Sabrina

Enzie Shahmiri · 11-08-2002, 08:51 PM

I had started this in September and half way through it had to part with it for a month. Now that the painting has been returned I have a couple of technical questions.

1) The area that concerns me is the shadow on the left. It originally was very dark. I would say a value of 9. Right next to it the value changed to a 7 and when I followed this with paint, it looked unnatural, like two stripes. Karin, I looked at your wonderful painting of

Enzie Shahmiri · 11-08-2002, 08:53 PM

As of November 8th, 2002

Steven Sweeney · 11-09-2002, 12:56 AM

Leaving your questions for Karin to her, I would just suggest that getting a "9" value in this kind of light likely has much more to do with photography than reality. (For the same reason, I think the nostrils are too dark in your painting -- a very common error, by the way.)

"Stripes", as you called them, of value aren't necessarily suspect -- IF you're trying to convey dramatic changes in facial planes. If you're not, then you of course have to work on the transition, but first make sure your perceptions about how dark the darker values look are correct. If you wind up lightening them, your problem with "stripes" may well resolve itself.

Finally, the urge to push the shadow side into a very dark range might have as much to do with the fact that you've not yet brought the lighted side of the face "into the light". If you squint at the painted face, it has nearly a monochromatic and limited-value-range appearance.

Mari DeRuntz · 11-09-2002, 01:12 AM

I agree with what Steven said, squint at your references and then squint at your portrait. The difference is marked. What really drove the point home in my own work was simple value studies in charcoal. You don't even have to tackle anything complex in these studies - simple still lifes will do.

One other point: your uniform detailing of the hair flattens the form - try first to render the structure of the head, the planes of the head, which show as masses of light/non-light in the hair. If you get these simple structures right, the detail follows.

Enzie Shahmiri · 11-09-2002, 12:40 PM

Thank you, Steven and Mari. I will fix the nostril since it does seem very dark. Mari, I did the different planes on the head, but all those curls have totally confused me and I have lost the underlying structure. I don't know if I need to start over by filling the hair area with the dark and light planes or if I an solve this through additions of highlights and tone downs. Can anyone recommned a very good source of how to paint curls?

This is an 8" x 10" on board, which I omitted.

Enzie Shahmiri · 11-10-2002, 10:28 PM

I worked on Sabrina's right cheek and lightened it.

For some odd reason there is this haze on every photo I take. I read somewhere that if you are glazing and need to lighten an area, you are supposed to lighten it with thicker paint in a lighter value, rather than glaze over with white. For this reason, I have stayed away from the white glaze and cannot for the life of me figure out where the haze is coming from. If what I am doing is incorrect, please comment.

I also spent some more time on the hair. I darkened one side and lightened the other. I still think it is not right and would appreciate any suggestions.

Something went wrong with the chin, too, but I will fix that tomorrow.

Steven Sweeney · 11-11-2002, 09:58 AM

Enzie,

Just a couple of notes on this pass-through.

I think you're struggling with the hair because you're treating it as -- hair(!) More specifically, as hairs. If you see it first as a form with its own volume and planes and light and shadow sides, I think this will fall into place for you. If you squint at your reference photos, the individual strands or locks of hair largely disappear into the shadow side of the head. Not completely, of course, but very few light areas in that shadow side are brighter than the dark areas in the side in light.

The rather unusual way that her hair is "nested" on top is confusing things a bit, but try to think light and dark, rather than blonde and (what looks like) darker roots.

Once you get the lights and darks on the form of the hair correct, surprisingly little detail in terms of individual strands or locks will fully present it as hair.

The other note for now involves the shadow (our left) side of the fleshy area above her upper lip. One of the distinguishing (cute) features of this girl's mouth is the way it tucks in, in a concavity of sorts, as it moves toward the corner of the mouth on our left side. As it partakes of that form, the shadow and the lip become nearly the same value, so much so that the top edge of the lip is almost completely lost. Instead, you have suggested with a lightening in that area (including an almost white section near the red upper lip), that that area is actually protruding.

I'm not sure what you're doing to get the "haze" that you refer to, but I suspect that you're putting paint on too thinly, perhaps even kind of tentatively scrubbing it on. Get your mix where you want it and then put lots of paint down on the canvas, so that you are creating an additional, workable layer of paint.

Enzie Shahmiri · 11-11-2002, 01:17 PM

Thank you, Steven, for pointing out the lip. Great observation! I will keep working at the hair as well. One of these days it

Enzie Shahmiri · 11-14-2002, 03:11 PM

I have made further adjustments to the hair and fixed the lip and chin. I think I am done now and will hand the painting over this coming Tuesday.

If there is any other thing that really needs more attention, please let me know, otherwise my sincerest THANK YOU to all who offered critique!

Jeanine Jackson · 11-19-2002, 11:36 AM

Beautiful finish!

The only comment I would add - if not too late - is the white of left eye could do with some shadow.