Did some self critiques and revisions after watching the week 7 critique. Main things where: * I didn't really stylize the forms at all (I think I forgot :P), and the colour/lighting stylizing could've been pushed further * When stylizing, exaggerating existing characteristics in a model is generally more effective than going against them * The dynamic range was a little flat, needed more contrast * Making sure the 3d forms are reading well is more important than trying to replicate what you see in the reference Also unrelated, I figured out my painting software export settings wrong, the export was more desaturated and had less contrast then the preview :') but thats all fixed now

Doing some self critiques after watching the week 6 critique vid. There were definitely some stronger sketchers than others * In terms of likeness, some of the relations with the facial features were off, particularly the eyes. I found the "constellation" of landmarks a pretty good way to check if things were accurate and correct them * In terms of rendering, there were a few places where I got caught up in details that the primary 3d forms were no long reading so well. Also some of the secondary forms like the cheeks and wrinkles I needed to really study and understand the forms before rendering

Back after watching the week 5 critiques. I think I did okay applying the alla prima technique, the main areas for improvements were: * Dynamic range - I tended to make the darks not dark enough so the painting looked a little flat, pushing the contrast really makes the forms read more 3d * Soft edges - I tended to use the same semi-hard brushes even to indicate smooth edges. I ended up using a lot of small strokes which things visually busy so I simplified it by using an air brush * Details/focus - the level of detail was too uniform and no real place to focus, tried making it a little more painterly

Back from the week 5 critiques and decided to redo the assignment because there was a lot I missed I did a revised study of each reference, particularly to: * To properly understand the forms and brushwork * Capture the soft and hard edges and understand the focus of the piece, which I previously missed * Generally better values and value groups Then I did a new speedpaint of each pic, particularly to: * Simplify more - being more conscious of what information I'm conveying with each brushstrokes and how to do that in less brushstrokes * Paint in fewer, more authoritative brushstrokes for clearer forms * Paint faster/more efficiently

Back after watching the week 4 critiques. My biggest area for improvement was with value groups and making them read clearly. The saying "the lightest dark is darker than the darkest light" and vice versa is a good guideline and definitely applies here, there were a few instances where I didn't follow this guideline which I had to correct. I simplified some shadow groups and toned down the secondary light slightly so that it wouldn't distract from the primary light family of values. The changes are kinda subtle but i think it makes it easier to read especially at a distance or when squinting

Back after watching the week 4 critiques. I think this exercise was mostly successful in experiment with different colour palettes and applying them in different contexts. Main things to work on were: * Getting the values right, since they are foundational for colours - and also for the painting to read well * Hue shifting in dark/light, particularly for the more complex palettes. I think I got too caught up in staying accurate to the palette instead of following my eye and applying the previous lessons Did some paint overs on pieces I felt could most do with some improvement

Back after watching the week 3 critiques, the main take aways for me were: * first and foremost make the paintings read well, this may involve deviating from the reference or accentuating certain features * make the light and shadow families obvious and readable, start by simplifying the big value groups and work your way to smaller ones * be thoughtful using highlights and don't over do it I did some paintovers of my assignment, I notice the chin area of the 5 min paintings were a little sloppy and not reading well. I upped the contrast on the cropped features to make them pop. I also tried painting a marble sculpture as an exercise for simplifying value groups, I found it pretty helpful

Back after watching the week 2 critiques, I'm not doing new revisions cause the exercise itself involved self critiques and iteratively drawing. Its a bit tedious but this method is super useful self improvement

Doing revisions after watching the week 2 critiques. Main areas for improvement were: * Having clearer light/shadow value groupings * Increasing contrast for better readability * For the invented skulls, the cranium tended to be too boxy, the jaw too small/squished and didn't extrude out far enough I did some paint overs, and I think they're looking better now!