Michael Kayaking
 

This is my son kayaking. The active pose is his request.

20" x 16" Acrylic on Canvas
closeup and original photo to follow.

Sorry for the glare at the right!

Detail of Face

I've softened some of the details on the face since I originally posted this. Seeing it on the computer made it jump out at me how hard some of the edges were! (This is the revamped version.)

Reference photo

So - my 'to do' list on this one right now includes:
1. adjusting the iris/pupil on his left eye so that it is not quite so far left,
2. softening the light dark contrast in the background trees,
3. some work on his legs so they don't look so wooden,
4. toning down the girl in the background so that she doesn't jump out so much, and
5. anything else I happen to notice, while I'm at it (there always seems to be something more, doesn't there :bewildere ), that needs fixing!

Please feel free to comment or critique, I'm sure that fresh eyes looking at this will see things that I've missed.

Thanks!

Terri,

I'll give you a couple of observations. I agree that the eyes could be adjusted to a less "shifty" look. I don't know your son, he may be a shifty sort, but a more straight on glance might give him a more "we're having fun look."

Your boys skin tones look to be a little red on my screen. And you might observe the reflected color from the boat onto the underside of his legs and arm to be more yellowish that red.

I like your portrait and given all the adjusting you did I think it works pretty well.

While you're messing with the background, gray it back a bit, so it will recede better.

Thanks for your comments!

Mike - I think a lot of that reddishness in the skin tone has to do more with the photo than the painting. The lighting conditions were less than ideal and the camera seems to overemphasize red tones when I'm using artificial light. I'm sure there's probably a setting somewhere I ought to be adjusting. :o (I'll try to get a better shot to post next time.) As far as the red reflection on the back of his legs, you're right. I hadn't noticed before that it shows yellow on the reference photo on-screen (it printed as an orange glow - and I was working from a printout!) Good catch before I rework those legs!

Jeff - Wasn't it you who mentioned working directly from the computer screen as a reference - I'll have to give that a try! As far as graying down the background, I think you're right.

Thanks again!

Terri,

You may also want to soften the lines both where the water meets the trees and where the trees meet the sky. Also between the dark and light patterns within the trees. Those hard lines tend to bring the background closer and will begin to compete with your subjects.

So here's where it's at now - with the above changes, if I've understood correctly?

and the close-up.

Terri,

I like what you've done with your boy's eyes, he has a much more relaxed look now.

Just a couple more points, I would try and make a more gradual transition between the lights and darks in the flesh tones. Particularly on your boys left arm and even down on the sole of his right foot. Also on the underside of his left thigh near his shorts, there is a distict line which is causing this to read a little oddly.

You might also check the angle created by the shin of his left leg from the top of his knee as it goes down towards where his ankle would be. It can be a little tricky creating feet where shoes once were.

The tree line looks much softer at the transitions. Remember that those odd couple of tree tops can be interpreted any way you wish. Don't let them become eye catchers just because they show in the photo. Notice on our left side of the trees near the sky (in the photo), there are some "sky holes." These can be very effective in softening that transition and creating a more interesting effect.

When you paint this again with your daughter in the near boat, as she must have suggesting by now, you should try it in oils.

Nice job, good luck.

Hi Mike - What a sharp eye for details! :thumbsup:
Your advice on this painting has been tremendously helpful and has really improved it!

As far as the oils go, I'll probably give it a try on a little portrait sometime soon - but my daughter will have to wait! (It was because I had originally done one of her that I owed one to Michael - if I do one of Karen again now, we'd be uneven again!).

I actually switched from oils to acrylics a few years back because they were a lot more convenient to work with, with kids running around the house. But then I wasn't doing portraits and needing to get such subtle blending/transitions. So we'll see how it goes with the oils now that we're talking portraits.

Thanks again Mike!