It's a wonderful thing to have a lot to learn, and truthfully there's never a point where there ISN'T a lot to learn 😁 This is a great start. You could experiment by adding some lighter values in the head and upper body to make that a focal point.

Hey there! This looks amazing already, really nice work! I think a point to look at would be how contrast is created throughout the piece, especially through value and edges. There's already a great blending and use of softer edges as things get further from the focal point of the face, but reinforcing the contrast at the face, especially the eyes, could help make the final pop. This could be through more defined edges and a use of darker value for the eyelashes/irises, for example. I would also caution watching out for unintended areas of high contrast, for example the shadow area near the elbows or the decorative hem by her legs, as the high value contrast and sharp edges could lead the eye there more than needed. This is a great piece nonetheless, so these smaller points could help push it just a bit further -- hope this helps and keep up the great work! :D

I agree, I'm seeing the lightest lights in the legs and on the back. Decreasing the value range in those areas can help draw the eye to the areas that you want to be the focal point. I love the shapes in this, great work!

Great job here @wilfred. I like your choice to keep the lower body mainly in shadow. I think overall it's a bit dark, and I would add more light value to areas of interest like the face. My eye immediately goes to the ear area because it's the area of highest contrast -- adding more light value next to the dark side of the face I think would lessen the competition between those two areas.

This is really good! Nice range of values! You could add more depth if you constrained your darkest shadows for only certain areas of interest. Keep it up!

Looks really nice! I like the subtlety of the value changes. I made a couple of adjustments to ground the figure to the environment more. I think that dark area of the chair draws too much attention, so I made it a bit lighter. Overall, this is a nice drawing. Keep it up!

Good value blocking! I do notice that your light half-tones tend to lean a bit darker, so brightening the area of light would help capture the setting and also bring in more value contrast to your painting.

I agree, You can definitely go darker with your values. Especially compared to the dark background, the figure looks a bit washed out. Good luck!

Hi @Kassjan Smyczek, nice painting! Yes I agree that the second attempt is an improvement! I've been taught that a figure drawing needs proportion, balance and rhythm. It needs all three. Part of the improvement in the second attempt, was made by improving the proportion; by raising the navel, the relationship of legs and torso got more realistic. I did a paintover were I went through your drawing and pointed out how you can improve it by improving the aspects proportion, balance and rhythm. It might be beneficial to work on the drawing in steps, to make sure that you get proportion, balance and rhythm. I did a paintover showing that in this reply https://www.proko.com/s/2WFA I hope this helps :) Let me know if you have any questions!

Hey @Anska there are a lot of good things happening in this, but I think your self-critique is on point, it feels like someone turned the lights off! Take a look at this shading video from Dorien Iten, I think it will help! Keep up the good work! https://www.proko.com/lesson/mind-blowing-realistic-shading-tricks/assignments

Nice rendering, and great job getting down the essence of the portrait. I would just recommend brightening up the area of his face that falls into the light, as not only does it add clarity, but it reinforces the composition of lights vs shadow from the original image. It helps to squint at an image to notice the shapes of light vs dark, as these are key guides when approaching a painting. Keeping the same strength and direction of light on his face also supports the believability of the lighting set-up, as it falls from above and hits his surrounding costume in the same manner. Hope this helps! :)

”Simple to complex”, or “Big to small”. Is a good mantra to have in your head when working. I like how you painted the lighting around the head. Good work!