I'm Lost!
 

I dont' know what to do with the eyes in this painting. This is still in the very early stages, little detail in nose, mouth, but I am not worried about how to continue with these areas. I am not too worried about the minor drawing adj I have to make on side of face. But I can't get the eye on our right. I have drawn sketches, about a million, but they just don't look right.

Second problem, have I taken the shadows too dark, too brown, too soon? Can I still make color adjustments over color this dark? I know it is a naive questions, but, all of a sudden I feel lost. . . . a babe lost!!

Thanks for any critique anyone can venture

Hi Pat--
Could you possibly post a close up of just the face, and maybe a close up of the reference face (If you've only got that small photo for reference, try taking it to BJ's or Walmart and enlarging it on their photo enlarging machine... you might be amazed at what detail is actually in the photo, that can be enlarged for you to see)... Short of that, it just strikes me that her lower lid is too straight across... There would be some curve and/or slant there I think?

As far as going too dark, too fast-- I'm not the best person to ask... but would just suggest that you keep in mind that light over dark paint will seem cooler and dark over lighter will seem warmer. (Garth H. has a blurb somewhere in the Apotheon thread, I think, where he talks about how this works...) So anyway, when I've gone to dark and want an area to be lighter AND warmer... I'll paint it a bit lighter than I want to go first, then come over the lighter color to get the shade (and temperature) that's needed... Hope that helps!

The white in that eye is too light. The eye is a ball so the right side of that eye will be in shadow just as the shadow plan on that side. If it looks light in the photo it might have been retouched. I also think you over softened some of the edges of her habit. It's really hard to tell how dark your darks are based on your jpeg. Keep going. Take the color from your sister.

Patricia, the cast for my cast painting had a wandering eye. The teachers told me to make them track together or people would think I had goofed up. I must have repainted that eye about twenty times. Finally, out of desperation, I had my husband pose for me with his head and eyes in the same position as the cast and took a photo of it. That helped me get the eyes right. Maybe you could have someone do the same for you.

Re: that eye, Pat--- looking at it some more, I think you may be showing too much of the white on the far side of the iris.... The far Eye shows no white on that side... It is likely that you would see the skin portion of the corner of the eyelid there, but maybe not so much (or any) of the white of the eyeball? I think Debra's suggestion to get someone to pose for you could be really helpful here.

Patricia, I would only add one thought for now regarding the eyes . . . the shadow of the white of the eyeball on our left appears to be dartker than the shadow of the white of the eyeball on our right. It would be more common for the shadow on our right to be as dark or darker than thee shadow on our left considering the light source being from our left.

Hi Pat,

The lines in the habit (outside edges) are so lovely that I would keep them and just soften the edges. How are you doing on this?

Jean

Hi Pat,

Her eye in the light (on our left) should have lighter values in the darker areas, such as the eyebrow, eyelashes, and iris, than the corresponding areas in shadow. The higher contrast in the lighted areas is now making them too prominent.

Thank you for all your advice!
I am miserable about the eyes after working on it again yesterday. I am happier with the skin tone, but the eyes are embarrassing to see in the pic. but I wanted to show an update. I am losing the drawing of the eyelids and the brows are hard and need to be defined. The lower lid on our left looks too yellow and is "drawn" wrong.

This is soo frustrating. I drew some more sketches and when this dries I will go in again to work on the eyes and eyebrows, the profile and then begin to really work on the habit. I can see in this image the the iris on our right is now too small. The highlights bother me. The top of her cheek on our left is too bright (wow!) and the lower lids are bad on both eyes. UGH!!

I have to say though, that it was so much fun to work on skin color, scumbling to my hearts content. With Marvin's palette it is so easy and logical for a beginner like me. Before Marvin's workshop, the few times I worked in oils I always ended up with mud on the canvas. Now, as long as I stay in the correct value, and use the correct brush, my colors stay clean. I just have to think about chroma and hue in that value. It will take a long time to get that down, but I think the value thing is coming along. At least I am encouraged and just can't wait until the next painting where I do not have to use a poorly lit old black and white photograph!!!

Thanks for looking.