Hi Jimmie,
I would have been jumping for joy if I had been able to manage this head at my first life session. (First, the compliment,
then the critique...
) There is so much information to digest when working from life it's hard to know where to start. I congratulate you for having the guts to post your first one!
One of my first teachers had us paint a plaster "planes of the head" bust in black and white paint for the first half hour of every session. It was annoying to keep doing this after the first few weeks but it really helped me see the values of the planes as they move away from the light source and to get a real sense of the head as a solid form in space. It also helped me to know what to look for in a "typical" head and where the bony parts are. I really recommend getting one of these if you can.
I have a feeling that one of the things that is causing you trouble is that you are trying to translate colorful, live flesh into monocrome. If you try looking through a sheet of red acetate (there are lots of other value-finding tools, too) it will help you assess values.
Many of the good books on anatomy discuss what happens to the eyeball on the far side of the three-quarter view as the head turns away from you. I don't have one of my books in front of me at the moment but I can post a diagram tomorrow if you want me to.
Her neck muscles aren't quite right here - neck muscles are often surprisingly hard to paint accurately. When you are working from life be sure also to get the shadow and values right on the neck as well as the head and to develop both simultaneously. I also think that the eye highlights should be coming from the other side, the side from which the light originates.
Jimmy, you draw
beautifully and with great style and intensity. I'm betting you'll pick this up this painting thing much more quickly than you think you will.
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