Unknown Woman
 

Here is my latest. What is your critique? Why does this painting remind me of a Lucian Freud?

Hi Judson,

You're getting better for sure, specially drawing eyes.
I recomend you to do charcoal exercises, practice anatomy and then move to oils, this will help with likeness.

Keep on improving.

Judson,

I think at this point you should continue your studies of simple objects and ONLY in black and white, like charcoal.

You are not quite ready to paint a human head or to use color.

Judson,

I like the way you have characterized this woman, and the composition shows you have strong design sense. The red dress is great, too.

But I still see the same issues that you had in the last painting of yours I saw posted. There is major distortion in many areas due to an uneven exaggeration of certain value changes and edges. For instance, her cheekbone bulges as if she has a tumor there. It looks like you have made the shadow under her cheekbone too dark, and the changes in value overall too sudden. Another area that stands out is the skin under the jaw line. It is too light and prominent, and it does not seem connected to the neck--a value and edge problem. Another area is her forehead. I'm not saying the planes you have painted are not there, but you've exaggerated the harshness of them so her bone structure seems misshapen. Her hairline is too sudden. The value changes in her ear are too sudden, also. As Sharon said, practicing on spheres is good because it forces you to get really good at gradual gradations of light and dark. If you can't make smooth transitions, the sphere will not appear round! It might be frustrating but ultimately rewarding.

Alex

I painted this portrait from life alla prima in a matter of five hours.

Whether you painted from life or a photograph, the things I said still hold true.

As I said.