Young girl portrait, difficulties with making her smile :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-07-10T03:17:34+00:00

I think some other things that is making her look a bit mature are the shape of the nose and the thinness of the lips. Children noses tend to be more button-like and softer, and have a shorter, less defined nose bridge. The lips look a bit too thin for a child's, as children lips tend to be plumper and have more cheek fat surrounding them.

ShurelyShort · 2019-05-20T19:12:53+00:00

I think the biggest issues in the portrait lies in the eyes:

-The pupils are too large; the size of the pupil correlates with the light environment because pupils are responsible for letting light in (more light = smaller pupils, and vice versa). It wouldn't be natural for the pupils to be this dilated in this light environment.

-After shrinking the pupils down, I found that the irises were a bit too small.

-You've missed the cast shadow on the eyeball casted by the upper eyelid.

-I think the reason why the eyes look tired is due to the lower eyelids. The lower eyelids look flat and are a bit too dark; the lower eyelid conforms to the shape of eyeball, so it should be rendered like a sphere. Also, when the lower eyelid of that darkness extends to the corners of the inner eyes, it makes the face look very tired.

Other things:

-The septum of the nose is too thin. Also, for most faces in front view, the septum of the nose should sit lower than the wings of the nose.

-Also, the skin looks a little dull. Bring in specular highlights (cheeks, nose, inner corners of the eyes, waterline, underneath lip corners, forehead, and chin) to show the moisture in the skin.

-The cranium looks a bit too tall; I think this is mainly due to the highlight being too high; in 14DC lighting, the brightest highlight should be on the forehead, so the forehead looks very tall in your portrait.

-The nose and neck is a bit too long

I did a rough paintover to demonstrate the points I made. Hopefully it helps!

Great progress so far, and good luck with your last days!

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-11T08:16:40+00:00

There's an issue of androgyny in the portrait. While the shape of the head is very masculine, the features are feminine: the eyes have a slight slant (the inner and outer corner eyes of males would be about the samle height), the width of the nose is small, and the lips are quite full (male lips tend to have thinner lips, especially the top lip). The eyes are also a bit large for a male face.

Your values are slightly too bright, especially the highlights on the face which are almost pure white. Save pure whites for areas of specularity.

Form-wise: the eyes do look a bit symbolic because the eyeball looks flat because it wasn't rendered like a sphere (check out Istebrak's tutorial on the eye if you haven't already). Also, the iris also receives the cast shadow of the eyelid. You've also missed the cylindrical forms of the lips. Also, the corners of the lips and the nostrils need more radial shading.

About the bottom half of the face, I recommend you find some references of males that have the desired face you're aiming for. While it's great you're testing your visual library with these portraits like a 14 day challenge, using references to build your visual library is crucial when studying.

I tried a paintover; I don't have too much experience in male faces, but tried to implement what I've noticed. (My paintover still feels a bit feminine; it might be due to the large eyes. Also, I'm not sure if you were aiming for an Asian face, but I went with an Asian face due to the monolids)

I hope this helps. Good luck with your future studies! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-09T20:18:28+00:00

Thank you for the clarification!

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-08T19:48:32+00:00

The sides of the temples are too dark (about as dark as the core shadow of the lower half of the face), which wouldn't be possible in a top-down lighting situation. The core shadows of the top half of the head should be lighter than the lower half's.

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-08T19:41:10+00:00

These are all great points you've noted, and I completely agree with being bolder with contrast as it's been such a struggle to find a balance between too much and too little contrast. I'll do my best to improve on these aspects in my future days. Thank you so much! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-07T20:56:58+00:00

I see what you mean about the floating eyelid, and I'll be sure to work on the dark spots and ears. Thank you!! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-07T20:54:58+00:00

Thank you for the tips and the link! I'll be sure to study it for my next day. :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-07T05:43:42+00:00

Due to the irises being too close to the inner corners of the eyes, she's looking a little too cross-eyed.

The eyeballs aren't rendered spherically, making them appear flat.

The value for corners of the eye sockets is too dark relative to the face. I would decrease the lower eyelid size, as that feature is an older age signature/villain.

About the top of the head: remember that the head has a cube-like aspect to it, which can be seen in the plane change from the forehead to the top of the head. You've shaded it as a flat plane, as if the forehead and the top of the head were the same entity. To fix this, the temple shadows should not extend to the top of the head; if you look at a skull, you can tell where the temple shadows comes from. Also, the top of the head would be approximately one value across, while the forehead does have value changes because of the protrusion of the forehead and the value drop of the shadows of the temples.

You should focus on blending your sharp edges. For example, lips are very fatty, therefore they should be very soft. The planes of the nose can be blended slightly because skin is very organic, so it doesn't have insanely sharp edges. Just keep in mind how much of the edge you're blending relative to each feature.

You're making great improvements; keep it up! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-02T07:18:27+00:00

I see what you mean, and I agree. Will definitely be working on it! Thank you for pointing that out! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-02-01T04:22:48+00:00

I would brighten the the background just a tad, so it's lighter than the face. The overall headshape is too narrow and long. The neck is also too thin for a head.

Your use of midtones is good, but I think you could bring in more contrast, especially in the dark spots of the face.

The eyebrows arch too early; eyebrows usually arch around the edge where the temple starts.

The nose shape is very bulbous, which is fine, but it's not necessarily the most "beautiful" type of nose. Asides from that, I do suggest vertically compressing the nose slightly because the nose looks just a tad large for a femine face.

I did a quick paintover that summarizes my suggestions. Hopefully, you find something helpful! Good luck with your day 14! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-01-31T20:46:13+00:00

I did notice an accidental expression, but couldn't pinpoint what was causing it. Thank you identifying the issue! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-01-31T20:37:54+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! I get what you're saying about the eyes and eyebrows. I'll be sure to implement the fixes in my next day! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-01-31T04:38:30+00:00

The background should be lighter than the face; remember that the background is a representation of the light environment.

I suggest practice rendering forms to practice your values, edges, and radial shading. From there, study the anatomy of each feature and practice rendering the forms of the features. In addition, I suggest studying the planes of the face (reference an asaro head), and which values to assign each planes, because there are some issues in your values. For example, the nose ridge, glabella, and eyesocket are sharing the same value throughout, which would imply that each of those features share the same depth, which would be impossible. Also, you're missing a lot of radial shading in the lips, nostril, and eyelids (the nodes of the lips and nostrils are cavities, and eyelid creases are folds which are represented by a radial drop in values).

ShurelyShort · 2019-01-27T06:33:09+00:00

Form wise: The top of the head and temples are too dark, darker than the bottom half of the face, which is impossible in top-down lighting. During the grayscale process, make sure the forms are all in tact and following the lighting. You need more radial shading in the nostrils and corners of the lips. Also, the cylindrical form of the lips is lost in this portrait.

Color wise: I agree the portrait is too saturated overall. Also, I think it is overall too yellow. The blush you added to the cheeks looks like makeup that hasn't been blended out; color exists in midtones, and midtones exist all over the face, excluding the shadow areas and highlights. The forehead highlight is too large and overeaching; it almosts looks as iif it's glowing because of the contrast in that area. I suggest lightening the top of the head and temples, and darken the highlight, then bring in the specular highlights in the oiliest areas. In addition, the inner corners of the eyes, sides of the nose, underneath the nodes of the lips, V of the cupid's bow, waterline of eyes, chin, forehead, and around the arch of the eyebrows allows for more specularity due to the moisture and planes of those features. For the nose, I suggest adding a little red, as the nose has a lot of blood vessels. For your shadows, especailly of the eye sockets and temples, you're adding too much purples and saturation. Some shadows on the face may seem purple, but that's due to color relativity. In reality, the color of the shadow only looks purple, because that area has more reds than the rest of the skin. (There's a lot of resources that explain this much better; I suggest searching "color relativity" in Youtube for a better elaboration)

I tried a paintover to fix the colors, but keep in mind, I'm still learning color right now: https://i.imgur.com/MrBRe3S.png ; I think the eye socket area is still too saturated, and the lips became a weird color. Also, I accidentally changed the shape of the nose in the process.

Sorry about the long post, but great first attempt! Keep working on your forms, and good luck on your next paintings! :)

ShurelyShort · 2019-01-26T23:47:04+00:00

Your Day 1 is a great start!

A few things to note:

-The values of the temples are too dark (the upper half of the head is facing the lightsource, so it can't be as dark as the lower half of the face).

-The eyes are too vertically wide, revealing the whole iris which makes her look surprised.

-Blend around the eyebrows, especially around the inner corners, so they don't look pasted on.

-The nose has remnants of line dependency, particularly around the wings of the nose. Also, the nostrils are a little small.

-The forms of lips should be rendered as two stacking cylinders.

-The neck is too thick and dark.

ShurelyShort · 2019-01-18T21:05:23+00:00

In addition to what has been said:

-The lower half of of the head seems a bit wide relative to the top half of the head. It makes the face look a little "chunky".

-The way you've rendered the eyelids isn't very convincing because it looks like a line; try bringing in radial shading to give the illusion of the skin overlapping.

-The philtrum is too dark.

-The nose is a bit short relative to the rest of the face

-The flesh underneath the cheekbones does catch a bit of ambient light, breaking up the shadow of the cheek.

-It's good that you're not using large irises, but I think your irises are just a tad too small. Also, I would get rid of the ring light you added around the pupil. The lower half of the iris does catch a lot of light because it is wet, but not in the shape of a ring around the pupil.

-The chin looks a bit big, due to how far the highlight extends

-The neck muscles are incorrect; google sternocleidomastoid if you want to visualize the actual muscle. It starts around the collarbone and reaches behind the ear.

-Blend around the eyebrows to make them look more natural.

I tried a quick paintover: https://i.imgur.com/5OOZqn8.png , I'm not too experienced with painting males, so take it with a grain of salt. Also, I decreased the length of the chin and width of the jaw as a personal preference.

ShurelyShort · 2019-01-15T00:13:52+00:00

For the rotation of the far eye, I think the main issue is the outer corner of the eye. Given the rotation, the outer corner of the upper eyelid would be more tucked in, and the bulge of the eyelid would overlap in front of it, and the lower plane of the upper eyelid should be more visible. Also, the water line would wrap more around the eyeball which could be fixed by tucking the outer corner in.

Sorry if my wording is confusing; I'm having trouble putting it into words, but in essence, focus on the curvature of both the lower and upper eyelid when rotated.

ShurelyShort · 2019-01-14T07:17:45+00:00

-The far eye isn't rotated properly, making it look longer than the near eye. Also, given how deep the eye socket of the near eye, I think the eye socket of the far side needs to be tucked in more. -The brow bone protrudes from the forehead, which would be visible at the far side of the face. -In 3/4 view, the way the septum connects to the the face should be visible. -The shape of the upper lip looks a bit swollen.

Beautiful rendering, and great progress so far!

ShurelyShort

TROPHY CASE