First Oil Portrait

Steven_Art

Hello everyone this is my first ever oil painting portrait. I started learning to paint 3 months ago  and would like to know what I could do to improve. 

I’m currently having second thoughts on this painting. I showed a few family members and my mom hated it and said that her face looks like puzzle pieces. I will admit I made my colors more orange shifted and I made some areas too dark. Im still new. (Sorry if the reference photo is hard to look at and compare) 

Thanks!

PaulB

Welcome to the forum @Steven_Art.  It's a great community that can offer all kinds of advice, critique and support.  But we want you to engage and contribute, so please, post your work, ask questions, but above all, answer questions, encourage the others, and generally help the community.  You'll get much more out of this forum that way, and we'll be encouraged to help you.

Nice work, the color matching is great.  Ignore your mother, that's a really good first portrait, and tell her to stand further back.

My critique would be to use a proportional divider and make sure you got the width of the face correct, I think you narrowed it a little.

BOB73

Welcome, Steven. The shadow on her right side ends in a definitive continuous line dividing it from the lighter tones. If you'd make it a little more jigsawy it might help. If you can zoom in on it comparing photo and work piece, you'll see what I mean. This is a great beginning. There's been discussion lately about continuing to work on a "finished" painting or keep it as is and start another the same as the first. Something you might consider.

alsart

The chin does need to “fatten” out a little and soften the edges of it, but this has a great feel well done, I like the no blend too @Steven_Art

Boudicca

Hi @Steven_Art, you’ve done a fantastic job here, especially for a first portrait. What I’m about to say next is a matter of style and taste- your painting as it is is fine,  however I like to lightly go over the surface of the face with a soft, dry, brush to lightly blend areas once I have covered the canvas, this reduces the patchy look.

dencal

Steven_Art

Welcome to the Forum.

What a great portrait. Love it.

Denis

tassieguy

This is an awesome first portrait, @Steven_Art. I can only see it on my cell phone (power outage here) but it looks great to me   Explain to your mom that you are making a painting and not a photo. Well done. And welcome to the forum. 

Steven_Art

@PaulB thanks and I appreciate the welcome . I’ll see if I can explain to her. But yes I see my portrait is more narrow on the chin. I think my lips are also smaller too.

Steven_Art

BOB73 said:

Welcome, Steven. The shadow on her right side ends in a definitive continuous line dividing it from the lighter tones. If you'd make it a little more jigsawy it might help. If you can zoom in on it comparing photo and work piece, you'll see what I mean. This is a great beginning. There's been discussion lately about continuing to work on a "finished" painting or keep it as is and start another the same as the first. Something you might consider.

Thanks @BOB73 I see the shadow in the right side is more than what it should. Which makes the width of the face look more narrow. 
And yes this is only the beginning!(: I do plan on redoing this same model months later when I master it. (: 

Steven_Art

alsart said:

The chin does need to “fatten” out a little and soften the edges of it, but this has a great feel well done, I like the no blend too @Steven_Art

Yeah you’re right, and thanks! It was a real struggle to do my first portrait without blending it at all. 

Forgiveness

Welcome and wonderful portrait, it has similar quality as simple touch painting technique, not like a photo. Btw it looks great without the photo reference also. Perfect look alike are near impossible, and in portraiture, mouths are often an issue even for some of the greatest artists. Fantastic work, a most fantastic first!

Steven_Art

Boudicca said:

Hi @Steven_Art, you’ve done a fantastic job here, especially for a first portrait. What I’m about to say next is a matter of style and taste- your painting as it is is fine,  however I like to lightly go over the surface of the face with a soft, dry, brush to lightly blend areas once I have covered the canvas, this reduces the patchy look.

I appreciate it! And yes I understand, I really wanted to blend. But I really wanted to challenge myself to not blending my first portrait not even once. But next time I’ll be more  lenient with myself. ((:

Steven_Art

I appreciate it @dencal Glad to find this community 

Steven_Art

tassieguy said:

This is an awesome first portrait, @Steven_Art. I can only see it on my cell phone (power outage here) but it looks great to me   Explain to your mom that you are making a painting and not a photo. Well done. And welcome to the forum. 

Thank you very much @tassieguy I’ll try and explain to her. Thanks for the reassurance (: And I’m glad to be a part of this community. 
And hope your power comes back fast!

Steven_Art

Thanks you @Forgiveness and I haven’t heard of one touch painting. I guess it was a result of just stopping myself from blending. And thanks! It was a very.. time consuming project.  (: 

Boudicca

Good on you for resisting the blending, it’s hard. You might want to check out the no blend challenge we did a couple of years ago

Challenge thread
http://forum.drawmixpaint.com/discussion/5024/no-blend-challenge-come-and-join-in/p1

Blendless Possibilities exhibition thread
http://forum.drawmixpaint.com/discussion/5305/exhibition-blendless-possibilities-2016-the-no-blend-challenge#latest

Steven_Art

@Boudicca I really liked the blendless possibilities link. Some were pretty impressive. I’ll maybe try it in the future when I need a break from portraits. (:

Bucky

Seriously, It's a really, really good portrait! And it's your first one! 

Steven_Art

Lol thank you @Bucky I plan to make many more

Kaustav

This is really amazing!

MichaelD

Thats fantastic @Steven_Art, especially for first portrait 

Wishiwaspainting

I would not have guessed this was anyone's first oil painting portrait.  It looks really good now and you will also get better.  Explain to your mom that paintings are not intended to be viewed at very close range.  

Ask your mom what she thinks this is:





Tell your mom it is an ear.  And the incompetant artist who painted it is Rembrandt.  
Here you can see the rest of that painting:

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/self-portrait-as-the-apostle-paul/LwGcE5lQC5dLUg?hl=en&ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.4318600948615545%2C%22y%22%3A0.3321412405826557%2C%22z%22%3A9.5%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A1.8778438359231249%2C%22height%22%3A0.8303531014566394%7D%7D

tassieguy

Wow! What a great example, @Wishiwaspainting. Rembrandt was surely among the greatest painters who ever lived. No photograph, however well shot, could be as beautiful as his painting. We are not after perfection in painting but truth. 

Dianna

Your first portrait and you resisted the urge to blend!  My God!!!  That is amazing.  I am still on my first DMP portrait and I have got the VALUES bit, I have got the DO NOT EXAGGERATE bit, but I've completely failed on the DO NOT BLEND, PAINT ABSTRACT AND PAINT UGLY.  Never mind, maybe I can add one rule to each new painting I do until I've got it.  But loved your painting and it's amazing for a first go at a portrait. I'm dying to see your next one!

Steven_Art

@Kaustav thank you! ) 

Steven_Art

@MichaelD thanks! I aim to do better on my next portrait!(:

Steven_Art

Wishiwaspainting said:

I would not have guessed this was anyone's first oil painting portrait.  It looks really good now and you will also get better.  Explain to your mom that paintings are not intended to be viewed at very close range.  

Ask your mom what she thinks this is:





Tell your mom it is an ear.  And the incompetant artist who painted it is Rembrandt.  
Here you can see the rest of that painting:

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/self-portrait-as-the-apostle-paul/LwGcE5lQC5dLUg?hl=en&ms=%7B%22x%22%3A0.4318600948615545%2C%22y%22%3A0.3321412405826557%2C%22z%22%3A9.5%2C%22size%22%3A%7B%22width%22%3A1.8778438359231249%2C%22height%22%3A0.8303531014566394%7D%7D

Wow! This is a great example @Wishiwaspainting . I’ll show her this great example! And thank you that’s very kind to say, I will continue to improve! Thanks (:

Steven_Art

@tassieguy Very well said. Perfect photo realism is for the computers, leave true painting to us lol (:

Steven_Art

@Dianna I appreciate it and not blending wasn’t easy. But trust me it’s worth it when you finish. And thanks it won’t be long till I finish my next portrait.(:

Bobitaly

Amazing first effort love the eyes .

Julianna

What a beautiful girl!!!  Very nice - her lips and eyes are lovely.  Great job 

Steven_Art

Thanks @Bobitaly it was a difficult first attempt.

Steven_Art

Yes she really is beautiful! And thanks (: @Julianna

Ezra

Its very good. I would like to see you change gears and paint a thin glaze over the whole face. Her skin is beautifully smoothe and you are losing that. The classic technique . It would be pretty scary to do . The reason classic technique works is that it mimics the depth and layers of colors in actual skin.

Dianna

I'm going to take a risk and say one thing that I think would help.  I would like to see the highlights on the model's LEFT EYE reduced in intensity, because I think it's a bit too bright at present and it makes her eye look droopier than it really is. That way the lower lid would blend in more and be less prominent.

Richard_P

Don't worry about blending at the moment, that will come.

Look at the blackness between her lips. See how it extends all the way horizontally in the source photo? In your paintings it doesn't and that changes her expression to more of a pout. If you add in the blackness there it will change her expression to more like the source photo.

Steven_Art

@Ezra thanks. And yes I did lose the smoothness, I think it was due to the colors being off. On the photo the colors of her face are very subtle in shifts, but I exaggerated the shifts in color. And that resulted in them looking very different when next to each other. Almost like a birthmark
 And also since I didn’t blend. 
But I think glazing is a matter of taste, because I feel like a gloss varnish should suffice.
And what’s a classic technique? 

Steven_Art

Dianna said:

I'm going to take a risk and say one thing that I think would help.  I would like to see the highlights on the model's LEFT EYE reduced in intensity, because I think it's a bit too bright at present and it makes her eye look droopier than it really is. That way the lower lid would blend in more and be less prominent.

Oh yeah I didn’t notice that. I honestly just left the canvas blank for those 2 highlights in the eye. That’s for telling me that. And I also notice the that same eye, below is too dark. (Almost like she has a black eye) 
Agreed
Thanks!

Steven_Art

Richard_P said:

Don't worry about blending at the moment, that will come.

Look at the blackness between her lips. See how it extends all the way horizontally in the source photo? In your paintings it doesn't and that changes her expression to more of a pout. If you add in the blackness there it will change her expression to more like the source photo.

I chose not to blend. 
And yes I do see it! That’s probably why my lips look so small too.

Dianna

@Steven_Art    I have a feeling that once you've reduced the intensity of the light under her eye, the shadow underneath will not seem too dark after all.  But hey, let's see.....

JessicaArt

Holy cow! This is gorgeous! And your mother is dead wrong! Wow....just wow.... really stunning!

RICCIO

Looks Wonderful Very Good First Portrait!

Steven_Art

Thanks @JessicaArt (: maybe my next portrait she will like it. 

Steven_Art

@RICCIO thank you very much!

cbor47

A great first Portrait, remember if people want us to paint exactly like the photograph they may as well have a photograph...

Ezra

Steven_Art said:

@Ezra thanks. And yes I did lose the smoothness, I think it was due to the colors being off. On the photo the colors of her face are very subtle in shifts, but I exaggerated the shifts in color. And that resulted in them looking very different when next to each other. Almost like a birthmark
 And also since I didn’t blend. 
But I think glazing is a matter of taste, because I feel like a gloss varnish should suffice.
And what’s a classic technique? 

Glazing is applying really thin coats of paint. It's especially good for skin tones. It will hide some of the gradation s without blending. It works very well because it mimics the way actual skin is built. I like the gradations. It's a cool effect but maybe for realisms sake you could try a glaze. But it's risky and scary to paint over what you have. Make sure the layers are thin.

Steven_Art

yeah very true @cbor47

Elize

@Steven_Art, you did good for a first, but you clearly didn’t know where to put the right values, that’s why it’s looking like puzzle pieces.  @cbor47, I love photorealism, and I’ll rather buy a photo realistic painting than a photo cause I know how much work went into it and it’s going to last a lifetime, photo’s don’t.

Kaustav

Your work is very good! And the most striking effect that you created with those unblended patches is amazing too. I feel that you do not lose it. Continue painting. Only thing that I see is 'missing' is the the attention to the edges. Edges need to be blurred when they are not getting direct light.

cbor47

Elize said:

@Steven_Art, you did good for a first, but you clearly didn’t know where to put the right values, that’s why it’s looking like puzzle pieces.  @cbor47, I love photorealism, and I’ll rather buy a photo realistic painting than a photo cause I know how much work went into it and it’s going to last a lifetime, photo’s don’t.   Yes precisely. my point was !, you have got to add your artistic style from the photo onto the canvas  .. .

Steven_Art

Elize said:

@Steven_Art, you did good for a first, but you clearly didn’t know where to put the right values, that’s why it’s looking like puzzle pieces.  @cbor47, I love photorealism, and I’ll rather buy a photo realistic painting than a photo cause I know how much work went into it and it’s going to last a lifetime, photo’s don’t.

Yes I agree, they look like puzzle pieces cause I exaggerated the values. But I feel your next argument is 100% taste. Choosing between photorealism and painting with a lots of brushwork is 100% taste. But on my opinion is that I’d rather not make it hyper realism. I did hyper realism charcoal+graphite portraits for 2 years and found myself asking “what’s the point?”. I made myself into a human printing machine. And all I did was copy the source. It’s just that my copy took 3 weeks instead of 10 seconds from the printer. Congrats you just showed that you’re a million times less efficient than your printer. Not the most exciting ladder to climb.:)