[Chris Saper]

Dear Sophie,

Congratulations on an excellent start to a very complicated painting!

Here are several thoughts on the portrait you have posted, with regard to drawing and composition.

Drawing. First of all, let me say that you are really close on her. It's hardest to identify problems when they may comprise differences as little as 1/8 " or even less. Her nose is too long and too far to our left. As you have observed, her features are starting to "level out", right below the eyebrows, and by the time you get to the chin, the "level" is actually starting to descend toward our right. Yet the rest of the head is more closely aligned with the angles in the photo, so my recommendation would be to first make all the angles of the features agree. This may also be the reason the her ear and jaw are vertically compressed. I view ears as features equally important to a person's likeness as eyes or the mouth, so I'd recommend spending a little more time with the shape of the ear, and recheck its placement when you revise the angles of the features.

Check, also, the shape of the hair, in particular the volume of hair at the back of her head (you have too much) and the shape of the hairline between the brow and the ear. You will convey a greater sense of dimension if you deepen the value of her hair where it is swept back above her ear.

With regard to the groom, begin by rechecking the length vs. width of his head: the head is too wide compared to its length. The extra width is mainly contained on the side of his face to our left. It's a variation of the leveling out happening in her face: as you move down the head, the features are migrating toward the center. Even so, double check the length as well as the shape of his nose.

Composition. I like the placement of the couple, giving breathing room to their gaze as well as to the direction of the light. The building in the background is problematic, for several reasons, but mainly because it becomes a static center of interest. This occurs for several reasons: first, the top of the tower is pretty much in the center of the page; the top of the third tier forms a tangent with the roofline of the building; the dark outline of the "steps" in the brick creates a sharp edge with lots of contrast. When you include architectural elements, the perspective has to really be on the money, or the image will read as flat and cut/pasted on the surface. The trees seem to be perhaps an afterthought? If you start by softening the edges of the building (including steps, bricks, etc.), you can help the church stay in the background. For a building to be that size, compared to the couple, it would be very far back, and you would not be able to see every brick. If you have flexibility as to size, you might consider cropping the sky out altogether, just below the top of the third tier.

A closing note: You may want to find a couple of spots to call attention back to the couple; right now the man's collar is a real attention getter, (could be softened quite easily) , and does function to catch the eye and send it to your focal point.

Good luck with this painting, it will surely be something they will cherish over the years.