A Sprite Irish Lad!

[Patricia Joyce]

This lad is my nephew Brian Patton. If ever there was an Irish puss!! He is eight years old but holds that "know all" look from living with six older sisters and brothers!

I will post the ref pic also.

Thank you and Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

[Patricia Joyce]

Geesh! As soon as it's posted things jump out at me, that I did not see "live". I need to work on the neck, it is not "believable", both in shadow and the back line on our right. Perhaps the shadow on the forehead is not deep enough as it moves into the lighter side?

[Michele Rushworth]

Nice drawing, but it seems to have the same difficulties as your last one, before the changes you made.

The shadows are not nearly dark enough to give a sense that the form is turning. In the drawing you have the halftones on the near side of the face at almost the same value as the very strong shadows on the far side of the face and in the reference they are not close in value at all. The shadows on the left should be several steps down the value scale.

[Patricia Joyce]

Thanks, Michele,
I'll take it further tonight. I still don't trust my instincts so I hesitated to go darker, but I see that you are right. I'm not crazy about the extreme lighting on the photo but I do believe you are right that the shadow side should be darker.

[Michele Rushworth]

Except for the blown out (too white) highlights on his cheek and nose, I like the lighting in the photo ref, actually. Very strong.

[Jimmie Arroyo]

Patricia,
Great to see you working so much. There are several things that can be done to improve on this. Some of my points might have been addressed as you went on, so feel free to disregard some of them.

Immediately, the jaw line on his left looks off, which makes the right side of his face dip. The shape of his ear is also a bit off, there should be more lobe. Double check the way his nostrils line up. The forehead may also be too big. What I just wrote may also be attributed to the angle the picture was taken, so what may seem off, may be just fine.

If you have a problem going darker, you should start with a value sketch on cheap paper. This is a great ref pic for that type of excercise. Once you break down the drawing to simpler values, it's easier to determine when you have to go dark.

I'm sorry to be nit-picking, but the double shirt line does not have the same flow as the rest of the picture and is distracting. Lightening them would help, or going darker first on the face may make them not as noticeable.

Please post an update if you decide to take this further.


Jimmie