Portrait seems boring

[joelphilippage]

I worked by putting my old image next to Mad's and tried to edit mine. I left certain parts because I do think some part's are more true to the image. I think most of my problems are in the details because, when I really paint, a pixel off doesn't matter. I think I really need work on pixel art.
And yes I do need work with anatomy since I've never had anything similar to a life drawing class. Just basic proportions.
I hope this answers your questions.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

It does!  In that case, I suggest drawing with the actual portrait beside your work instead, unless the edits have been made with respect to the source material (ie, the person looked at the photo reference and corrected the nose based on that rather than on some internal idea of how it should look).  This will bring your portrait closer to resembling the source, naturally.  Now if you're going for a sort of stylized variation of a source image, my advice is still to try and achieve a reasonable pixeled version of the source and then consider what you'd like to change up because then you've got some solid anatomy to work with.  After awhile you'll be able to draw portraits without any reference (or a passing one) and achieve very solid results, so keep at it!  I look forward to seeing your progress,either with this portrait or future ones.

[loominous]

ProgZmax:

What I find curious is your stance that only people who "have form and body and shadows and highlights properly understood" can "perhaps" experiment, which sounds like something out of Oliver Twist.

Nothing says that you can't gain understanding and experiment in parallel.

Sure wish we had more Ben304's on this board.

[Andail]

Loominous, surely you agree that the best route to take is to learn the basics first (that is, to reproduce anatomy, perspective, colours and proportions the way they actually look), and then experiement.

At least if you wanna learn and improve. If you just wanna have fun, then forget about rules and experiment away.

That goes for all disciplines by the way; I can get quite annoyed when students refuse to embrace common writing rules and guide-lines just because there exists literature that ignores them. And then when they have a go at writing avant-garde texts it looks like shit.

[loominous]

Loominous, surely you agree that the best route to take is to learn the basics first (that is, to reproduce anatomy, perspective, colours and proportions the way they actually look), and then experiement.

If you want to take the express train to realism, then sure, devote your entire days to practicing the basics, and leave experimentation for a distant future.

But how the devil did we arrive at the conclusion that this was the case in this thread?

This is like an acquaintance approaching you with some portraits that they've mucked around with, asking for input. "Enjoying bizarre colours", one of the versions features some experimental colours.

To at this point state that:

the green shade isn't artsy, it's highly distracting like you're viewing an anaglyph image.  The prevailing light source here does not seem capable of creating either a green shadow or a green bounce light so my advice is to get rid of it entirely and focus first on a competent portrait design.  Once you have form and body and shadows and highlights properly understood then perhaps you can experiment.

strikes me as partly bizarre, partly draconian, and I think it's the duty of anyone present at such an exchange to intervene.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

So because you disagree with me it's your 'duty' to intervene?  You're beginning to sound like some sort of ridiculous avenging angel, saving the people from us poor fools.  Seriously, Loominous, if you disagree with me then prove how it's better to just sit and experiment than to have guidelines and a firm grasp of the basics first, bearing in mind that the portrait did not begin from the imagination but from a solid, real reference.  Meanwhile, don't sit there all high and mighty calling my methods draconian because I give someone the advice to build up confidence with basic principles and build upon them and go from there.  I never said creativity was verboten.  

Also, it was the OP who said they enjoy bizarre colors; that's not something I attributed to them, only agreed that the green looked strange and made it all appear vaguely stereoscopic to me.

[Lad]

  There is too much tension on this board. We should loosen up. I like this forum a lot, but now it seems that it's turning into a civil war battlefield if we continue like this. I know I'm not very active with posting, but I check this forum about 3 times everyday.

ON TOPIC:

I must say I agree with progzmax about the basics. I know it is hard to get into learning all that, but it gives a lot of depth to your images later and helps you read the masterpieces better and understand how they are built up. Also I just read a good article what you may or my not have seen already. Ofcourse experimenting is always welcome, but I would still suggest to draw as accurately as possible in the beginning. If you know how things work then you can safely crack it open and change the things that are needed.
If I wasn't useful then I hope the article was.

Keep on studing, practising and having fun. 

[Andail]

strikes me as partly bizarre, partly draconian, and I think it's the duty of anyone present at such an exchange to intervene.

Hm... easy on the diction there, loomy old friend, it sounds like you're witnessing the gasing of the jews

Progz has both the experience and integrity to afford a certain...directness...when giving feedback. It's all for the benefit of the OP, even though it's sometimes blunt.

Also, it's one thing to disagree on a certain method, but let's not go overboard with the strong words.

....aaaand, as a global moderator I say future posts should be on topic and about the artwork in question. If you still have disputes to settle, use PMs, or if you wanna keep discussing pedagogical models please start a thread over at gen-gen.  

I thank you very much.

[Chicky]

Aww, i wish i was a badass elite artist too. Draconian is such a cool word.

Joel, have you tried a little pixel by pixel anti alias on those shadows?

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Progz has both the experience and integrity to afford a certain...directness...when giving feedback. It's all for the benefit of the OP, even though it's sometimes blunt.

I just want to clarify that if I do come off like a prick with my feedback, I really don't mean to, and apologize in advance if it sounds like it.  I am never making these suggestions from a mental position of superiority or ego, they are always heartfelt and honestly how I feel a person can best improve.  If anything, I try to go the extra mile to show people exactly what I mean in a direct and courteous manner, and I think a good ninety-upwards percent of my posts in this forum show that.

Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled portrait c&c, please :>.

[Questionable]

Personally, I like your quirky color choices but I think they're effecting the tone of the image and they may or may not be alluding to the tone that you seek for the image.

Immediately when I saw the picture I got into my head whites and blues tinged with gold; Pale, somber opulence, so I made this:


In order to achieve the particular look I use: I painted over the original image, then reduced the size which distorted the image. I then modified it pixel by pixel until it resembled the original image again. This is how I do it, not how you should or should not do it- the main purpose of my post is to ideally influence your color choices, or not.


After my initial impressions I studied her- the whole look felt like Victorian Era or older and pale roses and sepia tones leapt to my mind:




After looking at the New picture I had made I giggled because it reminded me of the type of portraits they use on money so I went with a green pseudo-monochromatic look:




Ultimately these are poor illustrations of the concept but in a small way they all have a different "mood" to them, even though they have almost no difference besides color. In your original illustration you had very little color variation (although the level of contrast was good) which made your image feel flat and uninteresting. Next it appears as if you started using gently offset complimentary counterparts and they added a level of depth to the image and certainly made it interesting, however the new palette coupled with the new background effected the tone making it feel as if the subject is agitated, or mildly upset- which may be fine depending on the use of this portrait but I think having that appearance for a long duration would feel odd.

I'm sure there are hundreds of things on the web about colors effect mood/tone and the psychology of colors but here's something that i feel helped me: http://designinformer.com/the-process-behind-good-illustration-part-2/

I played around with colors in your most recent edit and (even with her mouth and eyebrow the way they are) the shift in tone was palpable. In one (mostly yellows) she seemed mischievous, in another she seemed angry (red/browns.)

Ultimately, in addition to any other edits you do, or if you do no more edits, consider adjusting the colors to match the tone that you're intending to achieve.

[joelphilippage]

Thanks for the tutorial and information. It should be a good help.

[1mal_volltanken]

Wow,

really good work! It looks very professional.


Drawing portraits is rather a complex work.



BG
the upfiller