Update
 

Jean, thank you for your concern. It was not my intention to cause you pain. What you aptly called obsession is in fact a reflection of my state of mind. I intend, however, to continue in this vein for the time being as it is working for me.

Source image

Close

Hi, Deladier,

Terrific likeness, right off the bat. Your source photo, I think,is simultaneously excellent and problematic.

Your source has good detail in both light and shadow, and I can see that you have stepped back a bit from the artificial darks in the shadow (if it were my portrait, I'd probably step back one-two more F-stops or so). But I think your photo is failing to give reasonable information with respect to color temperature, and you are the only one who can control this in your painting. It looks to me like you lighted your subject with a close incandescent or Tungsten light, (very warm in temperature); if this is the case, you would want to cool off the color temperatures inthe shadows. Given the proximity of the light source and the distinction fo the cast shadows, it would be much more difficult to convince your viewer that the light source is cool.

See ya tomorrow,

Hi, Chris. The subject was lit by direct and indirect sunlight only. Mid-afternoon sun in Southern California with the warm sunlight and the pale blue sky to fill.

In this study I have focused my attentions on the modeling of the figure and the formal composition. I didn't think much about color and detail because that would take too long for a study.

Hey, you want me to throw away my clock? I just bought it! It works great...I got the atomic thing with the thermometer, and .....it's got Celsius, Fahrenheit and even Kelvin! Well, maybe not Kelvin...anyway, I think you should get one too. 20 bucks ;)

Given the angle of your cast shadows, I think you are still in the same Kelvin range as you'd face with incandescent lighting. Your studies (small sample to be sure) are as finished as many others' completed works. If the study serves the function of a playspace to work out decisions for the final, then you might want to play around with your temperatures a bit.

You have a lively and interesting background started, and whatever you decide to so with temperature should follow through in the background too.

I live in a house filled with my husband's collection of atomic, antique and various other clocks; anyone else visiting could probably barely stand the noise but I never hear the chimes (unless, of course, I am lying awake at 3 am thinking about some silly thing or another - or worse, what the heck time it IS - then they are LOUD). Anyway, you can rid of those troublesome things on E-Bay. With my luck, Ron will end up buying them.

Having the reference photo here leads me to add a suggestion or two about the eyes, upon which I

Deladier,

About the eyes...

In my opinion there is a false illusion being formed between the subject's right eye and the well pointed light striking this eye.

This beam of light (striking the eye more directly than on the lit side of the face) has illuminated the iris and worked its way up under the pupil. I think it has also cut away some of the pupil on the under side. This has caused the pupil to read as if it were looking up. I think you will just have to override what you see.

Of course there are some people whose eyes don't work in complete concert. If this is the case, my apologies.

Nice photo image, I appreciate the thought that went into its compostion and execution.

That is exactly what is going on there. The light, working its way around his right iris, bounces back from the lens and partly obfuscates the lower perimeter of the pupil, making it look higher than his left pupil.

You'll notice that I took some liberties with the drawing of the irises. I was interested in trying expressive methods of rendering those translucent tissues. The overall formal relationships is given less importance as the objective of this study is to practice the treatment of passages without commitment.

It amazes me how much our Forum dwellers can perceive and infer from these bleached little images on the screen!

Edit
 

Part of what we all must do is leave stuff out. The little light the left of his mouth I'd reduce in importance. The background really must be subdued some too. Try painting it as best you with a number 14 filbert alla prima in 2 hours...that should do it. Simplify and unify.