Self-portrait critique please

[Diane Cameron]

Hi, this is an oil painting using the Zorn palette. I’d love your thoughts. I’m learning so much from watching the critiques. Thanks to all the instructors for sharing their expertise.

[maxlucon]

Looking good! I would suggest darkening your darks (making your dark tones more … dark). Even the nostrils are quite light (about the value of the hair). Make a higher contrast and some features will pop up!

 

Keep it up!

[Diane Cameron]

Thanks, Max.  I do the head and face first and then tend to leave it the way it is for fear of messing things up so I appreciate your suggestion to go back and darken the darks and fix the value problems.  I’d put this painting aside but will go back to it and do just that.

[maxlucon]

[maxlucon]

You are welcome!

Sorry to break it down into 2 posts. I’ve tried to make one post but couldn’t.

I have mapped the front plane of your head (above). Try to see the volume and shapes behing everything, so some features will not look flat (like the nose and eyes).

Below is an sketch of how the front plane works, and a guide to work your values (considering, of course, the light source).

[Diane Cameron]

This is so helpful, thanks very much Max.   I see what you mean about the flat nose and eyes.  I know the planes are there but sometimes I don’t see much difference in them if the light is coming from 2 sides. The nose definitely needs some dark at the bottom.  I’ll keep at it!

[maxlucon]

You are welcome Diane! One of the challenges of drawing the head (and the figure) is seeing the geometric shapes behind the skin. I can see that you have divided your 1/3s (forehead, browns to base of the nose, base of the nose to botton of chin).

Now you have to work on your volumes. I took the nose as an example, and have attached two sketches to help you out.

 

I have outlined the front plane of the head. I will be focusing on your nose. Because your light and dark tones are too close, the nose looks flat. If you break it into shapes, like the image below, you have a guide to work your tones. Following the light source.

 

I have painted the frontal plane again. You also have the bottom, side, top and back planes (as a cube). See how I have mapped the nose in different planes, so I have an idea of how the values are applied.

I hope it makes sense and helps you out!

Keep it up!

[maxlucon]

You are welcome Diane! Also, work on the volumes and planes of the head, so some of your features will not look flat (like the nose). I have attached two images that I hope it helps!

 

 

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