portrait practice

[evan]

ok dreamer this is what i got so far and some one told me to out line in my light gray wash this makes since to me but though id ask i think igot the hair flowing pretty good and believe i can do the same thing by whipping light and med wash with a 3rl tell me what you think

[imported_canvasyou]

work on more contrasting values –
so the tattoo is not so washed out.
the worst portraits are from customers who bring in flat photos..
you need to exaggerate depth for the tattoo to pop –
just my $0.02

[evan]

thanx for the pointers this is the first portrait iv ever drawn so i can use all the help ican get

[dlHunter]

Hi evan.

Your doing great. Besides the contrast issues, I noticed that there is a very slight imbalance in the jawline from the right to the left side. Both of them are good, but which ever one most portrays the subject, match the other side to it. Drawing women is a tough one for me. It only takes a minute change in a line to look awkward. Keep working on this. A head-on shot is so difficult to draw. A 3/4 view doesn’t have the balance demands and easier to draw, but we must use what we are given.

Are you going to use a thermal transfer of your art, or will you be using a hand stencil? If it will be done by hand, it will be critical to follow the orginal lines very carefully to maintain the balance and shape of the face and its features.

That’s it from me. Please keep us updated on your progress.

[evan]

lol ya i noticed that some of the problem is the orignal pic is black and white thing from like 1958 some of the shadows blrued together making it hard to see whats what i got it fixed tho and i am fixing the contast issue just waiting tell i get it all done to go back and give it the depth it needs to pop the hair thing is going easyer then i though but its still a bi@#h to get to flow aint noghting lik drawing flash but i caan see how it relates to tattooing tho

[evan]

its done

[dlHunter]

Turned out great. Well done.

[leopardprints67]

@evan wrote:

its done

One of the things I’ve noticed about drawing portraits from pictures is the need to know shading and values so you can put in what the picture itself is missing. That way you 1. Make it your own and 2. Make it better than the original. This is a good picture, but I agree with another poster here. Trying to work from a head on shot is a challenge to avoid the whole flat face thing. Try taking a tissue and smoothing some of the shading, especially along the edges of the face. It works better than a tortillon stump and makes a nice, smooth gradation and can really make your picture take on alot of depth. Also lift graphite off of places that are raised with a kneadable eraser. It really helps bring your picture together. Sometimes, on pics that are faded or blurry, I’ll scan them in and play with the contrast settings so I can see minute differences in the values. If you work primarily in graphite, I also will switch the pic to a greyscale which will help bring those values forward. Hope that helps. Here’s an example of what I mean.

[Author]

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