I need critique

[Daniel Arredondo]

Steven,

It is a beautiful painting with great draftsmanship and I am sure with a good likeness. The main issue that can improve this painting is composition and a second and more minor issue is color.

To produce a striking painting there normally is a predominant value about 80% and a contrasting value about 20%. Your painting has this ratio with 80% medium and dark values and with 20% light values in the shirt. In your painting the shirt becomes the focus of attention especially since it is next to the darkest value in the painting, the robe. When I do a portrait, in most cases, I try to find ways to make the face the focus of attention.

My opinion on how this very good painting could be improved is by:

1.) Darken the left white shirt area, it is further away and should not be as white as his right arm.

2.) Make the right shoulder area of his shirt the whitest to bring attention to the face.

3.) Loose the sharp edges between the white shirt and black robe, soften them, make them more out of focus. Sharp edges with the greatest contrast attract the most attention.

4.) The photo of your painting may be off in color, but the colors on the chair and face are too close. Gray the chair colors and put stronger hues in the face.

5.) Finally, if you cut off a few inches at the bottom of the painting the chair will loose importance, and the figure becomes more dominant.

I'm getting quite picky here, but I hope this helps.

Daniel