Ha! I'll mention that to my husband next time we go to the pet food store - both of us usually need CPR when the total bill shows up.

Hi!
So,I am back,this time with a little something I did today.I been trying to control my outlines,and get the shadows right,and I think its an improvement. Sorry about the color of the photo,it didnt really show as detailed as it is in reality,so I tried to add more contrast and adjust tones to the photo so it would show more.

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This is quite nice .. one thing I would suggest though, is when drawing bare trees, remember lower limbs will have more branches because they are older. Splitting just 2 ways isn't enough. Lower limbs ought to have many more. As you go higher in the tree the limbs are younger and haven't had time to branch out so they would be fewer. Other than that though, the directionality of your movement is very good and the lighting "reads" well.

I just finished this drawing and would like your input. I think I don't make the girls look young enough and I'm not sure what I'm doing. The girl at the top is about 7 and the other about 4 yrs old.

Kathie

Very nice drawings!
Young kids are hard to do because we tend to want to give their features adult placement.
Check out Facial Proportions of babies, compared to Adult Facial Proportions.
From what I can see, on the one that you gave a reference, the nose tip is too close to the lips. It also seems to be trying to take its own direction.
Her side of the face going into the ear could use a bit of darkening to give it shape. From the tip of the eyebrow, curving towards the ear down to the Jaw line.
I am going to guess that lips to eyes on the older girl, are too far apart.
Both are beautiful drawings, keep up the good work!

Thanks,SparrowHawk,for the comment
Yes,I know what you mean,I left out a couple of the longer branches and a whole lot of tiny ones further up,since I felt it was easier for me at this point trying out the shadows. I dont know what kind this is,but there is alot of them here and none of them look quite 'right' actually. I find them fascinating,and would like to complete a more detailed drawing,but...

On this drawing I left out a couple of branches in the back,and one in the front, just because I felt I couldnt get it to look right and my aim with this was direction of light and shadows,so it wasnt really important at this point.
I practised some,and I am starting to get a grip on drawing branches in the back,moving away,but I am still struggling with getting branches moving towards me to look accurate.I was hoping you might have some tips for drawing realistic looking branches in various directions... ?

Hi all! I need your help to improve this drawing. I think, I missed some shadows and something in her face not exactly on the right place...
What are you thinking?


Thanks a lot

Without there reference it is hard to tell Only thing that really shows us which direction the light is coming from is the highlights in her eyes. Looks as if she is looking into the light which is coming from her right.. so darker shadows on her left to side especially back behind her ear. It is also hard to see where her chin and neck meet.. it is appears you need some more shadow under her chin on the neck. Can you post the reference picture?

This is the problem. I have no reference. It`s my imagination only...You are right, light must be from her right. I will try to put some shadows, where you advised me.
Thank you very much

Wow very cool! Can not fathom how one can do that. You may want to look at photos of people in that same pose to get an idea of how the light would fall. Even maybe take some photos of a family member with the light from the same direction as you drawing. There is nothing wrong with using something from real life to help with your drawing from imagination!

This is my first drawing after I went through the book by Brenda (Drawing for Dummies). I see my faults (its kind of uneven you'll see it) im sure many of you will see it also I am not happy with the shading is there any suggestions on how to improve that? and any other critiques are welcome I am here to learn

Kuru, I would say this is a good drawing. It shows excellent observation and is instantly recognizable.

A few things that could improve:

- As you said it's "uneven". I think what I'd call that is just somewhat "rushed." The only way to get smooth textures and seamless transitions is by working slowly and carefully. It's not unusually to see drawings into which folks have put 20, 40, 60 or more hours.

- The perspective is off a little on the body of the player itself, and the headset plug; it helps to use construction lines and explicit perspective when you're drawing anything that's a man-made rectangular box

- The values are fairly "flat"; the whole drawing is dominated by one particular shade of grey. Don't be afraid to make the shadow right near where the player touches the table (for instance) completely black. Broadening the range of values will make a drawing really "pop".

Hey,

Thanks for your feedback, yeah you are right it was somewhat rushed, and with the shading I was kind of hesistant to add darker shadings i didnt want to make it seem over shaded but I guess I shouldn't be afraid to experiment and try it out. I will experiment with a variety of values next time. This time I only used a 2b and 2h to do the shadings, I'll try other pencils as well next time.

Thank you very much for your constructive critique.

I redrew the player tried some darker values, but I think I am still missing something and still the perspective seems off, I included a pic of what i drew. The way i was looking was a different perspective though I was kinda looking from the top.

It looks to be floating in mid air in your drawing. Try adding the laptop and the wall behind it.

Here is a cat I drew a couple of days ago. I'm really pleased with the result but I would like to get someone's opinion on what can be improved. I included the referance for you to compare with.

(Since I don't have a scanner I took a photo with my cellphone.)

It's looking good, Milliye -- keep going!

Bad photo aside I think it is looking real good, keep going, adding the darker values will help make the drawing pop.

Thanks! I saw that too when I compared them like this.

Hi All.....

I finally realized that unfinished work for critique and comment should go here and not in the portrait thread.

So, following Airspace's critique of my first drawing of my youngest great grandchild Dezi, I started again from scratch. I think it looks a bit better now regarding proportions. I shaded a bit so it would show up on the scan.

Maire


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So far so good, but it doesn't look finished, eg the right eye (viewers perspective), and adding more shadows would make it even better.

Hi Maire,
I can see where you would have problems with getting the proportions down right.
All that shadow around the lips, nose and the eyes too make it difficult to judge.
I'm not seeing anything that looks off, I'd say it was a go.

Hi Milliye,
In regards to Maire's drawing, one of the great things in the critique thread is that you can ask people to look at your line drawings before you put 10, 15 or even 30 hours into a drawings. Especially if you are the type to shade a drawing from left to right, top to bottom, you can get a good portion of the way into a drawing and find out that your proportions are off.

Milliye, thanks for comment. This is my first line drawing (with minimal shadings so it would show up on the scan) so it has a long way to go yet. Often I have trouble placing the left eye so I did a bit more on that one, but you may be sure there will be much more happening soon if I think the proportions are right before I start.

Paulette, thank you for clarifying. It is a big help to get others' perspectives on whether proportions seem right before you spend a lot of time doing the finishing work. I don't think this type of help existed when I was here before. A bad initial sketch usually always turns out to be a mediocre or bad piece of art.

Maire

I worked a little more on this today just getting the feel of the darks. I hope it is a bit less disconcerting now that he has two distinct eyes .

Maire

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Looking very good! I cropped the 2 images the same size and made you drawing transparent then over laded the 2 of them. I was trying to figure out why the boy looks so much older in your drawing. Yes I know it is not done. ..
The only thing that is off a tiny bit is his left eye (our right) it is a bit to small especaily the inner part, to much almond shape.. Not sure if this is what is causing the perceived change in age or not..
The rest of the features seem to be right on..
Of course I am sure you grandchild would approve of your age increase!
Great job look forward to seeing it done.
I didn't post the image because once I save it it is very hard to see the difference.. I will keep playing with it and post it if I can figure out how to make it show up better.


This is the best I can do .. some day I will learn how to use Photoshop.. this was done in my trusty old MS pictureIT..
when I lined everything up it was very hard to see the differences.. so I just pulled the drawing down a bit.. you can see the eye and mouth differences. Chin is a little to long and pointy as well.
Click to view attachment

I put a commentary in general disciciones yesterday, the same it was cleared or suppressed, please it would want to know how the reason to erase it without communicating it to me, thanks Adolph.

The post is still there. It can be found right here
http://www.drawspace.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=21057
If you are clicking on show new posts, it may not be in the list if nothing new has been posted since you last looked.

Airscapes--Thank you so much for all your comments and also the composite which is quite valuable. As a perfectionist, you make a really fine critic. I had been staring at my sketch and comparing it to the photo and came to the same conclusions as you did about the eyes and chin. Just that little change in the chin could be the reason he looks older methinks! I hadn't discovered the discrepancy in the lips which may have been fixed as I shaded (but maybe not). Actually I am considering starting again as those darks may be difficult to erase. We'll see!!

Next time, I will try to do a composite of my own in Painter which I have used a lot for such operations instead of Photoshop - and save you the trouble.

Maire

Hello everybody,

I would like to have some help with a portrait I'm working on. I'm quite content with it so far, but I've got the feeling that it is a bit off. I don't know what it is, but something seems to be wrong..
Does one of you know what it is?

Renske

in my opinion = the neck is too short and the eyes have different size and her nasal bridge too wide

I think you've got a good likeness coming out of this, but some proportion issues happening that once corrected will give you a better likeness.

Portraiture is all about measurement. What I do is drop a number of lines from various points on the face to see where they line up with other features. For instance in the viewers left eye, in the reference, the inner eye should line up with the centre of the left nostril, but in your drawing its off, showing that the eye is too far to the left.

Pupils and irises are always perfectly round and symmetrical so watch that in your drawing.

Still on the left, the space between the eye and the hairline is too wide, making the jaw go too far back. Bring that forward and it will slim her face.

The same applies to the right of the mouth, it should be extended a little further to the right and curved more sharply upward throughout.

Make sure you measure the distance between the mouth and jawline/chin area; it looks too narrow to me and ensure the neck matches where the chin meets/meshes with her hair.

Finally, use your shading to create the form, not hard lines.

Portraiture is one of the most difficult things to do well, but you're on the right path. Just take your time, measure, measure, measure and most of all, enjoy the process.

I think they are amazing! I have the same problem, I can't seem to make the little ones look young enough. Great job, I think they great!

Hi everyone~

I would love any advice from anyone and all of the help that I can get. I am pretty new at drawing portraits and I am definitely on my way although I feel like I am starting off backwards.

I very rarely finish a portrait (I've done maybe 8) because I feel like I get to a point where I am afraid to go any further. I think I know the problem but I am having a hard time with it. I have read so many books on instruction, problem solving, techniques etc...

I start off struggling with each feature on the face until I am OK with it and then I move on to the next area (this is where I think my problem is, I am not starting out looking at my subject (a photo) as a whole...is that wrong? ) I erase and go back and erase some more and then when I move on it get's further away from what it is suppose to look like. For the most part the end result comes out OK but it definitely was a long trip of back roads to get there.

Also... when I draw a random face whether it's a pic from a magazine or just a face in my head they always come out a little similar. So I feel that my problem is seeing and bringing out what is actually in front of me, it is so frustrating!

HELPPPPPP!

I think that when you look at the few things that I have drawn it might seem like there wasn't an enormous struggle to get there. I only have a few side by sides but any help will be greatly appreciated.

One more thing... this is an amazing website with a wonderful community of artists helping artists. I just love to go through the gallery's and look at all of your work.

Chris, this is a very lovely job you have done on this beautiful girl! I would never know that you struggled with the drawing. It doesn't show. We all draw and erase (or I think we all do) tweak and redraw...that is the beauty of graphite because it is very forgiving usually...but does depend on the paper to a great degree.

I maybe do it a little differently. I will lay in the basics of my drawing and then go back and really develop it after I am satisfied that everything is in the right place. Even then, sometimes I realize something was out of whack about it and have to go back and tweak it. Well, if you aren't tracing, that is going to be a given, right?

Anyway...relax, you are doing great! Your talent shines through!

my fully agree, lv2draw62 .

chrismh , try it out with the grid method, you will see - later, with more pratice, you don`t need this method no more

Hey,

I need some critique on this drawing, well I didnt capture the face quite right I can see some of my mistakes I need some further help on improving it
helppp!!

Thank You

Hi, I am going into grade 10 this September. I love art. In grade 9, I recieved 100% and get the art award. I wasn't the best in my the classes, I just put the most effort and I showed inprovement.

This summer I am trying to get better. And with the help of this forum i can get some crtique.

Picture I will show you are my rough drawing from my sketch book. I'm open to all the critique. This will help alot thank you very much.

Kuru,
Your drawing is nicely done, you have a good range of values and your hair is looking great.
I would think the biggest thing would be to use some measurements. Faces have to be dead on or they just don't look like the person we're trying to draw. Try dropping lines from the corner of eyes and etc, to find other features.
The other thing I notice is the mid range tone is used fairly heavily, which can lend to a flat look. You want to move in and out of tonal ranges gradually. This is the reason her laugh lines look so heavy.
The other thing I am wondering, is the picture you are drawing from as bad as it looks? If it is this will also make it difficult to get a real good likeness. Flash photos are also very difficult to work with.
You're doing great, I look forward to seeing your next one!

MiniArtist4,
Great sketches, you're doing really well.
You're lips ears and noses are looking good, just watch out that you don't outline. Let the shading make the form.
Your eyes are okay, but I would recommend that you check out Brenda's lessons on eyes, D03, H04, P06 and U02. There is a lot of great info there.
All of your drawings are very light, if you want them to pop off the page you will have to use a full range of tones, for example black, white and several shades of gray. It is a good idea to do some scales, where you have ten squares, the first is white the last is black and you should be able to see a change in colour from one square to the next in between. Brenda's lessons also give good examples on how to use your pencils to get good dark colours.
Keep up the good work, practice, practice, practice is the moto around here.

Thank you very much, Everything you said is very true I never looked at in and realized those thing, I appreciate the critique. I will keep on practicing. I will check those eye lessons out because I know I am not good at eyes. Actually I'm not good at anything drawing that has to do with human body. Those were my first time drawing those parts. Now I know where I need to improve, thank you once again.

Thank you very much for your critique i appreciate it, I will try to draw her again and properly measure the face...the pic is of a DVD cover its much clear in real...thanks again

I have two drawings that I would like help on. Both are done in graphite on 9x12" canson bristol 100 lb paper. I striving for a realistic look. Thanks.

My other drawing is the same medium as the first on the same type paper.

OMG! is this abby from NCIS, cause it looks exactyl like her. I love it. Great job

It looks pretty realistic only thing i would say is the jaw, look different, idk if that how it look. Just wondering, otherwise great job

The woman's lower right arm gets very narrow too suddenly, but otherwise it's great!

I guess since its been over a year since I have actually finished a complete cp picture I will post one for critique..the reference is a photo I found. Feel free to comment and give advice, its greatly appreciated....

I've not been drawing for 3-4 years, this is my new start.
And this is consider as the first portrait that i ever complete.

Please do feel free to comment and criticize~

I thnk you did a really good jobs and it looks exactly like you.
I think the best part you did was the nose

Very good for someone that has not been drawing for a while.

I think you just need to polish your shading skills. The drawing looks a little cartoonish around the mouth. I think it is the outlines of the lips.
Also I noticed in the picture you have some neck, in the drawing you don't seen to have much.

hi,

So, I am fairly happy with the shading on this drawing but, I feel that I didnt really capture the likeness of the picture, I would like some help/advice on how I can approach this (the pic is a human anatomy hard cover book and I really loved the pic)

thank you