Portrait study in charcoal - A2 - 3h

adridri

I've been doing a lot of landscapes lately, I thought I'd go back to value studies and portraits for a change. This is a friend, from a photo reference, about 3h study. I'm quite rusty with charcoal. I did not nail the likeness perfectly though and I think it looks a bit overworked... I think I will be doing a portrait series in the next days - weeks. 
Any critique would be appreciated.
Best

Adrien 

whunt

Really captivating @adridri - Great expression captured, lively, playful, confident and strong pose. I like the boldness of the strokes in the hair and deep contrasts and detail in the neck and face. I think it's very well done.

tassieguy

This is strong drawing, @adrdri. Bold and compelling. I love the look on her face. And I think that the composition, although unusual, really works well. I love the board, black strokes in the lower section. Well done! 

adridri

Here is my source. As you can see, I'm stuck at the "cusin" stage, where the likeness is not perfect. I probably got in trouble because I reorientated the tilt of the head and tweaked a few contrasts compared to the source. One problem of this bold approach is that it doesnt allow for correction after a bold black stroke, that's why I have some problems such as in the hear...
 I would like to find a free application that allows me to superimpose my drawing to the source and rescale one image to match the other, in order to analyse the differences. Any suggestion? PC iPad or android.
 

Richard_P

Your source image you posted here was really small and low quality but I managed to enlarge it with AI, rotate it to match your drawing and adjust the size. See if this helps a bit:

adridri

Thanks @whunt @tassieguy @Richard_P
 Yes it is more obvious like this. The portrait is Really off I gave her 30years more. I made some adjustments, thinner jaw, lower contrast. Not there yet but can't take this one any further the paper is dead loaded with charcoal.

heartofengland

As a viewer I loved your first drawing for the same reasons as the others.

After seeing the photos I begin to see it through your eyes... The point of the chin is lower in the original, giving a more relaxed look to the face. Your higher chin gives a tighter jaw with a more surprised, impish grin.

I still love it though.

adridri

@heartofengland thanks you are right about the chin. Will check on that if can be modified! 

joydeschenes

@adridri love your charcoal…..you had asked about a program to use to compare source & drawing. I just finished a Bargue drawing class and my teacher used Procreate to critique the student drawings. She encouraged me to mess with it and I have found it great for drawing comparisons & composition planning. I can “superimpose “ photos of. each by using the layers feature. I use an Apple tablet and I downloaded the IOS App. It works great with an apple pen too. 

adridri

@joydeschenes great, I have procreate but I did not think of it. Thanks for the tip and feedback

toujours

This is excellent.   I agree, once seeing the source photo, there is a difference, however, without the source and on its own, it stood up well.  

whunt

@adridri

You said, 'The portrait is Really off I gave her 30years more'

While it was not intentional, this may not be the most prudent of results of your portrait of her if you have any hopes of her really liking it regardless of how good it may be!  

adridri

@whunt yes it will stay in the sketchbook  lesson learned. A portrait is only as good as the likeness I can achieve, no matter how pleasing it is to look at.

Leo2015

Good work. 

adridri

Thanks @Leo2015