after a long break, again, from painting i decided to get back into it by doing a quick (for me anyway who likes to procrastinate for months on paintings) paint of male face, done over about 6 hours using wacom graphire, photoshop cs5 and DanLuVisiArt brilliant brush pack http://danluvisiart.deviantart.com/gallery/9827508#/d1ytm3r

 not sure about the feathers was originally going to paint him with a rose but changed my mind and decided to do feathers after reading a short story about a fallen angel last night.   

any advice and or critique on anatomy and finish greatly desired.

 

a quick Gif of the Wip

 

Hi Wyl, I really like the blending in this piece, actually I'm going to download that Luvisi brush set right now! :D

The thing that bothers me with the picture is the nose, its in a position where it's as if we're looking up at him, but I'm not sure if that's the case? Also maybe just a 'tiny' bit wide and because it's like we're looking up at him the nostrils seem a little bit big

I lover everything else though, the feathers are a really nice touch

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My Sketchbook thread:

I see what you mean about the nose i havnt been happy with it all along  i think the bridge ended up so wide in an attempt to fix earlier mistakes, i also get what you are saying about the nostrils and may try to make them a little smaller

 

Looks excellent so far. Great texture, I really like the expression, and the face seems very authentic and believable.

There are a couple of things that could use a tiny bit of help, though. The right nostril (his left) is too low. Check your anatomy by duplicating the entire image onto a new layer. Expand the canvas to the right, then flip your new layer and slide it over the original layer, lining up where the two halves should meet. Clicking that new layer on and off, you'll see some symmetry issues with the nose, and a bit with the mouth.

Apart from that, I'd get a bit more highlight on the nose and the apple of the cheek. There is a sameness to the highlights there that flattens the surfaces. I think the same could be said of the lips and chin to a lesser extent. Use the detail on his eye as a guide and get that level of shine and detail into other parts of the image, and I think you'll have a real winner on your hands. But again, great work so far, wyldmajik. Looking forward to seeing the results!

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Nick Avallone
AngryFungus Art Blog | Sketchbook

tried to fix the nose and lips a little and added some more highlights and texture to the cheek to try and make it look a little less flat. 

 

Is the face meant to be straight on or tilted up a little?

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My Sketchbook thread:

slightly tilted in my head i have that he is laying down and we are looking at him from his feet.

 

From his feet? Now I'm a little confused...

The thing is though, now with the feathers coming down, I kind of see how you're picturing it.

Honestly I thought he was standing up at first and feathers were falling past him.

 

 

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My Sketchbook thread:

I am coming into this thread a little late but....:)

What I notice is that the nose and mouth are more frontal view than the eye.  I think  the other eye would be seen more.  You are seeing more fuller lips and all the nose and if you where to draw a straight line down the face you would see the that the features do not line up properly. It is difficult to explain. I am posting  your image with the guidelines I put in; I hope you don't mind; to explain what I am trying to say.  I am not sure that this is the problem or not...  or whether it is the jaw line looking straight and not following the rest of the features??? 

The orange line is what I think you are trying to go for and the blue is what I see the face angle is.

Anyway I really like the composition and the "realism" you have created.

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the dragon portrait lady

Lisa Gravelle-Ford
http://www.dragonportraits.com

Okay mother is on vacation indefinitely.

i definatly see what you mean i keep moving the other eye into the picture more and then moving it out again as it looks odd to me but i will have another sit down with the painting now i left it for a few days and can actually look at it critically instead of going omg i actually painted a picture and it turned out how i wanted it to look. 

as for the guides they made sense and clearly illustrate what you are trying to convey its one of the things i love about digital you can actually paint and draw  onto the artwork where you think change is needed rather than just trying to explain it. .  

straightened the nose and lowered the tilt of the eye slightly  bringing the whole lot more square with cheekbones and mouth 

 

 

This looks much better!  The nose is much better.  The mouth may still be off slightly.  Can't do the show thing again since my cat decided she wanted affection at this time. So I am typing one handed.  The other hand is pinned by head for ear / head rub.  Will come back later.  :)

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the dragon portrait lady

Lisa Gravelle-Ford
http://www.dragonportraits.com

Okay mother is on vacation indefinitely.

Looks pretty good to me.  Mouth may be slightly crooked, but I think it looks fine.  You need some lashes on the lower eye lid.

Everything is very evenly lit. Putting the right of his face in the shadows would bring the eye back in the piece. His pupil is very asimetric and oval rather then round, it also lacks shadows. The ear is to far to the left. You need to work on the hair line, right now it's just a blurred brown zone. The feathers  (they are also to evenly lit)   casting shadows on the face would help make your light scheme more interesting as well as integrate them better. My last bief would be the light; it's hard to tell what kind of light it is and it doesn't have a lot of atmosphere in it. If I were you, I'd get a couple of refs for that.

 

Keep at it :) 

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