Stephanie

[Bruce Johnson]

THis is Stephanie, I painted her brother at a bbq late last year as practice.. .and her mum asked me if I would paint Stephanie as well..

Nu pastel on mi teintes 25 x 19 "
2 x 2 hour live sittings and about 10 hours in the studio with a ref image.

[Julie Deane]

This is nice work, Bruce. I like the red/green theme and she seems very believeable, in other words, good drawing.

But since you put it up for critique, I'll try:

1. her right eye (our left) seems to be a different size from its mate - you might want to check that.

2. The line of the vest around her neck bothers me: it feels tight and restrictive, different from the relaxed feel of the rest of the painting. It's also the place of highest contrast, so the eye is drawn to it.

Do you want the art critiqued using your photo reference to check the likeness?

Julie

[Bruce Johnson]

Hi Julie

Thank you very much for taking the time to critique my paintng.. I will check the eyes as you suggest and the vest.. Stephanie is very shy and I don't have permission to post the ref image. I will ask her though..

Thanks again

Bruce

[Chris Saper]

Bruce,

I very much like what you have accomplished here.. you have a lovely and classic red-green color harmony,and very,very nice edge control.If I were to offer a suggestion, it would only be to convey a little bit more about the direction and color of your light source.

Look forward to seeing more of your work

[Bruce Johnson]

Hi Julie

Stephanie has kindly allowed me to post the ref image... looking at it now I can see some variances in likeness.. but Steph's mum wont let me near the painting .. she says she loves it just as it is..
THis portrait will be mounted on the wall beside the portrait of her younger brother Sebastian.. I've posted that portrait as well to give you an idea of how they will look.. I had to adjust the backgrounds slightly to get a balance, as the background in Seb's portrait was a lot deeper in value and was very dominant..

Hi Chris ..Wow thanks for critiquing my painting.. funny thing .. I've been trying my hand at oil portraits and I've just purchased your book on skin tones.. I'm finding that Oil is quite a bit different than pastel, the colour theory is the same but oil is technically more challenging to use than pastel.. ie. the mediums, mixing, drying, different brushes etc all add to the difficulty level..
As you can see from the ref image I painted Steph outside and the light was coming from all directions. I'm hoping to buy some good studio lighting soon with my meagre earnings from my portrait sales.. this should help with the quality of my work.. fingers crossed.
Thanks again for your help

Bruce

[Chris Saper]

Thanks! -- but give yourself some time with oils. They are infinitely easier and more forgiving than pastels - just be patient.