Nice start, Bryan. What strikes me most about the painting versus the reference photo is that he actually looks younger than you've painted him, and much of that has to do with the jawline. In the photo it looks fuller and lower than you've got it, and the chin is therefore less pronounced. I think he would look closer to the true age in the photo with those amendments. Do keep posting as you work on it. He has such an appealing face; isn't it hard to paint those posthumous commissions?

Jerry
 

Leslie and Steven,

Many thanks for all your suggestions. I will definitely take all suggestions to heart and color correct the painting in the areas suggested.

Steven,

Thanks for the color suggestions, I can see where these improvements will make the painting stronger. I will begin making these corrections this weekend and will post the corrected version at a later date.

Bryan

Jerry Thomas corrected
 

Here is the corrected painting of Jerry Thomas that I posted a couple of weeks ago with your suggestions. I think that this painting taught me alot about realing studying values and making good judgements. Any comments or suggestions on how to improve this painting would be greatly appreciated, since I'm still learning.

Looking good, Bryan. Much improved.

There are two things I'd work on, though. The shadowed side of the neck is catching too much light. It's as bright as the lit side. I find it distracting. In the photo, it goes to nearly black, which would not be appropriate in a painting, but it tells you that this area is as dark as any dark you use elsewhere.

Also, the bridge of the nose is too sharply defined. In the photo, the nose is softly rounded.

You're almost there. Nice work.

Thanks
 

Jeff,
Thanks for the suggestions. I do see what you're talking about, the neck is too light. I will adjust the values and also correct the nose. This painting has been a great learning experience for me. Hopefully one day I will be able to render a portrait as absolutely photo realistic.

Very big improvement overall.

The new background could be more effective, I think. The hue on our left is very intense. I believe you would benefit by cutting that back a little (moving away from the yellow toward the blue on the spectrum. Please note that I'm NOT saying make the background blue, just cut the intensity of the yellow-orange on our left. It's competing very strongly with the subject. As has been said by others, backgrounds should stay back.)

And I think the depth of the piece overall would be enhanced by slightly lowering the value of the background on our right (the subject's lighted side), which will increase the value contrast between the subject and the background and thereby separate them.

Very nice work on the "rebuild".

Ouch! Don't do that! Read the recent thread on Cafe Guerbois. It's not about photo reproduction. It's about capturing the essence of the person.

But let's face it, if you did make paintings that were photo realistic, there would be a market for it.

Repy to suggestion
 

Steven,

Thanks for the advice it really paid off. Actually the background value on the lighter side of the subject is darker, The camera just didn't capture it. But I do agree with you on toning down the yellow orange to a more cooler color. Again thanks for your time and comments.