Lexie

Janel Maples · 03-03-2004, 04:41 PM

This is a 16 X 20 oil on canvas of my daughter, Lexie, painted from a photo I took with my digital camera. I took this photo in a room without windows and the only light source was a combination lamp.

Thank you for looking, and for anything you have to say that will help me improve.

Janel

Janel Maples · 03-03-2004, 04:45 PM

Here is the photo I am working from.

Matthew Severson · 03-03-2004, 06:58 PM

I think this is beautiful!

I love the reference photo!

I was wondering if you would allow me to use this photo to do some drawings? Beautiful pictures like this are hard to get ahold of; im always looking for gorgeous, big brown eyes. They're wonderful for drawings.

Matthew

Leslie Ficcaglia · 03-03-2004, 07:37 PM

Janel, this is a nice study. I especially like the way you've depicted the hair, suggesting it but not overdoing the details.

A couple of suggestions: the eye on our left, her right, is looking downward slightly, whereas the eye in the reference photo has the same gaze as her left one. This is due to the edge of white above the iris, which gives it that downcast look. The eye on our left is also slightly more elevated relative to that on the right than is the case in the reference photo. The eyebrow on our left is very like the one in your photo, but the one on our right has more of an angle in the middle, going up more markedly than you're showing it. Also her cheek, on our left, should be slightly fuller at the same level as the corner of her mouth. And more variation in values would provide some of the dimensionality which her head and face lack; they look somewhat flat. Your lights could be lighter and your darks darker.

These are minor issues - for the most part it's a lovely painting of a beautiful little girl. I'll bet she's very proud of it.

Janel Maples · 03-05-2004, 01:01 PM

Thank you Mathew,

A photographer I am not so thank you for saying you liked the photo I took of Lexie. I have a great deal of fun drawing all three of my children because of their eyes.

Note: I am new to the response with a quote so I hope I don't mess this up.

I was wondering if you would allow me to use this photo to do some drawings?

Yes, you may practice from my photo of her, thank you for asking in advance. Good luck, I have trouble drawing her. I think it is because of her personality. She has a sparkle about her that doesn't show up on photographs, especially when I ask her not to smile. Which, by the way is torture for her.

Janel

Janel Maples · 03-05-2004, 01:16 PM

Leslie,

Thank you for taking the time to point out some areas for me to work on, and for your kind remarks about my painting. I am anxious to try out your suggestions and see where it takes me.

I am still a little self conscious about my work to be submitting it for critique on this site so hearing you, and Mathew, both like my painting of Lexie means a great deal to me.

Matthew Severson · 03-05-2004, 01:19 PM

Thank you for letting me use her.

The younger they are, the more difficult they are to draw. Right now I'm not working so much on likeness; just the shadows. So I don't expect any of the drawings I produce of her to have much resemblance at all.

Matthew

Kimberly Dow · 03-07-2004, 01:30 PM

Janel, this is very nice - pretty darn good photo for no windows.

One of the first things I notice is the eyebrows - the one to our left is lower and the one on our right has a nice center arch that gives her a little personality. Maybe look at the eyebrows on her painting.

Janel Maples · 03-08-2004, 03:25 PM

Kimberly,

I think you have something there about her eyebrow adding personality. Lexie has a small dimple on her left cheek bone (our right looking at her) near the corner of her eye, when she smiles. I have not been able to fully capture her personality because of its absence, but I think the shape of the eyebrow you mention will help a great deal.

Thank you very much.

Steven Sweeney · 03-10-2004, 10:33 AM

I'm a little slower to make the rounds these days. Just a couple of quick notes about light.

The wing of the nose in shadow has too much light on it, as does the base of the nose (otherwise known as overmodeling, or "looking into" your darks too hard to find lights). Squint down at the photo and you'll see that the entire dark shadow across the base of the nose and up on the wing could almost be put in as one value. I'd move your painting toward that effect.

Also, too much light on the upper eyelid in shadow (between the eye and the eyebrow), which is making that lid look unduly prominent and puffy. Again, compare the relative amounts of light and shadow in the photo.

One last thing -- in the shadow side of the face as shown in the photo, there's a slight lightening in the area of the temple, in line with the eyebrow. In the painting there's a curious dark shape there. Might want to take another look at what's going on there in terms of form (and the way light describes it.)

Otherwise very lovely, a pleasant soft quality to the overall appearance, nicely handled edges.