Proko Portrait! - Let me know what you think!
4yr
Hey guys! SLEW here,
This is a 14x18 inch portrait in oil I did of Mr. Proko! It was a challenging project for me for a few reasons! First, the reference photo I grabbed from google was pretty small and low res... which made it hard to really see some of the nuances of the details. Although challenging in that regard, the lack of detail actually helped me focus on big shapes and perhaps ignore detail in the beginning stages. (I tend to try and fish out detail too quickly within the painting process. Another reason It was challenging is that I do not usually do portraits this big. I usually like to work with smaller faces! 14x18 is actually the largest portrait I've painted to date. More paint and more surface area.. challenging but really fun. I spent a few days attacking this bad boy and probably put around 10 hours into the painting. I think overall I went a little too white with the lights.. another issue of mine is I start with too high of a value in the lights and then I don't have a lot of room to push it even lighter with highlights... it becomes a little chalky with too much white paint. But I wanted to make a very illuminated portrait as well as bring a lot of chroma and variation in color. The teeth also killed me, I think I could have represented them simpler and not try to have them look super realistic. All and all I am happy with this painting and glad I gave it a shot! I've attached a few process pictures including a 90 min pencil sketch to warm up. Next week I will be releasing a full video on my YouTube channel going through every step of this project! Please feel free to give me a critique! I am hungry for other people's opinions!
SLEW
Loved the video with the critique discussion Slew, it was lovely to see an honest back and forth about the pieces strengths and weaknesses. Something I hope to do more ❤️
Ha! I looked at the thumb and thought this might be that proko photo XD! It's a little bit off to me... after some observations I found like 3 minor points that seems off to me: 1) The head tilt is a little bit off, the photo shows a tiny bit leaning to the left (right on the image), from the neck line and the overall tilt (eye level), the painting seems to lose a little bit of that energy. 2) the teeth might be a little too big compared to the photo, maybe it's due to the shadows are not as pronounced, or the representation of that lower lip. 3)Maybe you could blend in the hair line with the forehead a little bit. I didn't notice this immediately, but seems like the "hard" hairline is getting a lot of contrast compared to the other features in the face.
Otherwise looks pretty good to me :D
Hey Slew, well done with the portrait it looks great. I think the drawing part of it is where you could improve upon the most. Having a clear idea the angle of the head and drawing through the basic forms will help in the painting stage a lot. Once the basic forms are realised you can carve in the secondary forms etc. At the moment it seems you draw in a 2d manner where you calculate one edge at a time.
Apart from that some edges can be a abit more softer and the half tones on the forehead a bit more softer.
Good job though and good luck. Hope this helps
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4yr
Dude I love it! Let's get on a Zoom call and I'll give you a little critique :)
Dude your paiting is awesome! I only would develop the hair a little bit more tousled and keep it a little bit shorter at the sides. Also the shadow on the underlip under the teeth is a bit too dark which pushes the upper jaw too much in the foreground.
Than you for sharing your skills with us :)
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4yr
Thanks for the response @Moonless_Sky , I agree! The shadow under the bottom lip is a little too dark now that you point it out. And yes the shirt and hair specifically are quite underdeveloped relative to the rest of the face. I think just a time issue! Thanks for feedback!
