"Heather"
 

This drawing was done on a grey green heavy paper with black and blue soft pastels. The size is approximately 12 x 15. I am still making adjustments but would appreciate any comments.

close up ...

On a run-through here, Mike, and will return, but on first glimpse my eye caught the horizontal line of the base of the nose. The nostril on our left is higher than the right. The line is out of parallel with the horizontals of the eyes and mouth. (Of course, if that's the way it appears in nature, Well Done! But I suspect that what's happened is something that can sneak up on you when a figure's head is slightly tilted. We have a tendency to Ouija-board the features into the horizontal level we "expect" to see when we view a face.)

"Ouija-board the features" is a technical term of art that is new and may not yet appear in the texts.

Steven,

I think my sin is that the nostril on our right is too low.

Then there's the matter of my floppy arms, which I am still trying to resolve. The whole arm thing looks pretty bad at this point.

I'll post the photo here ...

I think it may be because of the strong light on the arms I could never see them as flattering.

I would also consider the following cop out crop.

Yunno nothing sharpens your eye like bringing these things out into the public.

I've reshaped the the contour of the underside of her arms. Brought the dark value under her left forearm and hand way up so that the arm and hand don't look like they're floating. (I think I was scared of the very light value at the bottom right so naturally I over compensated, a mid-value works pretty well.) I've reclaimed some of the bottom of her right arm as it exits the sleeve. And I've shortened and reshaped her fingers.

She looks better already. Am I allowed to critique myself?

I'm still working with a film camera so I'll wait to see what else can be corrected before I make another photo.

Hi Mike,

The likeness is there. There are just some details to fix and I am confident that you are on the right track.

I like the version without the hands because the reference photo on the hands is not that great. It is hard to figure out the edges on the fingers.

Critiquing your our work I find works well after you take a break off the work. And you have the best seat in the house!

PS. I would also recommend not to use a really heavy and rough paper. Charcoal is hard enough medium to control. :)

Josef,

I recently spent 30 min. in front of all the different papers at the art store pulling and feeling and reading their names. I finally selected this gray green (which doesn't come through in the post). It is very heavy but it's not rough. What aggravates me is that I don't remember what the name of the paper is.

I have been taking my paper to my local framer who has some kind of machine which attaches the paper very permanently to a piece of half inch foam board. It makes it pretty easy to set up on my easel. However, I read in other threads that it might not be so good for the paper to be directly touching the foam board. Ah hum.

This has been done with soft pastels only. As I mentioned above I have been working on the arms and hands trying to get their correct shape and also trying to reduce them in value as not to over power. I am going to try and finish it with the hands. The cop out crop will always be an option.

Mike,
 

I just sketched your model on a piece of paper on my desk with careful measuring and gained a quick likeness. My eyes, nose, and mouth looks just like yours. What is different is the value of my shadows. Mine are darker and yours lighter. Recreating a model's (female) makeup will reflect her likeness in a keen way. Just as the shadows of lashes and lids do on a male model. Apart from all the little line differences, I'd adjust the shadowing.

Great work and a good challenging photo.

Morris,

Donde esta frijole cabrito? If you can translate that you get the golden tamale.

This is always my challenge, getting dark enough. Along with the above mentioned changes I have been trying to work some deeper values into the shadows of her face.

Long time no hear from, thanks for the reminder.