Little Cutie
 

I was really quite pleased with this one, not only because I painted it fairly quickly (for me). But then my kid lumbered in and said, why does she look like an alien? Does anyone else find that their children are relentless critics of their work?

Anyway, constructive criticism always welcome.

I don't think she looks like an alien...

Thanks, Janet

Janet, she is so pretty one, especially her big eyes! I've never seen an alien like her in movies or pictures. May be her top hair are little too high? That 's why your kid said like that?

I like her skin tone. It looks pure and fresh. The shoulder seems little bit flat. In my narrow opinion, if you give some space between her and background, it will be great!

Nice work!

Piety

Hi Janet,
Don't worry, that's a beautiful painting. Children's taste for colors is different from adults', they like very colorful pictures, strong yellows, blues, etc. That's why he said that, once a kid looked at one beautiful girl I had portrayed in pencil and said that she looked like a witch, that because it was black and white and not because of her looks or features.
Happy painting for you!

It is a beautiful painting! Without the reference photo and without knowing your subject's age I can only guess, but I would consider chopping a little off the top of the head. I think if you take one knotch off the top(the knotches being each time her hair part zig-zags) it might help. I wouldn't alter anything else on the head, though.

I agree that it is a great painting and children are definately opinionated and willing to share!

Hi Janet,

You're right, she is a cutie! I agree with Lacey and Piety, I think the top of the head is just a bit too high and that gives her that "alien" look your child commented on. Children can be blunt, but often speak the truth. If he finds something odd about it, others will too. I value my children's critics of my paintings--of course what I love most is when my little subjects see their portraits for the first time and say "that's me!"

Outstanding!
 

She is just beautiful. Her individuality comes clearly through. Beautiful colors everywhere! I love it. :thumbsup:

Hi Janet, you're so funny, thanks for making me laugh today! This fresh painting has an outdoorsy feel to it, judging by the hairlight, am I right? Her forehead might be slightly inclined to the viewer which is why you're getting the comments posted here. If this were my painting I would work more on the shoulder area, finding a believable slope, shadow pattern or working a vignette into the design. Also, see if there's a reddish reflection under her chin in the shadow side.

You've really caught the charm of this girl.

Hi Janet,

Very nice paint handling!

I could not see your second reference image in Internet Explorer, but for some reason it shows up on Safari (Mac).

Now that I can see your reference photo, and she really is a cutie, I see a number of proportional and drawing adjustments that could have been made. I would not change this painting though. I like it's fresh qualities. Sometime do another one.

Happy painting,

Garth

Hi guys. Thank you so much for your positive response! I was almost feeling cocky enough to put this in "unveilings" until the alien remark. Since I have less self-confidence than gravel, I stuck to this section, and I'm very glad I did. I would have missed some great advice. I actually reworked the head and background after Piety's comment and I'll post it to see if I went far enough. Great minds do seem to think alike.

I feel a bit silly about mis-communicating, though. The kid is not an adorable 5 year old wise beyond his years, but a hulking sardonic 20 year old. Oooops. But my kids have watched me draw and paint all their lives and really are astute critics. They don't let me get away with anything. Rude, too.

Janet

:? Okay, Janet, now after we all have uniformly addressed your subject above, I am really confused, except I am sure your kid is not yet twenty! :D

Anyway I really like this painting of your kid. It is so freshly and directly painted.

Garth

Oh dear, now I feel completely silly. The kid to which I refer (my kid) is the one who said that my painting looked like an alien. The comments that followed regarding the alien remark seemed to refer to a small child, smaller at least than mine. The little girl in the painting is an altogether adorable third party child (not mine). I hope this is all now clear as mud.

It is just so hard to goof around in text only. Sorry for any confusement.

Janet

:D :) Oooppps! I could have read more carefully; my apologies.

Anyway I really like this painting of the little cutie. It is so freshly and directly painted!

Garth

Hey Garth,

No harm done. This text stuff is tricky. By the way, your good opinion means a lot to me. Earlier today you mentioned to do another one. Well I did. I'll post it in a day or so. I took this week off work because I'd really rather be painting. So I am painting up a storm.

Janet

Janet, what a colorful and lively portrait regardless of the age of the subject. I just love how the personality shines though the canvas.

I did a self portrait and my son asked me why I made myself thinner. LOL. He's 10. If my husband had said that it sure wouldn't be cute.

I realize you noted the comments on the head. I still feel like the tippy top could come down a tiny bit but I haven't seen the reference and I am no expert.

One other question. There is more than one image in your initial post? I only see one using Firefox (on PC). Now I feel like I am missing tons of great stuff but I am not happy using IE. Any thoughts?

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for your thoughts, I will lop a little more off her head. Too bad you can't see the reference photo, though. I'm wondering if it's a Windows/Mac issue, in which case we all may be missing some info from time to time. It's funny, I'm using the most current Mac OS, which was supposed to make integration with the internet completely seamless. The reference shot did not originate on my computer, but it was another Mac (same OS), and I certainly resized and resaved on my machine exactly the same way as the picture you can see. In short, I'm as mystified as you are. It would be a shame if not everyone was getting the same information all the time.

PS. Add me to the legions of fans of your "Naive Elegance" portrait. I felt too intimidated to add my two cents at the time. Congratulations.

Linda,

Sorry for being remiss. No, it's not an outdoor shot, but I selected it for the look, and then really exploited it. There were three kids in the shot, all with that lovely back lighting. Lots of practice for me! You asked in another thread what was on my palette and I never got back to you. Short answer: no cadmiums. I pretty much phased them out years ago doing illustration and then banished them last year from my oil painting palette when I started doing portraits. This was long before I knew of the deep divide that can exist on the issue!

Janet

Cute kid - nice painting. But I don't see a reference photo posted?

Julie, hi, sorry. It seems that some people can see the reference photo and some can't. I have resaved it from the original and will post it again. I noticed the first one was CMYK instead of RGB, so perhaps that was the problem. Thanks for taking a look, anyway.

Janet

Get a Mac. Use Safari.
 

The reference photo is visible using Safari as the browser. It is not visible using IE or Netscape.

Everybody get a Mac! ;)

Garth


Update: Okay Janet, your reposted image below works on IE, and Netscape!

Oooops, and again.

Hooray! I see it now. You certainly did a great job on the likeness. I see the hair now though I don't think it's bad to make small adjustments just like you have done. Thanks for posting that.

Hi Janet,
Don't change anything in the portrait, but now that you've posted the photo reference, I notice some details, It might be some camera distortion, but her face looks longer in the reference. I think it's some camera distortion because you did such a good job.
Congrats!

Claudemir, how gallant of you to jump in and blame my tools before I did! However, there are some drawing issues with her jaw, and her nose and the eye on the right are positioned slightly off. Add the extra chubby cheeks and...bingo. Thanks for liking it anyway.

Piety, Lacey, Margaret, Carol, Linda, Garth, Julie, Lisa: Thanks so much for taking the trouble and encouraging me along. What a great site!

Janet, the source photo you are working from looks to be from a professional photographer's studio and if so, the copyright for this image is owned by that photographer. You can't legally paint from it and sell or publicly exhibit the resulting portrait, if that's the case.

Since we're artists and not just expensive photo copiers we all need to get good at taking our own reference photos. It's a huge part of what it takes to be a professional portrait artist. Besides, the planning of the pose, clothing, lighting, setting, etc. is the most creative part of the process.

Hi Michelle,

This is from a professional studio, the one I use for work. The photographer does not retain any rights to these photographs at all, and I use them over and over again for whatever purpose arises, in perpetuity. The models are not professionals and their parents sign over all rights to the images that we obtain during the photo shoot, including the right to transmit the images over the internet. The photographer is a friend of mine and I phoned him just now so as to get a clear statement I could use here, but the studio is closed this week. I suspect holidays.

The only sticky issue here is that my employer may not like the idea that I am honing the skills (that will eventually lead to me leaving the company) using material from work. If I caught him on a good day and asked him if I could practice my painting using some of our kid shots, he'd mostly likely say yes. The only reason that I haven't asked is that I have some fairly serious work-related injuries (those computers will kill ya) and although painting is a completely different activity and doesn't aggravate my condition, I know it would be an issue for him. Trust me, things are complicated enough.

Having said all that, do you still have concerns? I can cease and desist at any time.

The legal issues are only part of my concern. My main issue is what we are about as artists.

In another thread Mike McCarty wrote about some photos he took of a subject. First is his quote, and next is my response. Mike wrote:
This was my response to him:

Wow. Ouch. I think I just got a spanking.

If I read this correctly, you are saying that the photographer has already put his creative mark on this photo and that for me to paint from said photo is to appropriate his artistry. I'd certainly hate to be caught doing that.

I'm going to call Jens (the photographer) on Monday and make full disclosure. He'll probably laugh at me, but I think that you've made a really good point Michele. Integrity is everything.

Now to dig up some models. It's not that I haven't tried, it just seems like a bad time - holidays, summer jobs, not having friends with small kids. No excuses, right? Right.

Thanks, Janet