_out_tongue:

#105

I wouldn’t call that face a disaster maladie. I think it’s going ok. I’d agree with hirii and pap there regarding the contrast as well. I kinda suffer from the same problem myself but mainly because i’m a smudgeahollic. lolz

In addition the eyes look crazed because there’s no shadow in the upper portion of the eye. the lids there should partially cover the iris and the lashes would cast shadows there. That would make it look better. The pupil you did is a little too dark in contrast to the main iris. Try to bring those two closer together.

All in all you have good contruction of the face there and your understanding of the planes of the face is pretty good. The proper skill in coloring will come in time and with practice.

I’d also advice something I just learned recently(though people here probably do it all the time. lolz. if you already do this please ignore this advice. :smiley: ). Flip your work every few minutes to get a fresh look. It just magically reveals the flaws with shape and form! lolz

#106

Maladie, Malada,…

Support all of my pre-posters (lol) and would like to add:

The one thing I would have you change is the overall values. They are to light, so you “run out of value range” (kimmel.exe).

I know this was probably supposed to be a lightskinned beauty. Well, the beauty part worked out, but you have to juxtapose the light values to dark values to make the light pop out and hit the viewer over the head.

Just go over it with a reeeeal soft edged brush and darken things down a bit and watch how your lights start to shine against the darker tones.

Otherwise great work, I like the nose and the lips especially!

:thumbsup:

#107

Wow people, thanks for the support!! You convinced me to go on with my ‘monster’:). The brush setting hiiri suggested really worked out (after I finally found it)! It’s like a magic stick, so easy to blend. Here’s my progress. I tried to incorporate all your suggestions, but it doesn’t look very good yet. I will go on though. Eyes are better but will try hair tutorial.

Let me know your suggestions for farther improvement!:slight_smile:

#108

Playing some more with my new toy (opacity = pressure setting):).

This is called ‘sad waiter’…aawwww:).

I would like to have some expert eyes judge where my areas for improvement lie, I’m just too excited with this setting right now!:scream:

#109

Hi Rinske.

WOw, the woman now has really much more balanced values. The blending works good there, too.

I would say: increase the contrast still a little more. Darker where the dark areas are, lighter in the core of the light areas. Also, you could add a tuber (I think that’s waht it is called, it is the little protruding part in the middle of the upper lip), along with a cast shadow on the other side of the lips.
Also, the chest area needs the same treatment.

So, in case you wonder: yes, I suggest you continue work on the female portrait.

You know, it is a good feeling to actually finish a portrait. Will give you a stronger sense of the amount of work you can put into a painting, too.

#110

Thanks Mu! I kind of hate the woman now though…feel like I’ve started out on the wrong foot with her…but oh well, maybe I SHOULD finish something for once in my life:).

Here’s a last ugly doodle before I go to sleep. Any comments on the waiter?

#111

on the waiter:

try to correct the way the eyes tilt. right now it’s tilting upwards which i think kind of creates happy eyes. the lips are good but i think there’s too much dark shadow in the middle which makes the mouth appear open a bit(was this the intention though?).

i have to say that your improvement is very much obvious with the waiter though. i like the way you did his skin tones. mine tend to suck… :smiley:

#112

Writing this from work, so not that detailed, but here goes:

Waiter:

  • the ears are little bit too high. Their upper edges should be line up with the eyes

  • he has got strong facial planes which is a good thing

  • the hair is too much of a helmet. Read Linda’s tutorial on painting hair. Even if you follow only the first four steps or so you will end up with a nice rendition of hair. You need not follow it through til the end to get a good base for a hairdo. I did on my last portrait though and it was very rewarding (in fact, the hair ended up being the part I was most happy with)

  • facial expression is overall too neutral. Add a little twist in the corner of his mouth to make him express something.

  • the eyebrow arc on his left eye is a bit too thick, I think.

  • Add the protruding part in the center of the upper lip. Don’t forget it casts shadows on the lower lip as well as on the far side of the upper lip.

  • the most important problem is: too narrow value range (see previous portrait which you should finish) which makes the portrait flat. Add real dark values and real light lights. Also you will see that as soon you are going to increase the contrast manually (cause that’s what you will be doing then) the values which are in there start to work much better.

Let me say it once again: I do like the female portrait. Take it at least one step further…:slight_smile:

#113

Thanks, Mu!

This is a part of a Sorolla copy for OFDW017. I tried to copy his bold style:). I never seem to get farther in the OFDW’s than a couple of sketches like this, but it’s good practice!

#114

That last pic looks very nice!
I agree with the comments about the eyes on the waiter, but you could also argue that it’s your personal style for drawing eyes. I tend to draw them drooping the opposite way to yours, mainly because that’s how my eyes are. The mouth and the surrounding area feels strange because of the way the expression lines are running, the top lip looks too long compared to the bottom one. But again you could argue this how you want it to look, in which case it’s fine. The only thing left to do is to put more contrast to get depth.
The woman at the river (actually i first thought it was a man!) has good proportions, only the neck is a bit long.

Definitely though that Sorolla copy has opened up your shading skills greatly!

Keep up the good work!

#115

good job on the master copy maladie. you’re progressing steadily. keep it up. :wink:

btw… i’m curious about your name… what does “Rinske” mean in your country?

my name is irish in origin. i once read it means “little king” which was nice when i was younger. but now that i’m 27 it’s not so nice. lolz.

#116

Thanks, Salubri!

Finally I’ve come back to this thread. I’ve spread myself a little thin lately, but now I’ve gone back to the good old ref practicing:).

This took a little under an hour. Just practicing facial planes. I think she’s sweet (at least, the ref was:)). I’ll also try for more convincing hair. And don’t mind the body, I hardly touched upon it.

#117

that’s a really good one maladie. you’re showing lots of improvement. keep it up. :wink:

#118

I made this with help of a great tutorial by audit:) Only about 20 min work and I blocked out the whole flamenco dancer on account of it looking better like a silhouet…

Salubri3i, thank again; my name by the ways comes from ‘Regina’ which means queen. And Maladie means sickness in french. I know:). My boyfriend nicknamed me ‘Ravage Maladie’. It’s a sort of migraine-girlish alter ego:)

#119

Oooooh Maladie I LIKE! Very nice! Love the red outline/halo

#120

Another ‘auditesk’ experiment. I know the colors are over the top. I just tried to be as bold as I could:). I like trying out all this different stuff, I feel I’m learning a lot from everything I do, in different ways.

#121

woo, cool stuff maladie! it’s psychedelic :smiley: i feel the green is a bit dominant, clashing with the orange somewhat. i would go with the reds and blues and perhaps a sharp green accent. great texture though.

‘auditesk’…lol. the patent’s pending…!

#122

You’re right, I feel back in the eighties when I look at it:)

#123

Look who’s back! I figured it was time to come back to one of my practice pieces like I promised, and process the crits and comments I got. So I tried to give her more contrast and better colouring. Also I flipped it and made her posture more dynamic. I didn’t use a ref for it. It’s kinda nice to see how far you can get without a ref:)

I’d love to hear how I could push this farther (apart from refining it ofcourse). Like, point my obvious mistakes out:).