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Kate Austen - LOST

Last post 08-13-2011, 2:14 PM by em.... 8 replies.
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  •  08-11-2011, 5:01 PM 356880

    Kate Austen - LOST

    20 hours in Photoshop on Wacom Cintiq. C&C's welcome!

    Steps here:

    http://72dpisight.blogspot.com/2011/08/kate-austen-lost-wip.html

     

    Kate Austen - LOST

     

  •  08-11-2011, 7:26 PM 356907 in reply to 356880

    • Geir is not online. Last active: 05-14-2013, 8:44 AM Geir
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    Re: Kate Austen - LOST

    Quote from your site:"...self-challenge "50 paintings in 50 days" and take it to a new level."

    Hmm.. I would advise you to use photos as reference rather the trace and paint directly on top of it. This isn't really taking it to a whole new level.

    Edit: Sorry, didnt mean "paint directly on top". But to elaborate.  If you want the practice at the level you seem to be at now, you would benefit from gathering several photos of the person you wish to portrait and try to build a whole new pose/image. This way you will get a much higher understanding of the facial structures.


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  •  08-11-2011, 9:50 PM 356922 in reply to 356907

    Re: Kate Austen - LOST

    I gridded it out. I didn't trace it.
  •  08-11-2011, 10:08 PM 356926 in reply to 356922

    • Geir is not online. Last active: 05-14-2013, 8:44 AM Geir
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    Re: Kate Austen - LOST

    Ok, my bad:) But my advise still standSmile

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  •  08-11-2011, 10:56 PM 356933 in reply to 356926

    Re: Kate Austen - LOST

    That is some good advice. Thanks. My orignal intent was to improve my painting (blending, tones, etc.) skills.
  •  08-12-2011, 1:37 AM 356963 in reply to 356933

    • em... is not online. Last active: 16-05-2013, 1:33 PM em...
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    Re: Kate Austen - LOST

    It's a nice painting, but only an okay likeness. To me, you've done something very common in portraits that are gridded or traced, which is that you've averaged out the features.

    What makes me look like me, you look like you you, and Evangeline Lily look like Evangeline Lily, are the differences in the individuals' features, not the similarities. A good portrait is actually a very mild caricature, in that it accentuates those specifics to look more like the person than the person does. What you have here has done the opposite, nudging her features closer to those of an average face than they are in reality. It's could almost be called anti-portaiture, really.

    If I had to guess at why it's so common an error in traced and gridded images, I would say it's because they remove some of the artistic judgement from the process. Someone drawing freehand has to make decisions about the proportions, and will probably focus on and slighty enlarge (consciously or subconsciously) the most notable features; someone using a grid or tracing will often presume that because the measurements accurately match the source image, it will produce a superior representation.

    However, various studies have shown that given a choice between a straight photo, and one that has been manipulated to a very mild caricature (not enough to be obvious), the vast majority pick the manipulated option as the better likeness. This indicates that our memory for faces works in an almost caricature way. Ergo, a mildly caricatured portrait will seem more like the subject as it matches the image in our mind; whereas a realistically accurate, or more averaged out, portrait will seem like a bland version of the subject.


  •  08-12-2011, 8:47 AM 356982 in reply to 356963

    Re: Kate Austen - LOST

    And just to reinforce Em's comment, take a look at this video....he brings it up immediately and while the type of painting he is doing is obviously not the same...I feel it still applies very well.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/FZDSCHOOL#p/u/1/wy9MMdzbWcw


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  •  08-12-2011, 7:20 PM 357035 in reply to 356982

    Re: Kate Austen - LOST

    Good advice and an interesting set of videos, I'll have to try and watch those myself.

    As for the picture: comparing it to the reference the thing that stands out for me is the jawline on the left side(my left not hers). It seems to pop forward a little and make the lower part of her face seem both asymmetrical and wider than it actually is (without looking and any image I always think of her as having a narrow jaw that tapers sharply to the chin.) In the reference that area is somewhat darker and that pushes it further back thereby emphasizing the shape of her face.

    The light in the eyes and the freckle-y skin look lovely though.

  •  08-13-2011, 2:14 PM 357092 in reply to 357035

    • em... is not online. Last active: 16-05-2013, 1:33 PM em...
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    Re: Kate Austen - LOST

    Valence:

    without looking and any image I always think of her as having a narrow jaw that tapers sharply to the chin

    I agree. If I had to use a single word to describe her facial features, it would be "pointy".

    Actually, Valence's post reminded me of something I mentioned to him, which he has linked to in another thread. It was a game amongst caricaturists where you have to draw a celebrity based purely on a verbal description given by someone else, and then guess who it is that you've drawn. The principal behind it is as useful in portraits as caricatures, as it's about identifying the most important features and general shapes that make a specific person's likeness. Unfortunately most of the images are now missing, but you can get the gist of it from what's left.

    http://www.drawingboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=67511


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