Rebeccak: thanks for the comments. really need that! definetely will look in to what you’ve said when doing this further. and now that you’ve mentioned the left leg, i also see that his right foot also looks rather skinny in comparison with his hands, esp biceps there. hmm, will study the ref more later. thanks again!
now really off to sleep!
Time to dive back in. This is an afternoon’s work. Oil on canvas 8x10" raw umber, black, & white. I tweaked the digital photo some to look more like the painting, otherwise no touch-up. Wanted to do something a bit looser this time.
Changed things a bit: toned down the lighting some and added a wall. I’m not happy with the right forearm and hand, but it’ll do for now.
-David
David,
You have a good start here. 
It’s always nice to see a traditional approach. I like the lighting scheme so far, and the upper torso is looking quite nice.
The thing which I think requires more consideration is the weight being placed on his left, weight~bearing leg. Both legs appear a bit thin/weak, and thus not strong enough to support his upper body. Could the legs also be a bit short? These are adjustments which I’m sure you’ll reconsider over the course of the painting…looking forward to your update.
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
Rebecca…thanks for the very helpful ‘tilt’ tips. I did tilt both the head and body and I think that has helped me alot. Much more work done including a gray wash and more fine details added as well. I know I need to clean up some edges too.
Sorry painter crashed on you. Your image looks good so far, very strong.
Augusta…Great start and use of colors.
Amerasu…thank you for your comments. Your images look great. The one with the blue bg almost breathes.
b2dermawan…thank you and I worked on those hilites. Really like your finished image. Very good. Like you new pose as well and can tell the bg will be very nice. No crits from me so far.
dbClemens…Great start. The area between ‘his’ left elbow and chest should be a little wider upwards of the elbow. I sketched this a couple of days ago and used Rebecca’s ‘negative space’ suggestion. Maybe that will help with the arm issues you are having. Looks really nice so far and I like the colors you are using.
Great work everyone!
Samanthie,
Wow, a lot of great progress so far! :thumbsup: I'm really glad the 'tilt tip' helped, I think that the post does look a lot more accurate now. :) You are also really starting to capture his expression, which is great to see. He really looks as though he is looking inward ~ that's nicely done. His arms are looking great, and are so far integrating nicely with the chest ~ there is a nice sense that the arms are sitting on top of the chest, which is not easy to do. The head's tilt is near~perfect, and the mass of the top of the head is well~balanced with the face. :)
I still think the body may be tilted a wee bit too far towards the viewers’ left…but this is a small quibble. Could the shoulders be a tad wider? Again, a minor point, but something which you may choose to re~evaluate. Overall, however, you are doing a great job, and it just remains for you to go in and tweak and refine the value relationships and details to make the piece really ‘pop’.
Great stuff, we all anticipate your next update! :)
Cheers, :)
~RebeccakThank you for all your comments Rebecca. I’m working on the image again right now and will see if I can widen the shoulders.
Samanthie,
No problem! You are so sweet to accept all my nagging comments in stride, lol! Good luck, it’s great to follow your updates!
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
I see everyone’s work is evolving very nicely…I’m on mine right at this very moment…and I’m not sure whether or not I should put it up tonight or tomorrow…I still see so much tweaking before going on to the next level so bear with me on that…
b2derwaman: Yours has such nice, nice flesh tones (how u guys n gals see flesh colors on a b&w is beyond me but anyways… ^ ^’ ) . Right now as I’m typing as fast as I possibly can…the only “small” crit I have for you to make it complete is giving him nipples. (giggle). I had to say it because I feel that’s what’s really missing…
Arctis: The only crit from me is that his stomach is unusually bulging out…quick fix.
Samanthie: Yours is coming along dramatically…some crits from me would be that funny shape of his head. You see…the sharp corner in the hair at right…makes the face awkward. Maybe flip the sketch to see what I mean.
dbclemons: Wow! Your choice for flesh and overall colours are beautiful! It looks nostalgic in its own way. I feel you need to only work on the hands and feet. They don’t seem to have proper skeletal structure. My two cents.
Corvax: You need to work on his anatomy proportion…because the thighs and legs look shortened. And the calves don’t look right. My two cents again.
Katea: What I mean is…his right shoulder (left for us)… isn’t done right because of the muscle area…which I find is one of the trickiest part in the male anatomy. It just don’t feel they’re in the right places if you know what I mean. You’re getting very near finished though…My two cents.
Yeah leme go back to work. 
Rebecca…I appreciate your feedback and everyone elses because I’ve got to learn this.lol
Well I did it and His shoulders are wider! I had to also adjust head size to compensate but only a little. Anything I might have done can be undone so no problem with further tweaking if needed. More details added to the eyes and also made the stomach more in keeping with the photo. I think I am almost done.
Loulu…thank you for your comments. I will have another look at the face tomorrow.
Have fun everyone.
I
Samanthie,
You are doing a great job here! You know by now, however, that I like to be more critical as you get closer to the finish line, lol. 
So, here are a few quick comments which I hope will be useful as you refine those final details.
[left]Overall, I think your rendering job is really terrific, but there are some places where the drawing could be improved just slightly. Firstly, I think if just a wee bit of mass were added to the top right / back of his head, it would adjust the angle of the head’s tilt just slightly and make it feel more balanced. The main thing with the head that could be improved is the angle of the ears ~ they should be parallel with the brow, eyes, nose, lips, and chin, and to each other. That bit on his left clavicle looks a bit funny to me, and I think just needs to be reconsidered. His upper right arm currently is at an angle which is causing the upper arm to seem shorter than his upper left arm. I think in the photo, the angle of the narrowest points of his upper right arm are more angled outward, toward the left side of the picture plane. Additionally, I think his right hand’s fingers protrude a bit more underneath his other arm.
These are all nitpicky things, but I think if you look at these places, you might agree that adjusting them would improve your already really great piece…you know I think you’re a really fantastic artist, and I think these small adjustments will only make this piece better.
Cheers!
~Rebeccak
[/left]
Thank you Rebecca I really appreciate all of your words they are very encouraging. I’m looking forward to making the changes!
Debs
Samanthie,
No prob! It’s fun to watch as everyone’s work progresses. Farther than mine, I might say. 
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
Hi Rebecca and ZhuZhu, too!
Never used layers before.
Thought I would give it a try.
Interesting possibilities.
Just getting creative, not finished yet.
Samanthie: Your figure is shaping up nicely.
Checked out your tutorial. Great Job!
Some really nice styles happening on these figures.
Everyone is a little different.
Nice to see.
Take Care
Glenn
PS
b2dermawan
Took your suggestion to put something in the upper right
corner of the painting…was just waiting for the idea to come along…
What do you think?
Glenn
Rebecca, thanks for commets. Yes, I love Freud’s work.
Update:
Right now, left side of the picture is too dominant, due to left shoulder. I hope speculars will solve this problem.
Spirit Dreamer,
Interesting combinations ~ I like the second better, though spatially she’s floating a bit…not a hard fix tho and it will be interesting to see if you develop this further. I think it’s cool that people experiment with these and do different things with the figures…but I would focus most on getting zhuzhu’s figure to read as beautifully as your work for the OFDW 001, which you’ve nicely included here in your 2nd image.
augustus,
You’re welcome! Wow, it looks like you’ve come a long way…the body is looking really great so far, and I would just recommend starting to block in the basics of the face…perhaps you might want to work on the face at first in a separate / new document, to give it your full attention. However, since you are working digitally, I really recommend working on the face at the same time and rate as the body…you might finish the body and not feel like completing the face.
But great work on the arms especially! 
Looking good so far, can’t wait to see more refinements!
Cheers,
~Rebeccak
Rebecca I’ve made all the changes and I like it much better. Thank you. Also I found that the arms needed a bit more adjusting as well. I am still having a lot of problems with his left shoulder. It’s that top of the shoulder that I can’t seem to get just right. You can see from all of my submissions that this area changes alot as I go along.lol
Loulu I have lowered his hair somewhat and it looks more balanced. Thanks.
Augustus his arms are looking great!
Thank you Glenn. Layers are so much fun. I work with them alot. I like your idea of combining characters…gives me some ideas too. Both your images are looking very interesting.
Deb,
You're welcome! :) Wow, what a lot of great improvement! The head looks great, and the facial expression is really dead~on.
I think the major way this piece can be improved is through the angles created by the axes of the shoulders and the axis of the upper right arm. I am totally not picking on you by doing a paintover, I just think it’s the easiest way to point out what I think could really improve your beautiful piece through the slightest of adjustments.
So, here is a little demo of what I think is the slight difference in angles between the photo and your painting:
[img]http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b380/rebeccak5/OFDW%20004/Deb_QuickPaint-2.jpg[/img]
[left]In the photo, the angle of the narrowest points of his right upper arm is pointing slightly more out and away from his body. In your piece, the angle is slightly more vertical in its direction.
In the photo, the angle of the axes of his shoulders is, to the viewer, slightly pointing down to the viewer’s right. In your piece, I think you have the angle pointing slightly upward to the viewer’s right.
Now, these are very minor quibbles, but I think they may be the factors which is throwing the piece just slightly off.
Additionally, I think if you were to throw in a gray bkgrd and blur some of the edges just slightly, he wouldn’t have such a cut~out feel. Maybe this is part of your later process, but at the moment the edges around the figure are quite sharp and unnatural~feeling. I’m sure this is something you have already noticed, but I just wanted to point that out.
Fantastic job, and hope this is useful. :)
Cheers, :)
~Rebeccak
[/left]That’s a very fast doodle on a very small piece of paper. I just wanted to get the silhouette right.
Katea,
Really nice study there! Your sensitivity to light is quite nice…do you have further plans for this or the other pose?
Cheers,
~Rebeccak