Art Class: Self Portraits due next Monday

DoNotDelete · **Posted:** Thu Feb 21, 2013 10:05 am

I generally identify more with my hands than my face - but I actually like the idea of doing a self portrait - I have a few ideas about how to approach it.

I've also had a few ideas about how to approach the Ian McKellen portrait - so I'm not so daunted by it any more.

I will be using Adobe Illustrator though - so my approaches/outcomes may not necessarily be what people expect.

I'm looking forward to seeing other people's outcomes - I haven't been at art school for a while so it'll be cool to see how other people approach these lessons.

I work Mondays and Tuesdays so I'll probably attack these lessons later in the week.

DoNotDelete · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2013 1:44 am

Genuine double post.

Could people give me some critique about the accuracy of the shadowing on THIS PIECE - or at least tell me where any highlights or shadows look out of place?

It's not supposed to look like a real skull and the eyes are missing the sclera - I'm well aware of those things because they were intentional - I'm just interested in critique on the shadowing and highlights.

Dire · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:05 am

To be honest I've got nothing but praise for that piece.

There's a lot of little things you've done to make this really cool.
Like the hatched shading/high lights. The super subtle pattern in the background. The little flecks and marks that give the skull/s texture. It's all dang cool.

If I absolutely had to pick something then maybe the teeth seem super bright and flat compared to the rest of the skull? But that's honestly just a nit pick as opposed to an actual problem. If anything the white in the centre helps make the image pop in a way. So there you go, my only nit pick just got invalidated.

DoNotDelete · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:14 am

I struggled a bit with the teeth because I wanted to limit the colours as much as possible - initially the teeth were the same 'bone' colour as the rest of the skull - so if I'd stuck to that I would have been able to shade the teeth with the same 'red' shadow tone as the rest of the skull.

However, it turned out that the teeth didn't look right being 'bone' coloured so I decided to use white to punch them out a bit - but this also meant that I couldn't shade the teeth with the same 'red' shadow tone because that looked too dark against the white (meaning I had to use the bone colour to shade the teeth).

Basically the teeth look a little bit out of place with the rest of the picture because I had to make compromises to stick within using the three main colours (white, 'bone' and red). I'm still trying to get my head around limited colour palettes - it may have been that this piece wasn't completely suited to such a tight palette.

I appreciate the feedback - this piece was mostly about pushing my lineworking ability re: shading using lines and you picked up on that so I guess it served its purpose.

Tetrunes · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2013 3:38 pm

http://imgur.com/ESKC5DS.jpg

Sketch of a Pathfinder character of mine. I'm hoping i did the helmet alright and I'm wondering if there's something I should do with the mail on the neck to make it seem more realistic before I finish.

General critique welcome, as well, of course.

Dire · **Posted:** Fri Feb 22, 2013 8:05 pm

Of course critique is welcome, this is the bloody art class after all.

Redline

Anyhow, I can see where your guide lines were originally and you got the over all proportions of the head pretty spot on. Forehead needs to slope back a bit more at the top, or else he looks like he's got an enlarged cranium.

The chin could stand to come out a bit more since it's a 3/4 view, eyes and mouth are also portrayed more from a front on angle and need to be adjusted to match the 3/4 view.

The mouth especially causes the lower half of the face to skew to the left (our left).

I haven't drawn much chain mail myself, but I think you'll need to find a better way of representing it, right now the mail looks like it's made of scouring pads.
A series of well placed half circles maybe, place them down in areas you would normally have shading via cross hatching.

Verom · **Posted:** Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:07 am

It's kind of funny, I have the opposite feeling for drawing portraits, I prefer to draw myself over other because I know what I look like and how I like to be drawn, the last thing I want to do is make a person feel bad about them self because I may have exaggerated something about them in a drawing they don't like about themselves.
That said, a self portrait can still easily be critiqued on artistic merit alone, we don't need to know what you actually look like to help with shading, form, and general technique.

also are we started immediately with week one or are we waiting for like monday or something.

Dire · **Posted:** Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:31 am

If you want to start on your picture of Sir Ian, go ahead. I'll start the week officially on Monday. So portraits are due by the Monday after that.

I don't recommend anyone try an get ahead on the rest of the list though. Since I think I'll change a few things.

The Willow Witch · **Posted:** Sat Feb 23, 2013 8:33 pm

Something about this doesn't feel finished http://i.imgur.com/Ra23P2S.png

is there something glaringly obvious that's wrong with this?

edit: I changed some things
http://i.imgur.com/IBaAuqs.png

Eye shines and pearls

Ersatz · **Joined:** Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:52 pm **Posts:** 2278

It might be deliberate, but her eyes look dry (they have no glare). I noticed this tends to make characters look odd/dead.

Dire · **Posted:** Sun Feb 24, 2013 6:32 pm

Yeah, that shine really helps the eyes.

Ok, just something of note. Take care with the posture of the body under the head. Her body was a bit far forward and didn't look like it was in a comfortable position. Also in a 3/4 view the font of the neck should cut it towards the collar bone as opposed to sloping out to the other shoulder.
One last thing, I feel the size of her nose tip was too small in regards to the size of the nostril. It looked even smaller with the little bit of shine on the nose.

The Willow Witch · **Posted:** Sun Feb 24, 2013 9:36 pm

Does everything look sorted out now?

Riku · **Posted:** Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:40 pm

Drawing class starts tomorrow, yes?

Madican · **Joined:** Sun Feb 20, 2011 8:18 pm **Posts:** 13531

Is said drawing class open to complete amateurs? Actually my work would probably be an insult to amateurs.

Is said drawing class open to people whose level of skill can somehow completely mangle a photo-referenced drawing in new and bizarre ways?

Riku · **Posted:** Sun Feb 24, 2013 10:58 pm

It's for everyone. She listed a rough idea of her lesson plan (she also said it's subject to change) a page or so back. I'll try to find it.

Quote:

Week 1.
Portrait of Ian McKellan.
This is a warm up session. Do your best to be accurate to the reference image/s supplied. It'll also be a good gage of where you're at in terms of drafting skill.
Week 2.
Hand studies. I find a lot of people struggle with hands (or feet) So getting people to actually sit down and study what they have difficulty with is a good way of breaking people out of fluffing parts of the figure they have trouble with.
Week 3.
Nude/scantily clad figure studies. Some people only draw heads, or waist up or sometimes just eyes (every high school has one student who paints eyes floating over a fantasy landscape) Lets look at the bodies as a whole.
Week 4.
Animal studies. Sometimes people might draw humans great but everything else they draw sucks. This session is to challenge people to draw something that isn't their RP OC.
Week 5.
Free project. It's best to try and challenge yourself but this is a bit of a breather exercise. Given the nature of the 12 week course I would prefer people go out and draw something from life or reference. Work on your drafting skills.
Week 6.
Self portrait. From a photo or in front of a mirror, take what you've learned from the past few weeks and put it to use. (If you aren't comfortable showing people what you look like you can PM the drawing to me for critique).
Week 7.
Pose maniacs gesture studies. Lets practice our quick draw skills and get a feel for posture and gestures.
Week 8.
Vehicle studies. We've covered a lot of humans and a session of animals. Time to mix it up by drawing machinery.
Week 9.
More figure studies. (Actually I'm thinking of switching this session out for something else. Maybe something that gets everyone thinking about perspectives.)
Week 10.
Nature studies. Plants, landscapes. Lets take a look at the world around us.
Week 11.
Free project time again.
Week 12.
Ian Mckellan again. This is important to see how far we've come after 12 weeks of sketch sessions. I hope that people who struggled initially will have gotten something out of this by the end of the 12 weeks.

AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Art Class: Self Portraits due next Monday

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