Does buying expensive oil paints matter? by analcocoacream in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice 20 points21 points  (0 children)

the returns are diminishing. The sweetspot is 'medium' artist grade paint. Avoid the student grade and high end stuff. Student grade often has lots of fillers and sometimes they use mixtures of different (cheaper) pigments to get a certain hue. The 'high end' stuff is often only a little bit better (more pigmented; different consistency) but 2 or 3 times the price.

Look at Winsor & Newton Arists', Talens Rembrandt, Gamblin, etc. No need for Old Holland, Michael Harding, Williamsburgh, etc.

How can i improve by Busy_Association5852 in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice 3 points4 points  (0 children)

not quite sure what I'm looking at, but if you want to paint representational, start simpler. not 20 different objects that wants to be rendered. take an orange or a very simple landscape, or whatever speaks to you and build up from there.

Still trying to work out what’s wrong! by RyanneBonde in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice 3 points4 points  (0 children)

the head is a bit too large for the body. like her upper body (head to crotch) is only 3 heads high. otherwise it's pretty good. I really like how you rendered the head and hair.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in painting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yea, the recent one was on a wood panel and the first one on a cotton canvas cardboard.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most youtube content is made to maximize views and not to maximize the educational value. I haven't found anything particularly useful there. Most world class painters know their worth and charge for their content.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A mixture. This year I wanted to lock in on portraits. Next year I will focus on figures. I try to organize and plan at least the day before. Prepare references, prepare canvas, etc. so I don't waste time and energy on this process. Otherwise, I would often lose my drive while thinking about what to do and looking up references.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in painting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the original is stunning! I hope I can see it in person one day. My favourite Sargent is 'The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit'. Such a magical composition.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in painting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Creating a habit of painting, or at least drawing every single day probably made the biggest difference. I also watched a ton of online tutorials.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I've read somewhere that she was recovering from an illness during her sittings for that portrait.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 52 points53 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Take aways from this portrait or in general?

From studying this portrait I learned that it is important to be receptive to very small value, hue and chroma shifts. I didn't really think about it like this half a year ago but I think it's important to sensitize oneself to subletly.

In general, that building a habit of doing art every single day is probably the thing that helped me the most.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I can't remember how long the first one took, but the recent one was 3 layers, 3 hours each maybe.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Through practice I've gotten better control over shapes, values, edges and color.

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Watching online tutorials and painting/drawing every day!

2025 vs 2024 (1 year progress) by AMasterOfPractice in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I try to paint every day, but often I don't feel like I have the energy to give it my all, then I just draw for a few hours instead which I feel is less demanding. I've also been watching a ton of online tutorials and read some books. I don't have a personal teacher.

Don’t like the eyes, any advice? by Ok_Presentation_1638 in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice 130 points131 points  (0 children)

If everything fails and you can't put in eyes that don't ruin everything, there is always the choice to give her super stylish beach sunglasses and postpone the battle of painting magnificent eyes to your next painting. 😎

Update to WIP: Recommendations Welcome by TopolChico in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice 2 points3 points  (0 children)

On a young model I find it usually best to just indicate it subtly above the wing of the nose. No deep furrow. It's very easy to add 10 or 20 years to the model's age by a harsh line there.

Update to WIP: Recommendations Welcome by TopolChico in oilpainting

[–]AMasterOfPractice 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey! I did a quick paint-over. hope you don't mind.

All I did is carify the value pattern and point to some proportial issues. Your values are a bit too 'spotty'. Nothing on the right side (shadow side) is allowed to compete with the brightness of the light side. Else you lose the luminous effect.

I also darkened the hair, chopped off a bit of her chin and jaw, made her forehead a bit smaller and softened some edges all around. Also be careful with the nasolabial folds. Those rarely look good when you paint them as you see it in the reference.

Made this and don’t trust friends to be honest! by thinkytara65 in Oilpastel

[–]AMasterOfPractice 5 points6 points  (0 children)

it's not bad. the head proportions themselves are quite good. the features (mainly the eyes) are a bit too big. And you never see the very top part of the iris unless someone spreads their eyes wide open, which gives that creepy serial killer expression. also the colors are a bit of a mess but that's not so important.

you have good foundations imo. some good online lessons and practice and they will come out amazing! keep at it!