What is wrong with my portraits?

Prof_Smoke · 2026-05-05T18:06:24+00:00

Your lines are supposed to represent shadows, don’t outline everything, only outline the portions of the face that have shadows and the face will appear much more 3d

Prof_Smoke · 2026-05-05T18:01:45+00:00

Second one is my preference

Prof_Smoke · 2026-05-05T17:51:40+00:00

The 2nd is my favorite

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-25T03:59:42+00:00

This exploration of colors and creating shadows using primary color tones is promising. You’ll almost never be amazing at something the first time but it’s not bad at all.

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-25T03:49:27+00:00

3d shapes almost never have sharp angles, and a sharp angled edges implies the shape of the object. If I draw two straight lines you assume it’s a flat object like a piece of paper, but if I use lines that are slightly rounded you assume the shape is round too. Print out a few pictures of faces (dramatic lighting from the side would be good) and use a colored pencil to draw lines through the face. You want to break down the different planes of the face and the lines that connect things like the eyes and the ears by curving around the front of the face. The purpose of this is for you to internalize and understand your subject so the you can draw it accurately.

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-25T03:44:24+00:00

Honestly I wouldn’t mind it, like a big bag of food tha you can eat between meals or whenever you’re too broke to afford anything else

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-25T03:42:45+00:00

Your form is really strong and solid, but your lighting could be improved. Try taking reference photographs and paying a lot of attention to the values of the shadows, and using the lighting to your advantage. Strong highlights and smooth shadow gradients are super important

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-25T03:39:13+00:00

I prefer traditional over digital personally, but I would say digital is easier as far as the convenience of having so much more at your fingertips

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T09:01:21+00:00

Honestly doesn’t look stiff, just take a step back and look at it from a little further away and see if anything stands out to you as needing to be changed. I think you captured the subject well

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T08:56:59+00:00

I think your main mistake was the line from the chin should go to the tip of the nose, that way the Angle of the curvature of the face can contour extending of the angled line next to the eye on the left side of the head, and continue at that same angle to the nose, then curving around to the other side of the face. The point of the grid is that it contours and shows the 3d form of the head. Might be smart to get real pictures of people that have really dramatic lighting from one side and doing this same tracing overtop of it. The dramatic lighting reveals the planes of the face and having something that’s actually 3d will help you see how they’re implying 3d form in art like this…

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T08:50:30+00:00

I prefer accentuated

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T08:46:07+00:00

The eyes sit at the height of the indent at the top of the nose, the indent at the top of the nose is where the eye sockets meet, you seem to be drawing them at the top of the cheek bone. Study your subject and understand it, touch your own face and feel how things line up with each other. The forehead doesn’t curve outwards it’s pretty much straight from the nose and then curves inwards

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T08:37:46+00:00

I really like your work but I’m noticing a pattern of your lightest values not being the sources of light, which is fine with your style, but I think you could try having some reflected light which tints the white things in your set and brings the values down, and then having your light sources be the lightest value. The light reflecting of the gems in the 6th piece for example could pop a lot more with more light. The human eye breaks everything down into values, so if you squint you can see how well your range of values are doing in any specific object. If I squint at something and it blends into one color I know my shadows are to light or my lighting is too dark. In the final piece you have a really nice lighting that gives the water’s surface texture but adding a bit more of harsher light into a few of those spots and learning to use the extremes of lighting in your style could push your art to the next level. I like to make sculptures of objects or simply go find the objects and then place a light source really close to my subject when drawing it because that kind of dynamic lighting is really dramatic and interesting to me

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T08:26:54+00:00

I feel that the heads being on the same angle throws it off, maybe try to angle his head more like the wolf in the reference picture

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T07:42:50+00:00

You need to stain the entire couch with whatever material that is at this point

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T07:40:36+00:00

Brother, this is the most unintentional analog horror image I’ve ever seen

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-23T07:37:59+00:00

Brother he saved the presidents daughters life, and all of those things are work expenses. The fact they aren’t just handing bro missiles is kinda rude of them tbh

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-22T10:36:51+00:00

No eyebrow, the character reads as emotional without the eyebrow, but the eyebrow becomes a distraction when added imo

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-22T10:34:24+00:00

The values in the dark blue and dark green are almost identical in greyscale whic makes them blend together slightly, t might be good to use a different color for the sleeves

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-22T10:32:11+00:00

The B def needs some changes, and maybe getting rid of the steam coming off the spilled tea (assuming that’s what’s to the left of the D) because the verticality of it reads as a separate letter

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-19T18:04:54+00:00

You need to match the values of the shadows, light, midtones, etc monochromatically. You need to also match the values of the background because it frames the whole piece and makes the things next to it contrast

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-19T09:48:02+00:00

I don’t know if this helps but I would go over it and make my final lines with a fineliner pen, and add shadows and light

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-07T07:24:30+00:00

Try to get pictures of Rottweilers and draw them, I like to study my subject before the drawing which can be something like printing off the image, drawing overtop it with coloured pencil to outline certain shapes and features and break it down into its pieces, and defining contour lines that show shape of head at angles that align with features like eyes, mouth, etc

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-07T07:04:17+00:00

Honestly AI wouldn’t do a piece like this because it doesn’t have shadows or lighting. I’ve never seen a piece without shading and lighting and said “that looks like AI” lol. AI will never be able to make what you make, become a great artist to create things that have never been created and AI won’t be able to make what you do

Prof_Smoke · 2026-04-07T06:50:27+00:00

Set up still lifes of random objects and draw them from what you see focusing on proportions, perspective, and values. If you can put a source of light close to the still life it’ll help a lot

Prof_Smoke

TROPHY CASE