[TerryCurley]

I'm trying doing an underpainting with acrylic on Jayna's portrait. I started this portrait last week and got the eyes sort of done but I figured I could still try the underpainting on it. I'm not at all sure I'm liking the results.

While you are viewing this keep in mind I haven't finished the eyes...no lashes or eye brows yet.

My husband came in and looked at the picture and said "Who the hell is that suppose to be"...(I love you too dear). I'm guessing I haven't captured her image all that well. The next one will be better! Need your suggestions for improvement. I'm thinking the fold in the cheeks are a little too close to the mouth. Why do I always have so much trouble with the mouth?

 

[chanda95]

Aww. Cute!

I think the color tone is way off but in all honesty I like it better! The original photography looks a little washed out and I think wouldn't look anywhere near as good as a painting using the colors in the photograph.

The main thing I am noticing is that there aren't enough value changes..but it's still early and I don't know if you have that in the works or not. If you look at the way the light is hitting her face you will notice that most of her right cheek (as you are looking head on) and then that portion of her left cheek by her mouth have been accented by the light. Your painting does show a little value change but not a remarkable amount. I think if you lightened those areas up more it would really give your painting a 3-D feel. Also I think it needs a little bit more darkening on the left side of the nose. But again, like I said, you are still in early phases and from what I have seen already have an excellent grasp of of stuff like this. It's just what I am seeing right at this moment.

This is going to be one of your best yet I think.

 

[chanda95]

Oh - and the reason you have trouble with the mouth is because the mouth is troublesome! I fight with mouths all the time..and I hate teeth.

In this case look at the original photograph and you will see that inside her mouth..at the corners..are darkened. You ran your teeth all the way to the corners. That might be part of the problem? Also in the photo, the right side of her mouth is lighter because light is hitting it. The left side of her mouth is dark because it is in the shadows. As it stands the mouth appears flat on your painting because there are no light/dark tonal values to give it depth. The painting has the mouth at all the same color.

 

[TerryCurley]

Thank you Chanda. You have pointed out some things I needed to see. I'll be working on it today and will probably finish it. Painting goes a lot faster than pencil pictures. At least mine do because I don't get down to the level of detail of your work.

Already I can't wait to do the next one because I know each one I'm improving with.

I'm also thinking I need to mute the background colors I'm using in the portrait. I'm finding the first thing I'm seeing when my head turns to the picture is the bright colored background...that shouldn't be.

 

[TerryCurley]

I worked more on the shading (values) like you suggested. It's been consistently my main problem when I'm doing a portrait. I also worked on the mouth a little in that I blocked out the back teeth. I agree the hue of the skin is not the same as the picture but like you said the picture is so light I don't think it would be a good painting if I matched the color. That's been part of my problem. Jayna and Johanna are so fair their photos have little contrast.

Anyway after saying all that I truly love the picture only it doesn't look like Jayna. So it's a pretty picture but not a good portrait. However, I've been reading some on doing portraits and got ideas on how to improve the likeness in my portraits and the next one will be much better.

 

[chanda95]

What I love about this is that you have achieved depth! Value shifts are hard for me as well but in the end they just make for a better picture. My pictures used to be VERY flat because I was afraid to go dark. My values were very monotone.

This is wonderful and I can't wait to see your next one.