Annie and Lauren

[Daniel Vipperman]

Hello,

These are my most recent attempts. Having issues with skin color recently, everyone is looking very tan! Anyway, anyone's opinion is welcome.

Thanks,
Dan

[Linda Brandon]

Daniel, welcome to the Forum!

Here are a couple of quick notes I made about your paintings: in the first painting, I'm having a difficult time figuring out your light source - is the girl backlit by the sun? There's a white rim around her that could indicate this. On the other hand the outdoor light could be flat and diffuse. I'm also curious as to the surface on which she's walking. As a viewer I don't need everything spelled out for me, but I don't like to be confused, either.

You have a lively brush technique that I think is well suited to an outdoor and impressionistic style. This style lends itself to fresh, loose work which you may be more comfortable with than a more "classical realist" technique.

The reason you may not be getting much feedback on these posts could be because many of us who post are working in a more "classical" style and may feel unqualified to comment on your work.

As for your second painting, it appears well drawn, but why include the adult hand, other than the fact that it was in the photo? I say, off with it.

If this is your own new baby, then I completely understand the compulsion for you to paint him/her. My advice for painting newborns is to paint them from life - excellent practice for painting skin, and your child will never be this immobile again.

I hope these are not discouraging comments. I like the "edgy" quality of your technique. Please post more paintings and feel free to jump in with remarks about other posted works.

[Garth Herrick]

Hi Daniel:

Welcome to the Forum.

The figures in both paintings appear to be very well drawn with a high degree of sensitivity. I like the imagery and the compositions. However, the high contrast, highly saturated color seems to be borrowed too literally from the photo references you used. This is a trap we can all fall into using photos. I agree with Linda that you may find it helpful to paint the newborn from life, or what I might try is to further work on your painting with the photo reference handy to guide the drawing, as you observe the baby for natural color. You may find a way to further work into the painting of the three year old, by observing her natural color while she watches television, and using the photo reference to guide your drawing. Right now the flesh tones look a little pasty (like they often do in over-exposed photo prints), and there is an odd color cast in her blond hair. I find it helpful to borrow the clothes so that their colors may be observed firsthand (the colors look photographic, and over saturated). The grassy meadow could benefit from more natural, less photographic colors too. I think there is a lot of potential with these paintings. Sometimes very small color correction modifications can have a huge difference in how the painting looks to the viewer. Thanks for sharing them. You may get more helpful responses if you post your reference photos too.

[Daniel Vipperman]

Linda and Garth, thanks very much for the comments. Not discouraging at all. These are my third and fourth attempts at portraiture I know I have much to learn. I am grateful for any advice.

Actually I was confused about the light source as well. Everything was very evenly lit. As for the ground I wanted to avoid being detailed around her feet and creating an awkward transition between the foreground and background.

I paint in a very loose style and I would like to apply that style to my portrait work. The problem I need to resolve is placing a recognizeable figure into a loose painting and how to paint that figure, loose, diffused...?

I included the adult (mother's) hand was to illustrate the baby's size. In retrospect I agree with you.

Garth - My biggest problem is flesh tone. I will take both of your advice and try to work more from life. From my refrence photo I was confused about how to shade the hair - it shows I know. In the future I will be more carefull when choosing refrence photos or try to paint more from life.

I am posting a truer representation of the Annie portrait. On the first image I posted I bumped up the saturation in photoshop, I will resist in the future.

Again thanks very much for your comments.

[Daniel Vipperman]

Afther I submitted my reply I viewed what I could quickly find of both of you work. I was amazed by the work I saw and feel privilaged to have my work seen much less critiqued by you both.

Thanks again!

[Garth Herrick]

Originally Posted by Daniel Vipperman

I am posting a truer representation of the Annie portrait. On the first image I posted I bumped up the saturation in photoshop, I will resist in the future.

Daniel, I should admit I have fiddled with the saturation levels on my images too, but not for all of them. I don't know why, but sometimes images appear less saturated when posted. I have at times not been happy with a posted image, and have had it removed and replaced an adjusted image.

Also I think it is great to incorporate a loose style. Thats the way I want to be too. My paintings inevitably get tighter the more I work on them, but my ideal would be to maintain a loose feeling. This seems difficult for me. I admire those who make it look easy.