Funky Hat
 

I am not much into TV watching and if I don

Enzie,

One of the rules about where to cut a painting, (I think I heard it originally from Cedric Egeli) is that you do not chop off the fingers or toes of the sitter, and you do not cut them at the joint (the elbow, wrist, knees and ankle.) You can cut at mid-arm or mid-thigh. Mid-calf and mid-forearm is okay, but not as good as mid-upper arm and mid-thigh.

Based on these rules, you would need to go with the head only photograph, no matter how much you like to paint hands. In your reference photograph, the fingers are cut off. If you wanted to paint his hands, you need to drop the image down a few inches to include the entire hands.

I would also simplify the background.

Peggy

Hi Enzie,

I took the top left image and eliminated the hands (don't care for half of the hands). Then I eliminated some of the room over his head. This would be my take on the composition. Nice face.

Peggy and Mike,

I have to agree the image does look much better without the hands. It is so nice to have someone else's input. With all the cropping I did, I never thought of taking the hands out. Thank you both for a new perspective.

Funky Hat
 

Enzie,

Well, you are it - the first person that I have given feedback to. Being a "beginner" I have been reluctant to chime in. Cropping is one of your smaller issues with this photo. I think that bigger challenge is going to be painting the hat so that it looks as though it is sitting on the man's head. In the photograph, it floats behind the head. I think that this illusion is exaggerated because the hat is so peculiarly shaped that it doesn't look like a hat. You are going to have to convince the viewer that it is, both in function and form.I like Mike's cropping of the image.

Clive,

I appreciate your input and now you have made me wonder about it. After I have sketched him, I will post him again to see what everyone thinks about the floating hat.

There is no denying that it sits very peculiar on his hat and I agree with you that might create a problem. We will see.

Not that this isn't a great photo, but since you say you are going to draw as your husband watches TV why not draw him? Most people do not move much when mesmerized by the TV tube and I always prefer to draw from life. And then you will not have the copyright issues like you did with your National Geographic reference. Well, just a thought; the others are right about the hands. Personally, I don't show hands unless the piece is a 3/4 length or bigger.

Michael,

I don't have copyright issues. This is a picture among others I have been give by Mr. Al Sadrpour, who is a friend of mine. I have several more that are waiting to be tackled.

Regarding your suggestion of drawing my husband. I have done that before and somehow that zombie look, just doesn't do it for me. Portraits need to be engaging to keep me interested at working at them. Good idea though!

Enzie,

I understand you enjoy painting hands. It's a great challenge, isn't it? Where my artwork is concerned I try not to allow difficulties to stop me from getting what I want. Have you thought about going the extra mile by getting a model to pose his hands.

I've seen many men like this while living in Asia. They are often rugged men who a forced by life's demands to work with their hands. Food is sometimes scarce, and just feeding and housing their families is a lifetime achievement.

I was on Yellow Mountain China a while back, and after taking a sky lift almost up to the top, I was shocked to see men like this man carrying furniture up to a hotel near the top of the mountain. This was an April day full of sunshine at the foot of the mountain, and the top of the mountain was full of snow.

Well, enough of my rambling. A construction worker of a similar age and build can be a big help here. He may also give you some interesting insight into the kind of lifestyle he leads. Good luck. I'll be interested to see what you decide to do.