Hi Everyone,
I absolutely adore this picture of my son. Here is my first attempt at a charcoal study of him and I would love any feedback before I move on. I need a pair of fresh eyes to look at it!
Once I feel more confident about it, I plan to paint this picture of him. I'm going to change the background of the original picture for the painting I have planned, so please ignore it in the picture here. (Obviously, the placement of the house and light is very awkward). But first, I really want to nail down his likeness. It feels like a really slow process! 😅

Comments
You’ve captured his likeness well.
Great sketch. I'd lighten the background a lot to make the figure a positive shape
Hope it helps
The freshness of youth. I had smooth skin and rosy cheeks like that once. At that age everything is still possible.
When you paint it will you make it a winter scene with snow. I think that would work well.
You could crop it something like this:
I have gotten rid of the left balustrade (I'd also remove the right) and I reduced some of the glare from the porch light. I would maybe put more snow on the drive on the right.
I think you could make a wonderful winter portrait of this.
Hope this is helpful.
I do not have photoshop but have heard very good things about gimp. I will have to download it and spend some time playing around. Which program did you use?
I’m looking forward to seeing it when you have finished.