Here's Marie

[Karine Monaco]

Hi everybody,

I would be interested to know what you think of this piece. It is a pastel on Pastel Card, 50 x 65 cm.

Please note that it is not finished yet. I am still working on the background, but I think I won't add any change on the face.

I am used to paint portraits differently (that is I paint in a rather free manner, ommitting some parts, adding bright color strokes where there is none, etc.). I'd like to keep in them some trace of my style but I am thinking of making them look a little bit more like classical pieces to fit some commissionners expectations.

I admire the work of many painters on this forum, and I would appreciate honnest comments on this one and/or opinions on the background. Thank you so much in advance!

Karine

[Mischa Milosevic]

Karine, you have modeled her face quite well. This will be a grate portrait. As for the modeling I mention but three things. First, the forehead on our right, her left, above the brow needs attention some drawing and some modeling. Second her right jaw line, our left, the space between the line and the cheek seems incorrect. You mite be suggesting a reflected light still I would take another look. Also, the sternal notch is missing.
For the background i would try a total black and then add purple/violet , redish/brown and dark bluish green. I would also introduce a hint of shoulders.

Wish you the best,
mischa

[Alexandra Tyng]

Karine,

This is a really strong portrait and I am looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

I agree with Mischa about the modeling of features & chest. One thing more: her earlobe reads firey red on my computer screen, as if she had a nasty infection around her earring! I think the rosy color would probably read better if that part of her earlobe were pushed back into the shadow with some green, blue, or whatever colors you are using in the shadow.

As for the background, the back of the head seems to get lost in it and overpowered by it. I would suggest a neutral color slightly lighter than the back of her head and hair.

Alex

[Karine Monaco]

Dear Mischa and Alex, it's wonderful, I LOVE this forum
I never seem to get helpful comments about the quality of my portraits in my area, and your honesty is very much appreciated.

Actually the things you pointed out are due to my reference photo.

Based on the many discussions about drawing from life, I deliberately chose a bit of a distorted photo to work on, because the perspective looked interesting. I did that in order to see if I could correct it by my experience of drawing life models. I guess I need more practice!

In the picture I have, she was wearing a light blue sweater on her shoulders (thus hiding them completely) - which aesthetically wasn't satisfying at all -, and I was thinking of adding notes of that color in the area of the shoulders in the background to give more credibility to that reflect on the jaw. As for the back part of her head which is lost in the background, I precisely did it on purpose, to conceal the hairstyle, a pony tail which did not fit either the style of the portrait I was inspired to make, but if this seems too weird, I may correct it.

Good comment about the ear. I already did what you advised me Alex, but it wasn't enough apparently. I will check this. As for the sternal notch, I will have to cheat and exaggerate it a lot, because it was surprisingly hard to see on this model.

This is really good practice. I hope I can make this model sit for me again soon to see all the things that are wrong and work from life, but since this is not possible right now, please feel free to give me your thoughts about it.

Thank you again for your time. I really appreciate!

Karine