Ethan

[Marcus Lim]

Hi Olena,
I second the room's poll that #3 photo is a wonderful choice. The angled posture, and the balance of the figure makes it a wonderful choice for a painting reference.

However, i think Mike's advice here is absolutely something to bear in mind for this project:

Originally Posted by Mike McCarty

Keep your strokes broad and don't be timid with the paint.

What i'd like to add to Mike's words, is also to keep "movement brushstrokes" for certain areas of the painting, instead of having a smooth, finished look throughout the painting. This will definitely bring out the energy and mood of the painting, and that sense of satisfaction you'd be looking for.

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Hi Olena, i just wanted to post this link
http://www.commissionaportrait.com/a...lio.asp?id=111
which I think you might find inspiring for this work
Ilaria

[Terri Ficenec]

Hi Olena--
I'm jumping in a little late here. . . jumping on the #3 bandwagon -- it's got just about everything going for it.

Looking ahead for potential problem areas, I'm thinking you'll want to be very careful handling that near hand where those bent fingers all end on almost a straight line -- if you've got other shots immediately before or after this one with slightly different hand positions. . . you might consider if there's a similar hand shot with 'better fingers'?

From how you describe the boy. . . these shots really reflect his energetic personality -- I bet this turns out beautifully!

[Chris Saper]

Dear Olena,

The biggest issue I think you will face is that there is no direction to the light source, and as Mike mentioned virtually no information with which to model values The second issue I think is the wide toothed grin which causes the child's eyes to almost close.

That being said, there is a great deal of artwork on your site that is quite loose and slightly impressionistic, and if that is the style that has drawn your client to you, you'll be in terrific shape.

I agree that the composition of image 3 is pretty close to perfect,including the grayed down figures at the right - they can act as a very nice visual "stop" - you might even reverse the direction of the rightmost figure to reinforce its compositional strength..

Ilaria's link is very helpful as well

[Olena Babak]

Thank you so much for all your responses.

Ilaria, thank you very much for the link. I think I got an idea for the next painting as well as some help for this one.

Terri, thank you for mentioning the potential problem areas. It definitely would be challenging painting his hand, but I

[Chris Saper]

Here's one more thought..if the highest value contrast is at the bottom of the teeth, the eyes will be lost.

[Olena Babak]

Chris,
I can see what you saying