Kelly

[Dan Landrie]

This is a painting that I did from life and at the same time documented the pose with a photo. I do this when ever I'm working from a live model. With the models permission of course.

I plan to use the photo to make adjustments to the painting and would appreciate critiques at this point. Thanks

I'd also like some input as how you know when your ready to offer portraits professionally.

[Mischa Milosevic]

Dan, you are at a good point here on your painting. Your photo is not the best but if this is what you have then what does one do. We do the best we can.

I am afraid I can not offer you much but what I do share with you I hope it will help you to determine what you need to do.

I have made a adjustment to your photo in order that you may see how the light affects your subject. Now, you can use this light effect, in your painting and step up the value or bring the value down. What ever you prefer.

Always keep in mind the drawing being correct (no distortion unless you prefer it) the values and how you treat them and the balance in hue and temperature shifts.

This mite be a lot to think about but that is the life of a artist.
Most important are the drawing and the value.

Now, as to your question in offering portraits. One can do this when ever one likes but if you wish to be considered as a professional then professional training and study is a must first.

I hope this helps.

[Dan Landrie]

Mischa

Thank you, the drawings on your website are amazing.

When it comes to drawing I have alot of experience in, still life, cast dwg, life dwg, head dwg, and anatomy. I'm at a point where I would not hesitate to offer someone a portrait in pencil or charcoal, and in fact am putting together a website to do just that, based on advise I read in an article by Chris Saper where she suggested to start by offering what your comfortable with and good at.

Where I'm having trouble, and you picked up on it immediately, is translating the black and white values to color, I don't really know how to adjust the values of a color without changing the color to something that looks like mud. I suppose this will come with time and practice, practice, practice.

Thank you again for your valuable time and advice.

[Brenda R. Robson]

Misha
What photoshop fiter do you use for your effect? I think I have done that once but I can't remember which filter to use.
Brenda

[Mischa Milosevic]

I used New Adjustment Layer then Gradiant Map. I wish I knew this when I was strugling with a bad photo.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

Where I'm having trouble, and you picked up on it immediately, is translating the black and white values to color, I don't really know how to adjust the values of a color without changing the color to something that looks like mud.

Hi Dan,

I struggled with the same issue for the longest time as well. People would tell me:"I see this color, that color, etc." - and I felt like I was color blind, because I couldn't make the distinctions. After taking Marvin Mattelson's class and becoming familiar with his palette, I learned what to look for and how to recognize it. Now I often sit at meals and look at people saying:"Wau, this is a beautiful shade of value x of Venetian Red! "

The gradient scale of Misha is a great crutch, because it shows not only the light, but the different values simplified in gray tones as they relate to the head. Considering that there are 9 values of gray plus white and black, you will need the same number of values for your warm and cool flesh tones. Mix them out and place each color value below the correspondent gray value. Mixing the right values is the hard part, from then on you match each gray value you see to the color that you placed under that same value. When looking at the reference ask yourself, is the color you see cool or warm, high chroma or gray and adjust accordingly.

I am still more comfortable with gray underpaintings than raw umber washes, but in essence if your underpainting is correct in it's values, load your brush with the desired color and place it on the intended spot. Another valuable lesson learned from Peggy Baumgaertner is: "SQUINT! If your color is correct than it should blend nicely into the value that you placed it on. Otherwise it will look too light or too dark and needs adjustment. "

I hope this will help you. There is hope, although the struggle never seems to end!

[Mischa Milosevic]

Dan if you look at the thread Carlos Y "limited palette" there you will find the colors to use. Using the same colors, establish the darks and establish the lights, with flat color. Then put in the half tones and see what you get. Do not mess with the details and form before you establish lights and darks. Then when the half tone is in, post and allow the forum members to give you feedback.

[Mischa Milosevic]

Shadow, light and hue acordingly

[Dan Landrie]

Thank you Enzie and Mischa,

First I appreciate your help.

I can see from your comments that I have a long uphill battle in front of me if I'm going to get my oil portraits to a point were I can comfortably accept money for them. I think my next step will be to concentrate on just sitting down and mixing colors in various values and temperatures as you suggested Enzie. If anyone would like to recommend a good color mixing book they think would be helpful I would appreciate it.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Dan,

I would not assume that the value relationships in your painted portrait are as "incorrect" as they appear to be when you compare them to those in the photo. I've done color sketches of people from life, then taken a photo, and the photo looks quite different.

My advice would be to try to work the life study up to a point where you consider it just about finished, then only use the photo to "finish" the non-essential details and/or make a few minor adjustments. It is probably not going to be helpful to simply start a portrait from life and switch to a photo at this stage. You will get such different information from the photo that you basically have to start over.

I think Mischa's advice about looking for the large areas of light and shadow first, then working towards smaller areas of color within those larger areas, is excellent. It appears that you are rushing into the small areas before you have established the value relationships in larger areas. A good example of this is in the eye area. The entire eye socket is in shadow. The best way to approach the eyes is to paint the shadow (as in post # 8) and then start looking for variations within it. You make a "bed' for the eye and then the eye just falls into place. The value range within the shadow of the eye socket is really very small--whereas in your portrait you have made the irises bright, light blue as if in direct light.

Don't be too discouraged. You are well on your way to achieving the proper value relationships. Rather than relying on books, the best way is to try different mixtures and see what looks better. Achieving transparent shadow areas is not easy. Many color mixtures make mud! I have had success mixing blues and violets with cadmium yellow deep and cadmium orange, which greys the color (using complementaries) and also adds warmth and coolness to shadows. These can be mixed in with a rosy tone like cad red, or permanent rose, to achieve a good skin tone. But that's only one way--there are countless others.