Help! portrait of redhead, skin too light?

[October Reader]

Jennifer, I hope you don't mind me sidetracking here for just a moment. Sorry!

I am SO glad to have stumbled upon this forum. The range of available resources here is just out of this world - all the way from the spiritual to the technical and to the pragmatic, and, of course the intermittent laughters are so very necessary as well!

Garth, I would be very honored if you could critique one of my paintings down the road using this Photoshop method which you demonstrated here on Jennifer's work, especially regarding subtleties in value. Value is my weak point. THANKS IN ADVANCE. And I would love to go on and on about "Jane and Lona" and your "52 gray scale" methodology but that would be disrespectful to the main focus here on this thread.

OK, back to you Jennifer. Thanks for letting me go off on a tangent !

[October Reader]

Jennifer, along Michele's comments on ambient lighting, I wonder if the boy's coloring would seem more convincing if you use some of the "blues-grays" already applied on his cheek and neck areas to create a background. Just a thought.

[Garth Herrick]

Jennifer, (sorry to have digressed)

You have an interesting and well lit, sculptural head to paint from the reference photo. The subtle nuances and relationships in shading and color development take time to work out. It may feel daunting but I think it would be rewarding to further work on your pastel portrait and explore these nuances more.

There are also a number of shape. proportion and drawing corrections that could be made and adjusted along the way. I bet the more you rework this portrait, the stronger and better it will become (maybe I'm speaking for myself because I rework and correct my portraits endlessly until they look about right).

With a little more exploration, I think you will hit upon a balance in the color relationships in the skin tones and hair, warm background or not.

Garth

[Sharon Knettell]

Jennifer,

I always seem to run into trouble when I stray from the background color of my reference, live or photographed. It is difficult from your reference to isolate a single color that would work as the background is so diverse.

A couple of things that have worked for me are ;
A) Using a complementary color, in this case a warm grey green to offset the skin or a slightly greyer blue green to offset the hair.
B) Using an analogous color. something related to the skin tone or the hair, a greyish rose. It would be a cooler warm color than the one you have used.

I would try to get an amalgam of the colors in the background as that is what influences the color in the reflected light. In this case solution "A" would be my first choice here.

Try painting pieces of paper with the different color options attaching them to the edges of your reference, step back and see what works best.

[Jennifer Geary]

Wow, some really great advice from you guys! Just reading all the replies makes me want to go back and rework the drawing NOW. (of course, I am at work, that always happens when I am at work!) Garth, your suggestions are great and in no way heavy handed! I welcome any critique/criticism from this group as I know I will be steered in the right direction! That is what I am here for. To learn and someday be a decent portrait artist. :-)

My only comment about the color is that in the original drawing I used no red at all (primary red, that is). I used a lot of burnt sienna and umbers in this, but the digital picture for some reason makes his hair as bright as Ronald McDonald! I will try to retake the photo, but will wait until I make my changes that you and Sharon have suggested. Sharon, I had no idea that my portrait would change so much after taking it out of its element and placing it on a warmer color! Just that tip was what I needed, I think. I read your reply and was in instant agreement. I will try it! This is just a practice piece and a learning tool. I am fairly new at pastels, so I know I have much to learn.

Hopefully I can get a revision of this drawing up within the next few days. Thanks everyone!
Jen