Gabe
 

I would LOVE to get a critique on this painting. I took this reference photo of my son two years ago and I realize now that it's not the best photo. I'm ready for whatever you have to tell me, good, bad or ugly. It is 12"x12" oil on canvas

Hey Stephanie -

your brushwork and colors are great! Edges are looking good too.
I think you have a lot of good paintings in your future!

As far as critique, I will try to describe some drawing issues - hard to do with words but here goes.
The problem is mainly a matter of proportions.

Do these measurements, and you should be able to tell what the proportional issues are:

1. Measure the distance vertically between the eyes and the chin.
2. Add another mark to indicate the top of the head -(not the hairline)

Measure both the painting and the photo (don't use the photo's measurements to compare the painting unless they are supposed to be the same size ) and compare the length of eyes to chin vs. the height of the rest of the head.

3. Use the measurement from the photo - the distance between the eyes and the top of the head. Turn that measurement around so that it is horizontal: put one mark at the edge of the head along the line of the eyes and the other mark should line up at the other edge of the head.

4. Now do the same with your painting.

5. If you want to take another measurement, you could explore the relative size of the eyes in the painting to the photo.

Anyway, after doing these measurements, what do you see?

Thank you Julie! I really appreciate your help. I'm doing the measuring now and I'm seeing lots of little problems with my proportions. The width of the head, for instance, is too narrow based on the measurements I took The length from the eyes to the nose is also wrong, etc. I will see what I can do to fix these and hopefully that will make all the difference. I find myself wanting to get to the painting and issues of color right away and forget how important those measurements are. I know better and I thank you for reminding me.

Hi again Stephanie,

I intentionally didn't say anything specific about the measurements so you would have the benefit of looking for yourself. Good observations!

It seems to me there might be more than one way to look at things. Try this on for size..... the lower face might be the correct height if you add more height to the rest of the head. It might be less work for you, too.

Be sure to post later on. Looking forward to seeing the results!

Let's see if this looks any different or better. Let me know if anything looks strange. Thanks again!

the proportions are looking better!

You might want to check the line of the eyes - one seems a little too high now?