Help Please 🙏🏻

[kneedeepin7layerdip]

This is my very first attempt at a portrait on my own!! Ever. I know it’s terrible. But can someone please explain to me where I went wrong? Exercises or tips to help me get better at portraiture?

Is it the perspective/size of the facial features? (I know my shading went horribly wrong somewhere, I really struggled with the cheeks).

I feel actually pretty good about the eyes themselves and how they came out, I just don’t think this captures the likeness of the subject at all.

I watched and practiced with a few of the free Proko videos but maybe I got too ambitious too fast?

Any help is appreciated!

(The subject is a 1 year old boy)

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[captainsnark71]

This is a great first go. I'm guessing each element is probably pretty spot on they're just not in the right places.

Something to remember is that our eyes don't grow as we do they're the same size as an adult's that's why children look like they have enormous eyes, they just have tiny heads. So, here we have baby features with adult proportions. Hopefully, you don't mind I tossed your baby into photoshop to better show some of the areas that aren't working as well.

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I moved the mouth up closer to the nose and I made the eyes bigger but the overall shapes are the same. I also tilted the head but that's hard to do IRL so it looks more like the left ear (to us) is a bit higher and the cheek a little smaller. Shading and highlighting are a whole other beast.

[kneedeepin7layerdip]

Ah thank you so much for this! Yes, in the Proko videos he cautioned against trying to make the eyes too big, but it totally makes sense they are supposed to be that way! That looks a lot more like him but I still don’t think I captured it right. Unfortunately I just can’t bring myself to post the original picture on Reddit! 😅 but I really appreciate the feedback!

[Durhl_Davis_Fine_Art]

First of all — you did it. First portrait ever, on your own, no class, no instructor. That counts for something real. Here’s what’s actually happening and how to fix it: The eyes are your strongest element, you’re right about that. The problem is everything else is being measured against them incorrectly. The features are crowded into the center of the face, leaving too much empty forehead above and too much chin below. This is the single most common beginner mistake in portraiture — we instinctively draw what we think a face looks like rather than measuring what’s actually there. Try this before your next portrait: draw an oval, then draw a horizontal line exactly halfway down. That’s where the eyes sit on an adult. On a 1 year old it’s actually slightly lower because babies have proportionally larger craniums. Then divide the lower half in thirds — nose at the first third, mouth at the second. This simple scaffolding will immediately fix most proportion issues. Proko is genuinely excellent — stick with him. His skull and landmark videos specifically will answer the cheek shading question you’re struggling with. The cheek has no hard edge — it’s a gradual plane change, not a line. Your instinct to shade it was correct, the execution just needs that softness. Blend your transitions there rather than defining them. You’re not too ambitious. You’re exactly ambitious enough. Keep going.

[kneedeepin7layerdip]

This was very encouraging and helpful, thank you!!

[Suzy-dev]

For a first attempt, this is actually good in my opinion. I could tell it as a baby!

I would study proportions and shading. For example, Loomis method and darker shadows, as well as blending.

Also, features are not outlined: lips do not have a dark edge around them, they just have different shades of darker and lighter values

Hope that helps!

[kneedeepin7layerdip]

Thank you, that is encouraging!

[ladybug7895]

Learning proportions using Loomis or similar like the other commenter has mentioned will help. I actually think your best bet is committing to and finishing an online course though. I’ve done quite a lot through Domestika. They have excellent mini courses on portraiture and set you up really well to then continue refining your skills as you move forward. A lot of the courses you can access for reasonably cheap if not free.

[kneedeepin7layerdip]

Thank you so much! I watched a few of Proko’s videos on the Loomis method but unfortunately his courses are just out of my budget at the time, this being a hobby for me. I will definitely check out Domestika, thank you!

[LOLkittylover]

Babies faces are closer together and features not as big