I did it first with pencil as you guys see then I smoothed it out on photoshop. I know this site is about traditional drawing, but also I notice that you guys are willing to give critics. I was aiming for realism. how realistic she looks?

I have no problem with you using photoshop to fix or add to your drawing or to even draw a picture .. I do not use it but I know I have tried and it is hard to do as well ...I personal do not think anything tops traditional drawing with pencil or paint ect.....but all other forms of art are just as creative and take talent to do .

I think your girl looks pretty realistic ....but I personaly I like the one in the behind ...she look drawn and not as smooth .....your eyes are well done .. the hair could use a bit more highlights rather then blended all together .
I hope this helps .

Thank you so much for the comments.

guzman,

I like both renditions, although, I, too, prefer the penciled version. Very nice attention to detail. If I could offer one suggestion, there seems to be something a bit off with the nose and/or mouth alignment. It appears to me that either her lips are too far left, or her nose is broken a bit to the right as being viewed. I've studied the drawing a couple of times and it may just be the shading of the nose that's causing the effect. Then again, that may be how she looks in the reference picture you used. Either way, you definitely have some skills. I look forward to seeing your next work!

Keep at it,
HayTay

thank you again for the constructive comments. I will try to work on the the highlights of the hair, and by the nose thats the way she has it. is adriana lima and the only thing I did different from the reference was the hair.

Looks good!.. Theres nothing wrong with using photoshop - although you can tell the difference between which one is drawn/photoshoped. The only time I use photoshop is just to bright up the scan - but regardless - good job on both!

I know I am a bit late, so forgive me on that.

I think you have over photoshopped the skin, it looks too smooth, its the waxy look that photographers now avoid, they either work hard to retain some pore definition or introduce digital noise back in to replicate skin structure.

You also could have smoothed out some slight wobbles in the eyes and other hard edged line features.

I would reduce the opacity on the smoothing layer, assuming you smoothed on a layer, and work at smoothing out the wobbles, and this will tidy right up and look mega realistic with a good structure to the skin.

Good job.

Brian