Son's portrait
 

Hello,

I need help, direction and advice. I think this is the right forum to start. I am sending a portrait I did of my son in front of a small Japanese maple tree. This is the first painting after an 8 year hiatus. I am hoping to become a professional portrait artist.

I know there is plenty that could be improved, but sometimes I just can't see it.

Thanks,
Julia

Lovely. I like the angle of the light source and the reflections from his shirt.

You might want to check the shape of his ear. The irregular shape of the outer edge caught my eye first. Maybe that's how his ear is shaped, but it's worth a second look just to be sure.

The reds seem to be too saturated overall. You might want to soften that down a bit.

It also looks to me like the light source on his hair is inconsistent with the light in the rest of the image. Not sure, but it looks like you'd need a separate light on his hair to get the effect I see in the painting. I'd expect to see the same kind of rim lighting you have on the right side of the face.

The sharp edginess of the hair is a bit distracting from the softness of the rest of the image, too. A bit of blending there might make the hair less distracting.

Can you post your reference if you did this from a photo?

Overall, very nice, though!

Thank you, Michele,

Here is the source photo.

You see his little ear is all crooked. It is part of what makes him Daniel. You are not the first to comment on it, but what should I do? Remove it?

I agree with your critique. You are right on about the hair. The paper is a maroon color but I guess I should have used more complementary colors.

I work much better with life than photos. I can see color much better. I am going to post a portrait I did at the Art Student's League before I took my eight year hiatus. I did this in two and half hours from a live model.

Julia

Dear Julia,

It is a pleasure to see this lovely portrait, and it is at a strong stage of finish (at least the way I would finish it) so that the comments I have are very subtle ones.

First, I like the dominant reds. I think you have been very successful in introducing just enough cools to offer temperature relief, without disrupting the harmony.

I can't comment on the likeness, not knowing the subject, but the drawing looks solid. The amount of red in the cheek on our right makes the trun very gradual, so you will need to judge whether this is correct based on your knowledge of the subject, or whether you want to extend the cool in the shadow to ourright to sharpen the turn. I can see that the actual turn of this cheek has the strongest and warmest color, based on the sunlight source, which is right to do.

With regard to the ear, I agree with Michele, check the shape and whether you wish to leave the silhouette edge with this degree of sharpness.

I like the background. It stays in the back, provides a sense of setting without being too literal, and produces a sense of movement in what might otherwise be a somewhat static pose.

The only area I might suggest that you revisit is the shadow tangent that is happening where the background dark meets the hairline silhouette on our upper left.

I have those same little "What color is this?' marks on the corners of all my pastels, too. From these I anticipate where you will end up placing your mat, so once the mat is cut and temporarily placed, be sure to go back in to see that the red leaves don't form a pointing tangent at the edge of the picture. One last thing, place the mat before you place your signature.

Very nice job!

p.s. Your typing is so quick, the source photo went up while I was posting! The ear shape looks right.

Chris,

Thank you for your suggestions. They are on target.

I am so happy I found this Forum! To be able to have your work critiqued by such high caliber artists is truly invaluable.

Thank you all. I'll be posting more. Working on a self-portrait right now. The model works cheap and she is always available :)

Julia

The light confused me when I first looked at this portrait. But after seeing your reference photo I now understand it...you have a great deal of reflected light from Daniel's shirt.

I like to differentiate reflected light from direct light. Reflected light is usually "stepped down" a notch or two in value from direct light. I also like to add pure intense color into reflected light when I can get away with it (i.e., cadmium orange). Direct light tends to bleach out and warm up the surface that it strikes and is more intense.

Because of the brilliant use of reds in this work, I am not sure that this would work for you here as it might upset your balance. However, it might be worth your while to experiment with this differentiation of kinds of light in the future.

Also, I'd suggest that you soften the outline on the edge of the ear. The shape is unusual and too much of a focus in your painting whereas it isn't a particularly prominent or noticeable feature in the reference photo.

This is an example of what I am talking about in regards to "getting away" with heightened color in reflected light. The light under Whitney's chin, nose and lower lip is reflected light and is pure cadmium orange + yellow ochre (no white added). Despite the bright color, it is not really noticeable unless you're looking for it.

Sorry that I did not have a pastel example. This is oil, but the principle is the same.

(Karin, thanks for posting this closeup. I've been anxious for the opportunity to really study your work from a photo with this level of detail!)

Karin,

Thank you for taking the time to critique my work. Your work is beautiful and I do see what you mean by using a pure color in the reflected light. Do you think a pure "cool" color may have worked in my portrait, perhaps a very high key blue?

Ah, the ear. I get so many comments on it. I will definitely have to tone it down, soften the edges. But I have to say that my son's ears are bent, almost like he was hung on a clothesline when he was born, and I find them so endearing. But if it doesn't read well then it has to go. My philosophy is "either it's right or it's wrong".

Thanks again,
Julia

With apologies to all, I mistakenly removed several comments made by Michele Rushworth, and several posts up. They are as follows:

When you toss in really pure bright color, you need to do it sparingly. Since your reds elsewhere are already intense, I doubt that you can get away with it in this particular painting. You would have to experiment with it to see. I simply wanted to make this suggestion for future reference, since you obviously have some interest and skill in the use of color.

Julia,

I love this discussion about color! My approach is somewhat different from Karin's, in that I see the areas of most highly saturated and truest color in the form just before the transition from light to shadow occurs. This is where I see the color being least influenced by either the strength or the temperature of the light source, and not yet subjected to the influences of shadow. In the little diagram below, I have indicated the areas where I think the purest color is located.

Reflected light, as I see it, is generally a function of two things: the color of the light source (in this case, warm) and the local color being bounced into the shadow.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, I have to say that Karin's demonstrated impact of strong color in the shadow is extremely successful. Because her light source is cool, I think the success is strengthened even more by the relatively warmer shadow color, and the fact that warm skin color is being bounced back into the reflected light. In addition, the angle of Karin's subject is such that we see more directly where the reflected color occurs. In your portrait, Julia, the area of reflected light is somewhat hidden by the angle of the photo.

Chris,

I also relish any discussion of color. Throughout my education in a classroom senario and reading anything on the topic, I have been presented with so many approaches to color.

I agree with you and that is what I see when I paint, the most pure color right before a shadow turns into the lighted side.

My difficulty is in painting what "I" see as opposed to painting what I "see". Sometimes I see the shadow as so cool that I paint it in greens or blues, other times they appear warm so I use a warm dark color. The same goes for highlights.

It's a struggle but I love it. This Forum is also terrific. I am glad it is here and that so many participate.

Just a note about where I'm coming from regarding color.

Most artists are trained to paint what they "see", and there is certainly nothing wrong with that approach.

However, I am more apt to paint what I "know" and I pretty much ignore what I "see" when it is in conflict. That is, nobody really sees bright orange under a chin (in my earlier example) but I put it there because I simply like pure color in place of reflected light. Intense color oftentimes defines this secondary light without breaking up a shadow's value.

I also agree with Chris that the truest color is to be found where light and shadow meet (halftone). When I am painting, I often begin with the halftone and work into light on one side and into the shadow on the other.

I hope you ladies don't mind a golfing metaphor.

I've heard it said that the weekend (occasional) golfer, when he stands over the ball preparing to swing, thinks he is looking down at the ball. In fact his field of focus is an area approximately 12" in circumference. For the more accomplished golfer, the one that might score 75-80, will actually be focusing only on the ball. But, the professional golfer "sees" and focuses only on the back side of the golf ball.

I think this discussion is really getting to the back side of the ball.

Hmmmmm. I'm sort of unfamiliar with golf and not sure I understand your metaphor.

Karin,

I think it's the difference between just seeing the right side of the face and, as you and Chris have pointed out, seeing the many subtle pinpoint transitions that can take place even within a relatively small area.

For myself, I must force myself to not just to glance at an area but to focus longer to pull out what is usually there to see if I take the extra effort.

Got it. Except for wanting to paint Tiger Woods someday, golf is not my strong suit. Thanks for your thoughtful explanation.

Karin,

I gave the portrait painting metaphor to a bunch of golfers the other day and they chased me back through the club house and into the parking lot. They are a much more rowdy bunch, not as tolerant as you folk.