Depicting Correct Age in Children

[Leslie M. Ficcaglia]

Since things are relatively quiet, I'll throw this one out. Sometimes in completing a portrait of a child I have trouble achieving the appearance of his or her exact age. The likeness will be good, but the child looks slightly older than he or she really is, for example, six instead of four, or three instead of two. I can usually get the age down to the proper level by playing with the portrait, but I'm never sure exactly how I do it. I'm not talking about the obvious features such as high forehead, full cheeks, and small chin, but something else that seems a lot subtler. Ideas?

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Leslie M. Ficcaglia
Minnamuska Creek Studio
Portrait Gallery at http://www.igc.org/mauriceriver/riverpeople.html

[Electra]

I'm working on a portrait of my daughter, who is 6. One of the things in Roger's lesson on portraiture is that the lower the eyeline in the head, the younger the child. Maybe this is what you're looking for?

[bruin70]

leslie,,,,chances are, you're paying too much attention the shadows. probably too dark. and that will make the little tyke look like gary coleman. don't follow the photo. lighten the shadows on the face. you have to keep it clean. can you post your image ....i will show you....milt

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"he who thinks he know all and knows nothing is king in a kingdom of one,,,,,or a critic" - the kobe

[Leslie M. Ficcaglia]

Originally posted by bruin70:
leslie,,,,chances are, you're paying too much attention the shadows. probably too dark. and that will make the little tyke look like gary coleman. don't follow the photo. lighten the shadows on the face. you have to keep it clean. can you post your image ....i will show you....milt


Milt -
I don't have any pending that I'm struggling with, but two of the portraits on my site were a challenge. The child on the left in Treesome is about four, and I had to work to make her look that young (the scan doesn't quite do her justice because it changed the eyes, no matter what I did!) And the child in On the Beach looked a little older at first; she's six. Her father was fine with the initial offering but her aunt felt that I had made her look too old. My changes satisfied her.

To respond to Electra's suggestion as well, once the obvious features such as forehead are taken care of, for me it seems as though the definitive areas are the outline of the face around the cheek area, and the definition around the eyes. Young children seem to be fuller around the jawline, and more delicate around the eye sockets. Wondered what you others would think.
Leslie


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Leslie M. Ficcaglia
Minnamuska Creek Studio
Portrait Gallery at http://www.igc.org/mauriceriver/riverpeople.html

[bruin70]

looks like you did a good job on the kids. the boy on the left is fine. the boy in the center and the girl,,,,,,,lighten the shadows. like under the boy eyes,,,,dimples,,,,etc...any dark values on a chid's face will make them look older. so you will have to adjust for a harsh photo. the little girl's lips look too dark ,,,,like lipstick,,,makes her look older......milt

[tony]

That's a really nice gallery that you have, Leslie. I think that you do a really good job with the children. The suggestions that you recommended are right-on too.

Another suggestion (not necessarily for you) is that the child's eye to face proportion is larger than an adult's.

I found this online image by artist Viatcheslav Likhatchev. While he uses a different style than yours, I think its a really good example of a child portrait... or any portrait. His drawing really comes to life from his use of line weights.
http://www.geocities.com/slava.geo/art_port3.htm



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http://www.wednesdayportrait.com

[Leslie M. Ficcaglia]

Originally posted by tony:

I found this online image by artist Viatcheslav Likhatchev. While he uses a different style than yours, I think its a really good example of a child portrait... or any portrait. His drawing really comes to life from his use of line weights.
http://www.geocities.com/slava.geo/art_port3.htm


Tony, you're right, that's a lovely portrait of a child - winsome is the word - although something about the line of her right cheek (right for her, not the viewer) bothers me.

Thanks for the compliment. The pictures on my site are finished works and I put them up because I felt that they were good examples of what I do, but I wondered whether any other portrait painters had run into the same challenge I found while working on a few of them!
Leslie



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Leslie M. Ficcaglia
Minnamuska Creek Studio
Portrait Gallery at http://www.igc.org/mauriceriver/riverpeople.html

[henrik]

Recognize the problem - my first portrait of a child (nephew) was a struggle; I painted from a photo and he was about 4-5 years old. I did ok on the features and placement of eyes, nose, shape of head, but the shading.... I repainted *many* times and he alternated between a 70 year old midget and looking flat like a snoopy character. At some point I would like to paint portraits of my daughters, but I am not sure I want to go through the same ordeal again. This thread looks promising...

[Leslie M. Ficcaglia]

Henrik, I do all of my portraits from photographs - usually from pictures I've taken of the subject, unless they're deceased. I started using photos because it was the only way to capture that fleeting expression which gives a picture life. But before I started painting I spent most of my life sketching from live subjects, at meetings or wherever I had the time and the raw material. Maybe you've done that too, but if not, I'm thinking that you might literally find new dimensions in your work if you tried it before your next child portrait. Sketch your kids while they're watching television or sleeping - any time they're relatively immobile. It might give you a good sense of the mass behind the facial features and head shape.
Leslie

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Leslie M. Ficcaglia
Minnamuska Creek Studio
Portrait Gallery at http://www.igc.org/mauriceriver/riverpeople.html

[sasha]

This aritist does some pretty wonderful children...thought some of you here might enjoy him.... http://www.gandynet.com/art/Masters/Allan_Banks/index.htm