Imaginary Faces

[constance6356]

i don't know how to proceed with this, especially with the viel, that i've done so lazily, pure black (ugh...)...and with such hard edges...

the face is imaginary but the hand is mine.

do you paint imaginary faces? do share..

[mariposa-art]

Hey, that is fabulous! I love the skin tones and the modeling of the face. Just beautiful!

I often paint faces from my imagination. It's a lot of fun, but sometimes the faces have a "sameness" to them, so I am doing some studies of faces from reference; hopefully that will help me avoid some of the "sameness" I sometimes get.

Anyway, I'll post a few of my imaginary faces:

[constance6356]

hi Mariposa, thanks for sharing i like the first one with the cool tone. i do agree that sometimes the imagined faces are similar to each other, and sometimes, they reflect your own image or certain features on your own face.

[wagram]

This is a face I made up to use in a class on techniques of the masters last year. The green is deliberate as it only goes to the first session level.

[constance6356]

wagram, care to share the subsequent layers?

[constance6356]

[illastrat]

no reference.

mariposa-art...i would like to see one of your non-reference paintings. I am sure it is AWESOME!

...also, why do you process your paintings in photoshop?

is your avatar one? Just curious. The anatomy is off and the mark making is lacking quite a bit but you have talent! Keep at it.

[nanzicromer]

it is really beautiful! looks like an Asian girls face to me I envy you have such imagination! I always have to paint with an reference

[constance6356]

illastrat (illustration art?), thanks for sharing. it looks full of energy and i admire the bold thick paint applied. usually, i'm not able to use the alla prima style when i'm painting something imaginary.

[constance6356]

nanzicromer, xie xie i wanted to maintain some of 'asian' feel to my works, even on imagined faces and usually i show them through the eyes. Maybe because i myself am a chinese with hooded monolids.

actually, just my opinion, even when we are doing imagined faces/subjects, they are in many ways influenced by what we see in our daily lives and that is why we paint (when based on imaginations) what we know and that leads to why for faces, we usually see the similarities between the painter and the artwork.

[Carcharhinus]

OP I'd love to see a full shot of the image. It looks like it has real promise.

[wagram]

constance6356 I see what I can do for you to illustrate the following layers. In my class I show the first layer and then have the class paint in the second layer etc, so I'll have to make reference layers over the next couple of weeks and will then post.

[constance6356]

unfinished...no ears, no body yet

i've made too many mistakes, maybe it's not worth continuing with this....

[Ron Francis]

I think that's quite beautiful constance.

Here is a face that I made up.
Self portrait.

[constance6356]

self portrait? That's really good. I wouldn't have known where to place the shadows without a reference. is this oil?