Opinions please
 

Hi, I was wondering what you all think of this picture? The mother is wanting a head and shoulders of this baby, wants the background and shoulder part to fade together with the focus just the face. We have had a HARD time getting the expression she wanted, finally we have the expression, but do you think this is a suitable photo to work from?

Thanks in advance.

Sweet face! Sure, I think it's a useable photo. I imagine you'd straighten out the front of her outfit.

The skintone in the photo is a little off, though. I'd want to play around with the color balance in Photoshop and print a color corrected image before painting it, though. Good luck with it, and be sure to post the finished painting!

I warmed up the color just a bit. What do you think?

Looking at how the one I just posted came out, I think I'd take out a bit of that red.

My intention was to warm up the skintones overall with a more golden color, but sometimes the best way is just to paint it the way you want it. I can't always wrestle my software to show the color balance the way I want it -- guess that's why I'm a painter and not a computer artist!

Baby photo
 

Cute shot! Get some color xeroxes and try them on different colored backgrounds. Tint the cheeks and lips with a pinkish oil paint to heighten the color. I think a pale grey blue graded background would work the best. Check out the tips I sent to Gery Comicz about skintones.