Originally Posted by Leslie Ficcaglia

Barbara, I too think you've done a marvelous job with a less-than-ideal reference photo.

A couple of suggestions: you've already softened the girl's face and taken away a lot of that hard, posed stare, but softening the indentations on either side of her mouth might help even more. You may have some reference photos that will help you see how to make that smile look a bit more natural. Her upper lip also has a little more definition in the photo; you have it slightly narrower which accentuates the hard look.

The other thing is that her back and shoulder on our left side look a bit off in the painting because in the photo the dark collar of her top shows a little more depth where it changes direction at the left and goes around under her chin. That makes it read as though the shoulder and back are a bit straighter than you have them in the painting - straight not in the sense of being horizontal but in the sense of being smoother . Also, the collar of that top comes up higher where it goes around the back of her neck in the photo. Both of these details give her shoulder a much more natural slope. Hope you can see what I mean here!

Leslie

Originally Posted by Henry Wienhold

Barbara with out a doubt I think that you have done a good job capturing the likeness of these two children.

One thing that I have noticed is the extreme sharpness of the girls shoulder, the strong diagonal where it meets the background. This sharpness is the one thing I find disturbing about this portrait, otherwise you have done a great job with the supplied reference photo.

You made the background light in color and value, almost the same value as the photo. The only suggestion I have is to soften the edge of this shoulder area, create a lost edge. You can do this by blending of course, or you could darken the value of the background and try and match the existing value of the girls shirt. This is what I would do with a portrait such as this, create a much darker background then I could lose a few edges making a more natural appearance.

Also I have noticed if you darken the background on the shoulder side and leave the opposite side somewhat lighter you will emphasize an already existing strong diagonal by the position and combination of the two figures. So by eliminating the sharp diagonal of the shoulder area you will still have a good diagonal design element on the opposite side. Diagonal design elements often add interest to a portrait.

You may want to look at some of the work of John Howard Sanden he always manages to create such a natural look with his ability to control values and edges, his work is a prime example of what I am trying to say.

Think soft with just a few sharp edges to break up the monotony, keep it changing.

Henry

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

Dear Barbara Mae,

You have such a nice finish to your portrait that I hate to bring up what bothers me the most, which is the shapes and structures of the kids noses, compared to the reference photo.

On the girl's nose the shadow suggests a much thinner nose than in the photo. Also while the nostrils are placed exactly right, the tip of her nose is too low, which makes it an adult nose rather than a child's.

The boy's nose should be structurally more broad too. The shape of his nose is distinctly different in the photo; the one you depicted is a little finer.

On the girl's eyes, you can probably get away with eliminating all of the black in the lashes. There is no evidence of dark eyelashes in the photo. I would try to work on the shape of the eyes too.

On the boy's eyes I would pay attention to their shape and lack of hard edges in the photo.

There are minor refinements that could be made to the indentures making the expression around and under the girl's lips. I would also pay attention to the structure of her neck.

Overall, like everyone else has said, you have a very successful painting going. The kids hair is particularly well done.

I hope I have not been too hard on you. I think you are getting close to the finish.

Garth

Originally Posted by Barbara Mae Hudson

It never occurred to me to turn the photo's to black and white.......what a difference! You can more easily see the tonal values and it highlights areas where you might be going wrong. I assume tha you do this via the Channel feature, anyway this was where I found the the option. I can't think why it didn't occur to me before!

Originally Posted by Garth Herrick

Barbara,

Here is another suggestion to help you straighten out the drawing and proportions in order to get a good likeness: If you can, print details from the reference photo (of the girl's head and of the boy's head, etc.) to the same scale as the painting. I find this immensely helpful in my own work.

There is a measuring utility in Photoshop buried in the eyedropper tool. Measure the head in the photo, and measure the head in the painting. Divide (using a calculator) the dimension from the painting by the dimension from the photo. Write down the result. Under Image/Image Size in Photoshop you can use that calculation result to multiply with either the height or width dimensions to make the photograph file match the scale of your painting (first you may want to reduce the DPI to 96 so you don't have an overwhelmingly huge file).

Once you get the hang of this it is easy to bring your reference image right up to the scale of your painting, and from that you can print out any detail needed, to hold up right next to your painting for comparison.

Hope this helps!

Garth

Originally Posted by Leslie Ficcaglia

Garth, I wonder whether this works in Photoshop Elements as well. I've had a devil of a time matching the size of reference photos to portraits in the past. This would definitely make my life easier!

Leslie

Originally Posted by Joan Breckwoldt

I'm now wondering about how valuable Photoshop might be but that's a subject for another threat.

Joan