Lindsey colored pencil portrait

03-22-2002, 01:50 PM

This is the colored pencil portrait I have on my website and use for my brochure. The "glitter" is from my scanner and is not on the actual portrait. I am also attaching the reference photo in the next post. I am disappointed a little in the likeness. My husband (best critic) says she looks too old. Criticism welcome. Thanks.

03-22-2002, 01:53 PM

Here is the photo reference for Lindsey.
Thanks

Cynthia Daniel · 03-22-2002, 03:28 PM

Gwen and everyone posting portrait images,

I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions. Not about the portrait but about the image quality.

For ideal circumstances for critiquing, the image should be larger and better clarity. You can post up to 400 pixels wide and 600 pixels high.

Additionally, when you scan, you want to scan at as high a dpi as your computer can handle.

Lastly, your image is suffering severely from over compression, a common mistake when saving files as a jpg file. Somewhere in your graphics program, when a file is saved as jpg, there is an option to select the level of compression. You want to choose high quality compression.

After I resize an image down to the size I want and just before I save it, I use "unsharp mask", which is the proper option to use over simply the "sharpen" command. In any event, you want to use this judiciously or you'll end up with too much of a good thing.

Take a look at the quality of this portrait image by Tom Edgerton. It's a good example of what can be achieved in image clarity with the proper steps.

One last note for anyone with AOL. If you haven't turned "image compression" off in your AOL options (or is it preferences), then you'll need to do so to see the highest quality images.

Good luck!

03-22-2002, 04:13 PM

Thanks! Here is another try to send the portrait. I don't have "unsharp mask" on my graphics program, but I did save it at 1% compression. I hope this is the direction I should go. If not, I will try again at 100%.
Thanks for the help.

03-22-2002, 04:19 PM

Here is the photo reference again, better quality.
Thanks!

Cynthia Daniel · 03-22-2002, 06:21 PM

Yes! You did a terrific job Gwen! Now the members will really have something they can see. I would recommend rescanning your site images if the earlier one you posted is representative. You could probably save your jpgs at around 8%-15% compression and be ok. Play around with it. Save an image as a tif for a master (no compressioni on tifs) and then save it at different jpg compressions and compare them til you find the limit.

Patt Legg · 03-22-2002, 09:59 PM

Gwen,

I am not nearly as professional as others on this forum but I will give you my two-cents worth of what I see, if I may.

I really like your work and it seems wonderfully fresh. I have found in my own work that in painting little ones, I have to really watch the proportions in the features of their tiny faces. I think that the nose here could be a bit shorter. In children's features, all of the features are in the lower half of the total face and they have much more forehead. One other thing that seems a bit out is the childs right eye (left to us facing). If you cover one half of the face one eye appears to look at the viewer and the other more to the childs right. In the reference photo she appears to be looking toward her right.

I sometimes scan my photos when they seem shaded a bit and then lighten it a little in contrast in order to see the features better.

Well, there you have it for what it is worth. I hope that I made sense to you. I feel that my ways of expressing what I want to say are not nearly as professional as others and with brush in hand I can demonstrate what I mean to say.

Great and hope to see more of your work.

Good luck,
Patt

Debra Norton · 03-23-2002, 02:07 AM

Gwen,

I don't think I'm qualified to do a critique, but I can offer a learning source that's helped me a lot. It's Ann Kullberg's book, Colored Pencil Portraits Step by Step. I bought her book and found out she lives in my area (sort of) so I took one of her workshops. She does beautiful work; and you can see it on this site, she's one of the SOG artists. She puts out a web magazine, and she offers CP instruction kits at www.portraitartist.com/kullberg.

03-23-2002, 11:32 AM

Thanks everyone!

Patt - You are exactly right! I couldn't figure out the problem, but you hit it on the head. The nose is too long and the left (to us) eye is looking the wrong way.

Debra - I have Ann's book, which is great. I also have Lee Hammonds's CP Portraits from Photographs, which is also very helpful. I like the colors in Lee's and the techniques in Ann's.

Cynthia - Thanks! I have a lot to learn about graphic file types

Cynthia Daniel · 03-23-2002, 11:47 AM

Gwen,

As with the others, I'm not an expert evaluator. However, the thing that strikes me is the handling of shadows in general.

For example, the shadow of the hat on her face seems to end abruptly. Also, the hat shadow comes down farther on her face in the photo. Additionally, the shading on the bridge of the nose seems to need some work to give it more form.

I would recommend checking all shadows and gradations into light areas.