In the Spotlight

[Dianne Gardner]

20" X 16"
oils on canvas

I need a fresh eye to review this one. Its my granddaughter in her tap dance dress, first recital.

I see some mistakes myself. I started this with a raw umber underpainting and thought I had it right. Aside from perhaps not getting her mouth in the right place and trouble with the right side of her head, the other major problem I think is the harshness of her features. I also start out with the right values but as I start adding color I have a tendency to lighten the values. Also, for children I was trained not to make too great a contrast in values as it makes them appear older. The photo it is from is not the best but it was taken back stage in the dressing room with a little digital camera.

Well, any comments would be greatly appreciated. I know I need to draw more. But I love painting so much I probably won't quit that, I'll just add drawing to my exercises. Hopefully I will be able to take a hands on class next year.

Thank you for your help.
Dianne

[Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco]

Dianne,

This is a sweet portrait of your granddaughter but needs a few corrections to do her justice, I think.
My critique:

- I will start on the basics: the photo reference is a very difficult photo to tackle. Personally I believe that photos should be taken purposefully, and that painting from a casual photograph is seldom going to work (too late now to do anything about anyway).
This photo is slightly blurred and the skintones are flat and badly lit. The pose is also a bit weird, without the other arm or shoulder showing. I am sure that given the chance you would have opted for a three quarter view of her body.

- The black ground is in my opinion a questionable choice, that contrasts too much with the figure. You have rightly softened the edges, so that she does not look like a cutout, but still I believe that a lighter neutral background, not worked in one flat colour, will soften this sense of harshness you have also noticed, and at the same time be more suitable for a child portrait.

- There is a problem with the size of her features, specially the eyes, which look too big for her face. I think you should consider repainting
the head.

I suggest that you draw it again on paper paying attention to the proportions and the relationship between features, their placement and their width.
After completing the drawing I would obliterate her face completely with white paint and redraw just a few landmarks, like the pupils, the width and placement of the nostrils, the partition and corner of the mouth, before repainting all of the face.
I am terrible at drawing on the computer, but I have tried to explain visually where I see discrepancies between the photo and your work.
You have painted eyes and nose as if they were completely frontal, while the head is slightly turned away from the viewer.
Did you look at your painting and the photo side by side on the screen of the computer? I find this a very useful check.

The discrepancy between the body and the face of this girl is puzzzling.
Sincerely, you have painted her body and dress very well and sensitevely,the drawing is solid and the colour well applied, while in the face your skill have suddenly... well... involuted in a naif sort of style.
What happened ?

Ilaria

[Dianne Gardner]

Ilaria,
Thank you so much for the informative critique.

I have had much trouble trying to decide on background colors. Its been a stumbling block for me for sure. I was hoping I could find a thread in this forum that dealt with that issue. As it is, I think I may start a thread to see how others tackle the problem.

I did notice the eyes were too large after all was said and done. I think your suggestion of painting the face over again is a good one. Hopefully there is not a build up of paint there to make it difficult. I knew something was wrong but I couldn't put my finger on it. Now, with your help and your photoshop pointers, I can see.

As far as what happened, I'm not sure. I think sometimes I just look at my painting too long and then I can't judge where the problem is, or even what I'm doing. I will use your suggestion of looking at both the photo and the painting side by side. I have done that in the past and I didn't get around to doing it with this one until after I had posted it.

Thank you for your encouragement. I will post the corrections when they are done.

Dianne

[Alexandra Tyng]

Dianne,

How often do you see your granddaughter? I was wondering if you could set her up for a photo-shoot in really good lighting, in her costume if you want and she is cooperative, and simply start over again? I have to say I think this reference photo has insurmountable problems. Not only is the light and shadow pattern practically nonexistent, but also the light combined with the bright pink makes her skin look sallow. This kind of color needs a cool daylight,. I think. Not only that, her expression looks annoyed. I think she's a lovely little girl who deserves being portrayed at her best.

As Ilaria touched on the important points, I won't repeat any more.

As Ilaria mentioned the dark background adds to the "cut-out" appearance of the figure. I think that, rather than go into a long-winded explanation on backgrounds, I will follow your suggestion and start a thread on the subject.

[Michele Rushworth]

With such a lovely granddaughter to work with I would also highly recommend that you take some well planned photographs of her, to start with. Read the various photography threads before posing her, especially the threads on lighting. Then the next step might be to post the reference photos for critique before starting to paint.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Dianne, I have started a thread on backgrounds:

http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...4830#post64830

Hope it answers some of your questions. It will be interesting to see what others have to say on the subject.

[Dianne Gardner]

Alexandra,
I am planning to have this granddaughter and her sister come and pose for me in their costumes really soon. I will be doing as much studying as I can from the photography section of this forum. There is so much information here that its almost overwhelming but I hope I can glean enough to begin with to take some decent photographs. I have an older digital camera. I think they also are planning on doing a live sitting for me for at least a couple of hours. Jade sits really well and I used her in another open studio painting that I did. I can at least do some live studies to work from even if they don't sit long.

Michelle, I will post the reference photos to be critiqued. Thank you for that suggestion. I'm looking forward to this!

Alexandra, thank you for starting that thread. I will join you over there. I too am interested in the responses!

I am still going to take Ilaria's suggestion and finish this painting. I think I can make it work.

Thank you!

Dianne