Charlie, beloved Father
 

This portrait is a pleasure to create, as challenging as it is. I have completed this study of "Charlie" from a 1940's photo, ref attached. Charlie passed just a year ago and is greatly missed this Christmas by his family. I am doing the portrait at the request of Charlie's son, Jack.

Before I begin the portrait, I would love some critique and input of this study. The photo seems to have been taken with good lighting, but it is blurry, making the mouth very hard to read. I do believe it is open slightly and when I held the picure up to the sunlight, I thought I saw teeth, so I tried to render a more distinctive mouth. Jack was floored by how much the study looked like his dad. So likeness will not be the problem. It will be the hair and, the jawline of both sides, and the corner of the mouth on our right.

I think I will stay with graphite as the reference picture has little contrast to work from. Am I thinking right about this?? Your input would be greatly appreciated!

Reference Pic 5 x 7
 

The finished portrait will be 11 x 14

Thanks for posting.

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for critiquing, it is well appreciated. You are very perceptive about the "mottled" side of face. I keep trying to capture nuances of the surface of the skin, when I do not have the skill yet, so in the final portrait I am going to approach it in one even tone. What you also see is a lot of reworking! Yes, my confidence is low, still. I get the exact same remarks from the instructor in my life drawing class, "Pat, we would like to see your drawing, get bold!" Maybe I need psychotherapy AND drawing classes!

As far as the hair, your advice is well taken. I will reread Tony Ryder's book before attempting this again. And yes, I love how you are rendering the hair in the portrait of your wife. It is really nice. I will try what you suggest. Hair is baffling to me, ugh!

I am itching to start the final piece which will be on better quality paper, and which will be approached with more deliberation. And I hope to post it in stages perhaps you and other generous artists can guide me along!!

Thanks, again, Jeff!

Hi Pat,

This is a good likeness. My only comment about the drawing is that you might check the distance between the tip of his nose and his upper lip on our right. In the photo it looks to me that the tip of his nose is a little longer, and the position of his head makes his upper lip tilt upward as it curves away from us.

Patty,

When you re-do this, take care not to minimize the chin size. He doesn

Thank you, Chuck! That's what's wrong with the mouth! I couldn't figure out why it didn't look right, thinking I was not "pushing it back" enough on our right side. But I see that the corner of the lip is actually higher in the photo than in my drawing - my goodness, what a wonder another set of eyes will do for me!!

Tip of nose - you are correct there, too, will check that as I do the final portrait also.

Thanks again,

Hi Steven,

Your critique popped up right when I was posting a reply, so I missed the opportunity to answer. I quickly printed it to take home with me last night. Of course Charlie wouldn't wait for the end of the week, so I lit the midnight lamp and it burned until 3am. But I feel I got a good start on the final piece, which I have attached.

I am still struggling with the right (ours) edge of the face as it is hard for me to see in the photo. I had an "AHA" moment at about 2am with the mouth, finally seeing that the shadow on our right is cast from the nose, over the lips. Once I understood what I was seeing it became easier to describe the mouth. Slowly these subtleties are becoming apparant to my clumsy artistic eye!! You are so right, Steven, his mouth really defines him in this pic.

I have not addressed the hairline, it is just sketched in and I can see will need minor adjustment. I was not accurate on the left side of the face, again between eye and ear and made quick adjustment before quitting. Better to address with fresh eyes and hand today or tomorrow. I think the left eyebrow (ours) is too high at the highest point, also. And the neck along the shirt collar is off because I had the neck too wide until 2am, couldn't figure out why he was looking too old in my drawing until I discovered this! Again, a little AHA!! And only after I reread your remark about the shape of his head.

Well, let her rip, what else am I not seeing??

Thank you!!
Patty

Keep up the good work

Hi Jeff,

Do you have any other suggestions for the hair? I tried to block it in after reading Tony Ryder. He says in his book to be careful of the shapes created at linear injunctions and to remember the hair follows the form of the head. (I don't know if reading this helped or further confuses me!) I see where the left side is too high, as you suggested. I might do a study or two before attempting the hair on the final portrait. You don't know of another link I could check out do you?

I will check Peggy's website.

I can't think of many online demonstrations that would tell you more than ryder's book, but there are some good ones. Jimmie Arroyo posted a hair demo on Wet Canvas. It includes close up scans of his work, which we don't usually see:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...hreadid=134738

His technique is the opposite of Ryder's, in that he consistently follows the direction of the hair (with great success). It goes to show you -- there's more than one solution for any problem in art.

Jimmie is amazing!! But even he makes faces as curly hair!!! I went to my Leonardo daVinci books, especially his letters to his students. He says hair should always cascade like water - in waves...

I could not find a reference of Peggy's son's portrait. Could you point me in the direction? We are talking Peggy Baumgartner?? I went to her website but found no reference.

Here's the link. I dearly love that portrait. It's very sensitive. It's also a good example of well-drawn hair.

http://www.portraitartist.com/baumga...coal/paul2.htm

Yeah, I like this one too, very sweet!

The shape of the head overall is improved, and now there are other adjustments that can be made, some remaining from earlier and some newly introduced. I

Another late night, I post the results. Almost done? Thank you Steve, Jeff, and Chuck for your help. I did pay attention to all your suggestions. I don't know if I should go darker on the left side in shadow. Every time I do it makes him look heavy. Looking at it just this morning, on my screen I think I need to work on the hair a bit more and the texture and tone of the jacket. This piece is a gift for his son, Jack, who is happy with the portrait at this point, so I am thinking it may be finished. Would still like your opinion.

I am hoping my next portrait will be one of Jimmie Arroyo's models, full lips, huge eyes, STRAIGHT hair!!!

A few minor adjustments on shadow side, jacket, tie. It's done and I post it for the last time. I'm not crazy about this one, on to the next with more knowledge for next portrait.