Hello Everyone!!
Here is a new thread where you can post and display portraits that you have worked so well on!! Get comments of praise or even get advice from other members on what may or may not be lacking in the portrait. Hope to see many new faces!!

My latest. About six hours total. Every known pencil grade under the sun on Strathmore Bristol, drawing area about 8 by 10 inches.

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Ernest .... that is a beautiful drawing I love the freckles on the youngest nose and the ear popping of from the hair ... very nice job

Well i made this portrait of Hiro Nakamura a character from the tv series "Heroes".
It was made with a Genius Mouse pen tablet in about 6-8 hours (i'm kinda slow when i draw, either in the computer or in paper).
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I don't know anything about using a Genius Mouse, but it looks to me like you did an excellent job. I like the value range in your portrait.

bob

This is a drawing of a fire fighter who died tragically young. I had a number of photos to work from, none of them good. I'm showing the photo I based the portrait on, but I used everything I had. His left eyelid drooped, by the way.

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I'm still futzing with this one a little -- suggestions welcome.

I think you did an exceptional job. There is a point were you just have to say, "This is the best I can do from the photos I have."

Naqisa ...very nice hun ....Heros is a series right my husband watches it or did .

Ernest ..some photos are easy to go off of and some are not ...this photo look grainy and your portrait looks wonderful ..you did a very good job ... is this a gift to his wife or something ?

It's a really sad story -- the husband and wife both died in a motorcycle accident on their second wedding anniversary (a motorist made an improper turn in front of them.) One of his buddies from the fire house is a friend of mine, and he asked me to do the portrait. They will hang it up there in the fire station.

here is a picture i did in charcaol.....i thought it would be cool to post

A few drawings of friends... I'd like advice for future portraits...

drawing size: approx. 5x5 inches each

Laurie -- cool indeed! I've never seen the show, so I don't know the people, but it's a nice composition.

Sabu -- what wonderful drawings! I especially like the shadows and textures in the second one. Certainly nothing I could say would improve them.

Sensitively drawn.. A nice tribute




Both are very nice.
Great shadows in the second portrait



Good values and expression




Well drawn

Laurie nice job .. and I know charcoal is hard to work with because of all the smearing problems .

Sabu ... I love your art ... and I think you do a very nice job .. the hair is so detailed ....I bet your friends love these

Another portrait, this one took me about 12 hours...

wonderful job .. looks like a old teacher I use to have ...very nice shading .

wow i just everyone portraits-- i put this one on another thread because i just found this one. critiques and comments always welcome
Lori

Kind of a stunt picture: drawn with a single pencil, a General's "Extra Black" layout pencil. I started rendering by doing the pupils with this pencil, and just never put it down.

This was fun to do, from a great photograph. One notable thing is that I used Bob's measuring techniques exclusively, and got a very accurate result. It helps that it's very large: the drawing area is about 7x10 inches and (obviously) it's a close-up. This is a great scale to draw at; maybe I need to buy some 11x14 Bristol board.

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It's Avril Lavigne.

Wow, Ernest, beautiful picture . All that with just one pencil and you still got great values.
Good job!

Normally if I am doing a portrait picture I never change pencils either. I use a jet black ebony pencil and kneaded eraser thats it. As long as you keep away from the darks when you start out you should be fine.

wow ...you didnt even have to tell me who it was .. awsome job .. I love it .

This is a drawing I did for my nephew that is graduating HS on June 8th. He loves to golf and this was a statewide tournament he was in a couple of weeks ago. Elizabeth

wow what a pose to try ....you did very well and I am sure he will love it

Dear Friends:
I am not finished with this one so don't know if I should post it here or not. I really need help with my colored pencil techniques. I have put several layers of cream, light peach, peach, deco pink, and pink, and still can't get a smooth realistic looking skin. I am aware of other problems - Sweet Bob has been helping, but need the expert colored pencil artist. I am using prisma color on stonehedge paper.

Judyvan

Judy, I am no expert by any means when it comes to colored pencils but I would say you may need some burnt sienna and raw umber and try to look for the blues, purples and greens in the skin tones as well. Like play around on another sheet of paper and work for the colors you are trying to acheive. This is advice that Jeanette gave me a while ago for building up the skin tone colors and the darks in the skin and from not using black and gray. Also she looks really red from the sun and not so pink so maybe add some light reddish colors? I hope this helps....

Thank you Venus. I shall give it a try. Great tips.

Judyvan

Judy -- remember that as is the case for so many of us here, you're your own worst critic.

My self when I start a colored portrait I really like using manilla paper because it compliments my pencils when i lay them down ... I always start with coloring the skin all light peach ...then I use a darker peach and begin my shading ...I use white for any very light tones where the light is its lightest then I use a clay rose for darkening the tones then I use a dark brown to make the darker tones even darker blending at all times so it looks smooth .
I stopped using black so much and that has helped me alot ....Adolfo gave me that advice ...I have never tried using purples and blues in skin color but if done right it looks very nice ...Like Venus said try it on paper and use the colors and blend them to see how it works best for you . also I almost always break the picture down blow the image up so I see only a quater portion of the face at a time .

I hope this helps .. and it sure would be nice to be able to video tape the coloring of skin so people could see it and that way you could do it right along with the video .
hey thats a idea wonder if you can put video feed on here . I would do a video .

I am really out of my comfort zone here, but decided to just try it. I posterized the color photo which gave showed me different colors, so I tried to use them in the drawing. What do you think? Did I go crazy?

Judyvan

Please!!! You could post the video on YouTube, and link to it from here, with whatever descriptive text you wanted. I would be thrilled to see this -- I love your work and wish I could watch you do a piece. I would be happy to give whatever technical assistance or advice I could with the video.

Please, please, please do a video fo us, Venus.

Judyvan

LOL, I think Kim was talking about the video...I have no clue how to do one of those. LOL..I wish I did, though I do have a video camera, but no computer cables to connect it to the computer....Soooo I guess that leaves me out.

Judyvan,
I think that is a neat idea. Especially since I would have no idea where to start with colours. The one thing I notice with people ( other people) doing CP work is that their is a build up of many colours to get to the finished look. Keep going I can't wait to see more.

Elithabeth,
Great job on the golfer!
Paulette

Judy I love your drawing and I think your doing a really great job with it .. keep it up

A video ok well I am about to leave for our vacationb in about 4 days I will be able to post once a day but I will not be able to upload drawings ...when I get back I will plan on doing a video ...and thanks for the help Ernest I will take you up on it
Plan on the video sometime in the end of june

Thanks Kim and Paulette. Here is where I am now. Getting frustrated.

Judy

I think you are doing an exceptional job. Just keep practicing. It's the "thing" that frustrates you that will give you the ability to improve. The frustration is because you don't think it is just right. With practice you will be able to see what is wrong and how to correct it.

Oh Bob, you are the best. I will keep your advice close to my heart and not give up.

Judyvan

Dear Kim:

You mentioned that you use manilla paper. I am only aware of manilla envelopes. Where do you get your paper from?

Judyvan

Judyvan, if you live in the states then usually if you have any kind of dollar stores near you in their stationary and art section they have they sell little cheap pads of 9 by 12 pads of manilla paper. Its a really low quality cheap paper that usually is intended for learning purposes in schools here in Michigan but I like Kim have always liked it. We used it all through school for our rough drawings and then once we had what we were doing down pat we transferred it to a better paper. I buy it now for my children mostly for when they want paper so they leave my sketch paper alone.

I got mine from a store that sells everything from food to pots and pans rugs and art supplies lol ..it was really cheap ...but I am sure you can get a better grade .

your portrait is looking very nice ... try using a darker dusty looking rose for some deeper tones around the eyes and bridge of nose.

This is my last revision after trying to use all of your suggestions. I know much is wrong with it, but I know I have learned from it. Thanks for all your support.

Judyvan

Hi Judyvan, i like your drawing very much!!

BTW you can really tell she is your daughter, great likeness between you two. Wonderfull !

Great picture!! Really very good...

Thanks Marijki and Bojana. I am trying to improve and am so lucky to have everyone's support.

Judyvan

her is another portrait that i had been working on. comments and critiques always welcome
Lori

A powerful image. Does it have a title?

thanks earnest- yes it does DEVASTATION
Lori

There's something about it that really makes the mind wander, trying to come up with a story to go with the image -- "What's happened?" That's a good thing for a piece of art!

Critique -- I think the only things I don't like about it are that 1) parts of the hair are not hanging naturally -- they seem to defy gravity; and 2) the earlobe is too big. I like the style of your portraits -- they're identifiably "yours".

thank you earnest--i agree about the hair and the ear--i usually scan and look at them on the computer but for some reason didnt with this one. i am not happy with the hair- i think i went to dark to soon with this one. I got this from the movie-her husband (Chief Sitting Bull) was just shot, there is another i would like to do too. Hoping i can do it from memory.
Lori

Looking for comments on this drawing.

Judyvan

The light is just lovely! You did a great job with the hair.

My critiques: that very deep dimple is tricky; I think you've got a sort of "edge" on it that doesn't look quite right. Look carefully at the gradation of the shading in the photo.

The shape of the eyes is right on, but the "squint lines" are deemphasized or missing, so the expression doesn't look the same. Look at how the lines at the inside of the eyes "hook around" at the bottom, and how the lines at the outside are more distinct. Also note the wrinkle lines underneath the eyes.

The shape of the bottom of the bottom lip isn't right; in the photo, it's more flat in the center.