Another portrait, completely different person. Roughly an hour and a half or so.
Interesting.
What methods do you use?
Um i don’t know how to say this but what you’re doing is extremely and needlessly messy, could you do me a favor and try doing an art piece with no filters or effects? Just a hard edged brush with high opacity.
The issue is you’re layering way too many strokes over each other with little control, try to economise your strokes!
This may be of some use to you: http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
I disagree, because it really depends on the goal. I’ve been looking at a lot of your work and my guess is that you’re aiming for something painterly and a tad on the expressionist side. If that is the intended goal, then I think you’re doing quite well. Your color choice is strong, but your composition in your portraits could stand to be a bit more dynamic.
In this particular piece, I like your treatment of the eyes and the implied presence of the hair. But, like I mentioned before, I would prefer a composition with a bit more energy.
Agreed, nothing wrong with the style. It increases emotional response compared to photorealistic painting, while still maintaining details and realism.
However, since I replied, I think the eyes and nose need some work. The nose seems to be extremely wide and suggests an unrealistic nostril shape, and the eyes seem to have an extra black lid over them. All in all it’s a good painting.
I have no issue with the style, it’s the method that needs work.
The recommendation i made was an exercise so he would have an easier time learning to economise his strokes in the same manner that would apply to art pieces like this.
Right now the sheer amount of those low opacity brush strokes appear to me to be more detrimental to the style as it introduces lots of annoying artifacts that detract from the composition, my bet is it will be alot more aesthetically pleasing with fewer better planned strokes.
As far as realism goes, you don’t have to have any interest in it but if you plan on ever becoming a professional artist it’s the basis to any style.
As you can see I did note some things off based on realism requirements, but brushwork is not among those and shouldn’t be.
Thanks for the replies everyone,
sciboy is right that I do need to work on my brushstroke economy(I was aware of that already) and I have been trying, but then I’ve also only been doing this for a little over a month, teaching myself the whole way, so I don’t really consider myself good anyways and I know I have a ways to go. Part of the problem I think is half the time i don’t even really know what it’s going to be at first so I just put down random shapes and see what emerges and then work on top of that. The page you linked is very helpful though and I’ll definitly go through it.
Fweeb your right about more dynamic composition, another thing I need to work on. Thanks for the good words.
Erufailon - noted, thanks very much.