Betsy, Shawn, and Angel
 

This is a work in progress. Size 30" x 40", and my most ambitious to date. Since much is in shadow, I'm struggling to maintain the same tone in all three faces. Normally I never use black in a face but did here, and am now trying to work over it. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Detail
 

Closer image of faces.

Detail
 

Closer still. The mother's face is the one I'm struggling with. After posting the full image last night I lightened it more. My reference photo is quite dark so is not much help. Again I've fallen in love with a pose, and sacrificed adequate lighting. But this WILL be saved.

Wish I had some suggestions to give but I don't really work with acrylics. You'll save it! Although I don't think it's that desperate for revival.

It's really looking great!

Well, Jean, you needn

Shawn, Betsy, and Angel
 

Carolyn, again thank you for your kind words. Do you have any other work posted than your artist from Belgium? I'd like to see more, please point me in the right direction.

Now Steven, You're right about the black, I've been kicking myself since I did it. I'll go with your suggestion and keep lightening with the deep red tones until it works again. I was thinking of adding purple reflections or maybe just wrap her hair around her lower face!!! Her nose--I put some paint there that I shouldn't have. I'll be fixing it, definately b/4 she sees it! She looks like a retired boxer.

I have more work to do on her eyes (baby Angel). I always save them for last, kinda dessert. Thanks for the tip about highlights, I'll tone them down. On Mom's lower legs--they're only blocked in at this point, no real shading to add depth. I'll keep your point in mind when I get there (probably tonight). Do you have any work posted here outside of your son's portrait? If not- why are YOU so reticent??? And last, I sincerely appreciate the critique and compliments. Thank you.

In this particular context I want to say how much more interesting and engaging the critique process is when I get to see work "in progress," so thank you for the early look. If I know that the artist has posted work she considers "finished", it's much more difficult to objectively and usefully make suggestions.

Cheers

Betsy et al
 

Steven,

Am taking a break from this very frightening addition of "cool" tones to Mom, Dad, and the kid. What a remarkable difference. This paint is very unforgiving when it comes to black, so most of my time has been spent experimenting with different ways to get RID of it. Finally think I've found the magic combination. Will post an update tonight.

Found your self portrait, you are one serious dude. How about another one with Taiwanese influence?

Revisions
 

After putting too much purple in Mom's face and making her look "dirty", I gave up last night and almost ditched the whole thing. I woke up this morning and gave it another try. I read and looked at other artists work till the wee hours. Way back when I was in school, the emphasis was on "do your own thing". I didn"t realize that there were rules to portraiture. My figures at that time were twisted nudes in blues and greys. My "Picasso blue" period.

Here's an update:

Hi Jean,

The nose looks much better! There's still a lot of contrast in her facial area, but you know, I like it! I think it's refreshing to see different styles, and you have a unique style that is very crisp and I think lends itself well to the value scale. I hope you're not getting too crazy trying to rework that area, it's a great piece!

Angel et al
 

Hi, Carolyn,

Thank you for your wonderful comments. It's nice to hear. I haven't driven myself crazy yet, and her face has gotten much softer. Mom will be happier with the image. I'll post it again when it's close to being finished so maybe final tweaking can be done. By the way, my monitor seems to pick up more red than is actually in the painting. I don't know how to decrease it, maybe it's the camera. I'll try photographing outside next.

I've been following your thread on drawing an accurate image and I feel that you are being way too hard on yourself. Ease up on yourself, you did good. There was lots of good advice; this site is really amazing. I've looked at some other ones and they are not of this quality. A real critique is a precious gift, and needs to be accepted with grace. I certainly appreciate it and I can tell that you do too.

Jean, post the reference photo. I'll use Photoshop on it and see if I can help you with those dark shadows.

Reference photo
 

Thank you, Linda, both for your offer and comments on Tom's painting. Encouragement is appreciated by me, as I am starting another career all over again (for the 5th time). This is by far the most emotionally draining at this point. So much to learn, but so exhilarating! Sometimes I feel 18 again.

This painting is a combination of different photos I took that day. Picked by the client and me. We all fell in love with Betsy's hand on Angel's head. I changed Angel's expression to a little smile (which is more chacteristic of her). And we used a different shot of Shawn. I'll be adding Shawn's hand tucked in under Betsy's right arm today. Anyway, here is my main reference picture. And again, thank you for your help.

I don't know if this will help. The Mom's face in the shadow is pretty difficult to see. I think I would just make it look good and not necessarily like the photo. I would try to get my information from my head , instead of the photo. In layman's terms "fudge it". :) You did a good job in the first place. She looks good.

Reference
 

Thanks Linda! I can see some other areas better. I've been doing exactly as you suggested. Luckily for me, Betsy is a beautiful young woman, but not vain at all. What was evident from them is their love for Angel and each other. That's what I hope to catch.

Update
 

Betsy softer, and Angel with less highlights for critique or comments. Steven, Angel's eyes are toned down as per your suggestion. She has the most incredible blue eyes!

Looks Great!
 

I really REALLY like it! I think it's wonderful and am so impressed! Doing three figures with the amount of detail you did would probably make me crazy, and you did it so beautifully!

As far as having too much red in the photo, taking the pics outside (in the shade) is how I take usual photos/ slides of work also, and it seems to keep them pretty true to life.

I am so happy with all the information that's been generated on the "Likeness" topic. I have learned so much here, it is truely incredible! It's really hard to convey your feelings with words, when no one can see your face and hear your voice, so I'm glad you can tell I appretiate the feedback, because I really do! Guess I am my worst critic, and should ease up on myself (which I have heard before :bewildere) If you could buy confidence in a bottle, I'd be willing to spend some serious dough! Also being a bit of a perfectionist doesn't help! Anyway, enough about me, this painting is fantastic! I can't believe you are just beginning this career!

Gratitude
 

Carolyn and Linda, thanks for the encouraging words, they are appreciated. I'm almost done, will be posting the completed portrait in a few days. I've learned a lot on this one and will be doing things differently in the future. Never,never, never, use black on a face again!!!

Betsy. Shawn, and Angel
 

Complete, unless anyone feels final tweaking is necessary. Steven, do her legs look better? I've learned a lot. But need to be more consistent with color. Shadows and skin tone in particular. Thank you in general for all the many posts that I've read and learned from.

faces closer
 

Closer view of faces.

Betsy, and Angel
 

Hope you like this....

Yes, better on the gesture with the legs.

I would have to say that I'm still finding the very dark triangle of shadow around the woman's mouth to be distracting and difficult to read. The reference photo isn't giving you useful information in that area. Consider lightening that dark area another value step, or however much you would expect reflected light off the baby's head and shirt to bring the value up. (The addition of light on the upper lip is, I think, exacerbating the heaviness of that shadow.)

It could well be that by the time this is photographed, digitized, scanned and posted, those darks are clustered and showing up harsher on the monitor than on the painting.

I would think your subjects will be pretty delighted with this.

Betsy
 

Is this better?

I think it is, yes.

Yeh!!
 

I finally got brave enough to stop trying to reproduce the photo in that area. It never occurred to me that light might reflect off Angel. Thanks, I think its a big improvement!

I think your experience with the photograph has been very instructive, and I doubt you'll ever have the same difficulty again, at least not without throwing the photo into the analytical process of "What's gone wrong here?" Reference photos are basic tools -- essential tools to many if not most artists showing work on this site, I suspect -- but they're not the unquestionable standard from which you work or by which you judge your work or assess your progress. If a photo begins to lie to you, you must be willing to say 'thanks, we'll call you' and then send it away or at least turn your back on it until the next audition, with a promise to get together "sometime" for lunch.

To your credit, you knew, and said early on, that the heavy darks in the woman's face were troubling to you. It just took a bit of push and shove, back and fill, to figure out where that was coming from and whether it was correct.

You figured it out. You're on your way.

Best wishes.

Learning
 

Thanks again Steven, for the time spent critiquing and the nudges in the right direction. I'm here to learn and constructive criticism is part of the process. It's appreciated. Now on to the next project.