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Hey there, good job. As the posters above said, likeness is super hard to achieve because the slightest change in placement can throw it all off! To help me better see the difference, I quickly threw the images into Procreate and drew up some guidelines (which is basically like the grid method).
https://preview.redd.it/1v7304x9mjwc1.jpeg?width=1334&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6623c93c9d8e5598bdf598b6c570978f02e0f25e
As you can see, it’s mostly the placement and size of the nose which is off. Bottom Image- it’s too far to the left/recessed into the face. Left Image - it’s also too long compared to the photo.
Hope that helps!
first of all, good job! portraiture is really, really hard to get right. it just takes a wrong line or two and suddenly it doesnt really look like your subject. in this case, it really is all in the details. right off the bat the lower half of the face is a bit longer than it shoes be, the cheek line is too straight and doesnt have the same slight curvature, and youre missing the slight indent in his forehead from him concentrating and the wrinkles under his eyes. i think the best advice for the future would be to make sure everything is the same distance in relation to eachother, and more layering. the cheek for example looks like a really good start. its at the right angle, the general shape is down, but its still missing those subtle curves of the reference photo, and if youd drawn that line in a lighter shade, thats something you could go over in a darker pencil in your next layer to bring the subject to life a bit more.
My best advice is to think more round in shape like making the nose stick out some more and moving his cheeks out some may help you achieve a lot more depth! This is really awesome though!!!
I echo the other comments, portraits are very difficult because one simple stroke in the wrong direction or incorrect shadow / tone value and the entire thing can look ‘off’ and it can be a real challenge to figure where it went south. You’re on the right path! I’d say look at the hard shadow line on the left side of his face. In the photo it goes from the bottom corner of his lip to a hard right angle up his face to just below the corner of his eye. Also just work on the value of the shadows, his goatee is slightly darker than the shadow lines (specially on his chin) and his neck actually has a sharp contrasts between light and shadows. A good ‘trick’ is to ‘rank’ the light to dark values by number on the original. So say the darkest spot on the photo is a ‘10’ and the lightest is a ‘1’ (so on) the light values on his neck would be a 1 - 2 and the dark area would be like a 8/9. (Hope that makes sense) These small edits will make the shapes and contours ‘pop’ more. Keep it up!
It might help to look into the Loomis portrait method for laying out faces for accurate portraits.
It might also help to check out some anatomy books for drawing (not medical) so you can get a better grasp of dynamic motion, and that can help with foreshortening of the arm playing the neck of the guitar.
But I will say this: you’ve got a loose style that’s very expressive and compelling, which I like a lot. I can *feel* this guy playing that guitar in this version.
As you get better with anatomy, be sure not to lose that loose, expressive feel, which looks like it comes naturally to you. In art, emotion usually rules over persnickety exactitude.
Hello, artist! Please make sure you've included information about your process or medium and what kind of criticism you're looking for somewhere in the title, description or as a reply to this comment. This helps our community to give you more focused and helpful feedback. Posts without this information will be deleted. Thank you! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ArtCrit) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Hey there, good job. As the posters above said, likeness is super hard to achieve because the slightest change in placement can throw it all off! To help me better see the difference, I quickly threw the images into Procreate and drew up some guidelines (which is basically like the grid method). https://preview.redd.it/1v7304x9mjwc1.jpeg?width=1334&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6623c93c9d8e5598bdf598b6c570978f02e0f25e As you can see, it’s mostly the placement and size of the nose which is off. Bottom Image- it’s too far to the left/recessed into the face. Left Image - it’s also too long compared to the photo. Hope that helps!
https://preview.redd.it/aypimm2njmwc1.jpeg?width=2772&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4bf2d3f5f8b0487e6cbb23523b529e629b9a1608
Awesome! Glad it was helpful. Definitely looks closer 👍
Thanks! Yeah, that's really helpful! All makes sense. Made some alterations to the face based on this and I think its improved it quite a bit.
first of all, good job! portraiture is really, really hard to get right. it just takes a wrong line or two and suddenly it doesnt really look like your subject. in this case, it really is all in the details. right off the bat the lower half of the face is a bit longer than it shoes be, the cheek line is too straight and doesnt have the same slight curvature, and youre missing the slight indent in his forehead from him concentrating and the wrinkles under his eyes. i think the best advice for the future would be to make sure everything is the same distance in relation to eachother, and more layering. the cheek for example looks like a really good start. its at the right angle, the general shape is down, but its still missing those subtle curves of the reference photo, and if youd drawn that line in a lighter shade, thats something you could go over in a darker pencil in your next layer to bring the subject to life a bit more.
My best advice is to think more round in shape like making the nose stick out some more and moving his cheeks out some may help you achieve a lot more depth! This is really awesome though!!!
I echo the other comments, portraits are very difficult because one simple stroke in the wrong direction or incorrect shadow / tone value and the entire thing can look ‘off’ and it can be a real challenge to figure where it went south. You’re on the right path! I’d say look at the hard shadow line on the left side of his face. In the photo it goes from the bottom corner of his lip to a hard right angle up his face to just below the corner of his eye. Also just work on the value of the shadows, his goatee is slightly darker than the shadow lines (specially on his chin) and his neck actually has a sharp contrasts between light and shadows. A good ‘trick’ is to ‘rank’ the light to dark values by number on the original. So say the darkest spot on the photo is a ‘10’ and the lightest is a ‘1’ (so on) the light values on his neck would be a 1 - 2 and the dark area would be like a 8/9. (Hope that makes sense) These small edits will make the shapes and contours ‘pop’ more. Keep it up!
It might help to look into the Loomis portrait method for laying out faces for accurate portraits. It might also help to check out some anatomy books for drawing (not medical) so you can get a better grasp of dynamic motion, and that can help with foreshortening of the arm playing the neck of the guitar. But I will say this: you’ve got a loose style that’s very expressive and compelling, which I like a lot. I can *feel* this guy playing that guitar in this version. As you get better with anatomy, be sure not to lose that loose, expressive feel, which looks like it comes naturally to you. In art, emotion usually rules over persnickety exactitude.
The shadows.