Turning 5.

Mary Sparrow · 05-07-2004, 07:57 AM

I tried to do this mostly from life. I had a few head shots that sat still longer than he would

to help me with his expression, but had him sit with me and play with his leggos so I could try to do the color. The orange blob on his right (our left) ear I have toned down since taking this picture. He does have very dark brown eyes, however the digital picture makes them look too dark, I don't think they look like that in person. Im not sure where to go from here?

Garth Herrick · 05-07-2004, 10:33 AM

Mary,

I like your subtle color harmony in a theme of brown and white, and the soft pinks on the blue paper. I love the treatment of reflected light in the hair. Short of being able to see a reference photo (it may be better to avoid posting one anyway) I can't think of anything to say but that I like it.

Garth

Mary Sparrow · 05-07-2004, 11:38 AM

Thanks for the comments Garth. Like you, I don't think posting a reference would be good for anything except seeing if the likeness is there (it is, this is my middle child, I think I could draw him with my eyes closed) To post the reference, would lead to all sorts of things that didn't "match" because, I didn't paint from it. It concerns me that you think that paper is blue. That paper is a brownish earthy green, if you are seeing it as blue then I wonder what the rest is looking like.

Of course, I would like to think that as things get translated differently from monitor to monitor, that it all adjusts accordingly.

I don't really know what I am asking for here, it just doesn't look finished to me, but I can't put my finger on what I am supposed to do next. However, I have noticed that when I paint my own children, I never feel like they look finished. Maybe it is because I know them a little TOO WELL?

Holly Snyder · 05-07-2004, 11:47 AM

Hi Mary,

The paper also looks a little more blue-green to me, rather than brown. Your portraits usually seem to be on the "cool" side. Is it possible your monitor is calibrated different than you think? Have you looked at your work on a different monitor, perhaps in a public library or something? Nice job, by the way.

Cheers,

Holly

Mary Sparrow · 05-07-2004, 12:01 PM

Hmmmmm. This is interesting to me, and frustrating me more. The recurring comments to me about just about every portrait I have posted seem to be concerning "too much purple" "warm up the shadows" "the shadows are too cool" but when I go to the easel and look, or try to adjust they get TOO HOT. But now I'm starting to think I'm not as off as I have been thinking I am! (If that makes any sense) but rather, when I adjust the painting on my monitor to match the painting in hand this is where I am going wrong.

I don't have a clue how to calibrate a monitor!

Mary Sparrow · 05-07-2004, 12:10 PM

OK, here the same picture. Does that paper still look blue to you?

Holly Snyder · 05-07-2004, 12:24 PM

Yeah, the image looks the same to me. You probably go the library a lot with your little kids? I would first look at your website on a computer there and see if it looks the same as at home.

Calibrating a monitor can be done in a basic way, by eye, or one can spend the money for a software/hardware package to do it. It'd be cool to be able to do it the latter way, maybe someday! : )

In any case, for the basic way, there should be buttons on the front of your monitor panel. There should be a menu, that will allow you to select the color temperature (usually either 6500K or 9300K), choose what you like best. Also, there are channels for R G B (red green blue), and you can adjust the levels of these. They should be on the factory default settings (check your monitor manual for the settings).

Then if you have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements installed, you can use a program called Adobe Gamma. If you're using windows, it will be in the control panels. Run the program using the wizard, it will guide you step-by-step in calibrating your monitor.

Holly

Kimberly Dow · 05-07-2004, 06:36 PM

Looks blue to me - here is a link someone gave me to calibrate your monitor - you can add this to your website so people can calibrate to your paintings - Dang - be right back with that url
http://members.aol.com/wa8lmf/screencal/screencal.htm

Garth Herrick · 05-08-2004, 12:42 AM

Mary,

I took your JPEG image into Photoshop to convert the blue paper to brown-green. This gives me a clue to the way your pastel really looks.

It looks fine to me. All the browns, pinks and oranges are stronger, and the shirt is less bluish.

I would check like others said whether your monitor needs any color calibration. I know mine is pretty reliable, and the paper color appeared a soft and muted blue green.

Garth

Mary Sparrow · 05-08-2004, 07:05 AM

Look at this. I swiped this color chip off of www.finartstore.com (which by the way, has THE BEST color charts for all of the pastels) This is the color the portrait is. Yikes! no wonder everyone keeps telling me how cool things are. I feel like such a dunce that I never really put the two together til now that you weren't seeing it as is!

I think this color chip is pretty accurate, much closer to the real piece of paper than what you are seeing.

I have calibrated my monitor, and I do see more of a bluish tint than I did. But I also think part of the problem is photo itself, I need to figure out what I am doing wrong with this camera.