I find the drawing aspects to be very nicely rendered -- things look proportional, in right relation. Surely anyone familiar with your son would see the piece and instantly recognize it as an accurate depiction.
As with the portrait of Ryan, I would again suggest more enrichment of the flesh tones, both in hue and temperature. If you squint down (go ahead, no one's watching) and look at this piece, you'll see that only one relatively small, roughly ovoid shape on the face, on the viewer's right, has any colour. The entire remainder of the face is a flat (albeit bright), somewhat chalky, quite uniform white, which retains its uniformity even as the planes of the face turn away from the light. That not only bleeds the life out of the human subject and complicates the illusion of modeling, but it fights against the exciting possibility of a temperature contrast between the flesh tones and the cool garment and background.
A couple more bits on light -- I'm not sure where all that bright light on the underside of the jawline (aft the goatee) is coming from, and I would increase (that is, lighten) the value of that dark circular shape in the middle of the ear (or else darken the value of the rest of the ear, which after all, is arguably on the "shadow" side of the figure.) Finally, the catchlights in the eyes are well-placed but too large, I think. Those, coupled with the very light iris segments opposite, are creating a kind of "dazed" look.
As you already know, I'm impressed with your work. I commend you your diligence in capturing your sons' likenesses in these forms -- the pieces will doubtless be heirlooms.
Best wishes,
Steven
|