Portrait (sketch) of a young girl

[Mr Flibble]

(Fullsize)
I tried to keep it fairly simple, not many lines or shades. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It's very sketchy obviously but I'm not sure if I could refine the detail into something more realistic without losing the simplistic charm. If I were doing it again I'd do the hair differently I think. All comments are welcome. The subject was quite pleased with it but I'd appreciate some outside feedback.

[CaptainD]

Didn't want to let this go uncommented...

I think it's very good, though I'm not really sure about the hair.  I like the heavy contrast you've used on the lines of the face but not on the rest.


Edit by ProgZ:

There's no need to quote the entire post just above yours, especially the image.

[hedgefield]

Yeah it's pretty good. The hair would be the only thing I'd really have reservations about. It could help to see the original image so we can judge the likeness. Or did you paint it live?

[Alan v.Drake]

No, it's bad, and she seems to be looking at you in contempt.
The hair are particularly atrocious, you should avoid individual strands and work more with shapes and value.

Sorry for the cold shower, but harsh reality is what an artist needs to improve.
Good luck.


- Alan

[Mr Flibble]

It wasn't live but it's not based on a photograph either, that's just what she looks like. I'll have to ask her before I post an actual photo of her here. I need to play around more with a way of doing hair that meshes better with the simplicity of the face, but without being a plastic helmet. [Edit: It's also really more of a preliminary, I can't call this a proper finished portrait.]

Alan, I appreciate frankness and honesty and I agree the hair needs work but "bad" and "atrocious" are hardly constructive criticisms, if you want to spout bile go find one of Icey's threads.

[vertigoaddict]

Okay so I'm not the best of artists, but here's a rough paintover



I don't really like the highlight at the far left, but I just tried to follow where it was placed in the original.

As for the face, maybe add a bit of a cupid's bow (I just noticed there isn't one after I did the paint-over).

[Alan v.Drake]

Wouldn't have been a cold shower had I used softer gentler words, would it ?  
Once I made a pencil portrait, and was pretty happy about it. Grave error, the more I looked at it the uglier it became, in the end I realized the error of my ways and was ashamed of even thinking it was good.

Anyway I found some visual aid that might help you...

I suggest you to paint the hair by laying down the darkest coulour and then building up the lighter shades. Reference to this grayscaled posterized picture, it should suit well your purpose, remember: focus on shapes not individual strands.

As for the face, try to get some reference with that pose to help you fix facial features, drawing them without is no easy feat.

A darker shadow would be welcome on the lower left of the face and neck, expecially between hair and face, at least the direction of light you gave suggests so.

The black vertical curve of the nose is too thick on the top, but even so I'd get rid of it altogether, you have enough shadow to hint the shape without resorting to hard lines.



What, you just wanted to make a fast sketch and be done with it ? Ahah no, now that you made me give you proper crits you better come up with a masterpiece  :


- Alan

[hedgefield]

That's not bad Vertigo. It's a little too neat maybe, only wealthy hotel heirs or reality show contestants from New Jersey spend that much time combing their hair

If you're looking for some more reference, you could take a look at some examples of my attempts at it aswell.

When you're drawing hair, don't treat it as a big helmet, but don't draw every strand either, as aforementioned. Instead, focus on patches of hair. Hair usually flows, and in that flow you can often identify some seperate 'chunks' for lack of a better word (there probably is). My second and fourth example show that most I think. You can sorta see the outlines of the chunks and within there are just a few lines to indicate the direction the hair is flowing in.