Crazy Faced Pot

[AllisonR]

MY IMAGE(S):




GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: Crazy Faced Pot
Year Created:
Medium: Acrylic
Surface: Canvas
Dimension: 20 x 30
Allow digital alterations?: Yes!

MY COMMENTS:
New photo. I have fixed the kids flesh since I posted in Open Critique, where I got no feedback. I added yellow to foreheads and chins, more pinks to the cheeks and ears and more blue-voilot to the shadows. So I think they look a little more life-like now, though not great. I still have a lot to learn.


MY QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
I had the most difficulty making natural flesh. For example, the boys lips were made adding a bit of red to his skin color, but they were too brown. I redid, then they were too orange. I redid, adding a bit of quinachrome red to his skin color, but then he looked like he was wearing lipstick. Then I redid by adding cadmium red to his skin color. Then I did again, adding some darker reds to the co
ers and more pale pink for the highlight. But it still doesn't look real.

Do I need to add more obvious colors to the skin, i.e. more obvious blue-purples in shadows, yellow on foreheads? Or something else? For skin, I used various mixes of raw sienna, bu
t sienna, raw umber and titanium white, with some tiny bits of cadmium yellow, cadmium red and ultramarine blue. I then added a little extra red for cheeks, extra yellow for forehead, extra blue/purple for shadows….

I did not intend to make a hyper realistic painting, but the more I painted, the more it looked like a photo copy. I think is a bit sterile. I am most happy with the person on the right, it is the most loose. I spent the least time on it, but it looks more "painted". The proportions are technically correct, because of the curved surface of the pot, but do they work?

ANY and ALL crits are welcome. How can I improve this painting? What will help me for future paintings?

PLEASE MOVE to structured Critiques.

[lunchbox]

There are so many variations depending on a person's warm or cool undertones. A good flesh color for the lips is burnt sienna mixed with red and a white. Mix a few puddles to experiment. Shadows within the lips can be deepened with brown madder or van dyke brown. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube for added inspiration. Your painting is unique and creative I hope this helps.

[JonRyan92]

Flesh tones are the hardest part of painting people. I love the metallic colors. You did a great job.

[Wassie]

I really like this painting. My only nit-pick is the girl's nostrils with all those little dots. Maybe you want it this way, though.

[Eraethil]

You have done a beautiful job of capturing the reflective surface of the pot. It is convincing. I actually find the strongest part of the painting to be the left side of the pot. Lovely work there, and the loose strokes at the top are especially well done.

I agree with your concerns about it feeling a little bit sterile. I think that you've used quite homogeneous mixtures of paint for each passage of colour. I think you could liven up this painting by being more playful with the colour. For example, the complexions of the kids and the main colours of their shirts are generally two tones of very similar hues.

Another area where you could play more and liven up the image is to play more with the distortions. The top of the boy's head is very interesting; the girl's being cut off is a little distracting; and the photographer's being quite undistorted is perhaps just unexciting.

Overall, I think it is well rendered and has a great sense of humour. Well done.

[henrik]

Fantastic! You should call it "the art critics"

I love the pairing of the noses - one is sort of the inverse of the other, and they are both unrealistic - this is what makes the entire paining IMO - the slightly bent finger adds to the mystery and makes you try to figure out the meaning.

The reason is works so well is that you pulled off the metallic effects so it is clear that the funny noses are intentional

I also like that the woman's head is cut off at the top - like it is inside of something.

I would not mind hanging this on my wall.

Fun!

[loft artist]

I found the Chrome effect superb especially top left on the lid , the comic faces brought a fun element into the painting , a fun painting I enjoyed looking at it .

[crafor]

Coming in way late here, but I like it, too. To me, the girl is the center of interest, throwing her head back and "making a face" to be distorted by the pot. The camera person is an unexpected element. It is a fun painting, and you did well. I'll echo the comments of others re the chrome pot: It's exceptionally well done. What colors did you use, for what areas?
Good job.
Ella

[crafor]

Sorry, I see I shouldn't have posted here as I'm not registered. Please delete.
Ella

[AllisonR]

Why should you not post in crit forum? All members can post here, as long as following the guidelines.

What colors in what areas is sort of insane. I'm not trying to be rude but it is really not possible to answer - who knows - a lot - I used a grey underpainting, then multiple layers of paint of multiple mixed colors - palette of warm and cool of each yellow, red and blue, plus a violet and a green and some earth colors, and tit and zinc white. I also added quin magenta and medium magenta to the palette - specifically because her outfit was so magenta.

[thevaliantx]

The one thing sticking out to me is the left side of the pot. There doesn't appear to be enough separation of the pot from the area surrounding it. As my eyes move down the left side of the pot, the pot almost seems to lose its shape.

Another concern is the metallic aspect of the pot's rim isn't finished. Just after the distorted reflection, the rim no longer seems to be metallic.

I LOVE how the girl's fingers seem to be reaching to the outside world from the reflection.

[Polygon]

I love this! I don't think I'd change anything about it. I don't think you should worry about making the skin perfectly lifelike, it's plenty close and I love the cartoonish element to it, making it too lifelike would not improve the painting and may worsen it.

Great composition, interesting subject matter, great use of light and dark, and colour too. I really like it.

[LynnDigby]

This is a very cool piece! I love the humor and the handling of the surface. I didn't for one second think the color was off. I think you pulled the whole thing off admirably!

But, since you mentioned your struggles with skin color, I thought I'd weigh in. NOBODY has the exact same way of working with skin tone, and the environment dictates what color it is, in any case. If the skin is in warm light, it's warm, etc.

I did notice you are using a pile of colors, though. I think it might be good to simplify and restrict yourself to just a few and see where they take you. JMO. Add others only in unusual circumstances.

I use (and get criticized for using) 5 colors as my basic skin tone palette. Ivory Black (a sin, apparently), Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Cad Red Medium, and Burnt Sienna. I tone the canvas with burnt sienna or cad red, then paint most of my portraits using the above colors. Sometimes I toss in Naples Yellow because I'm too lazy to mix an approximation.

Hinting at greens - Black and yellow ochre
Hinting at blues - Black and white

Granted, painting a painting like this on that has a lot of different colors requires a wider palette than the above. But what the above palette seems to give me is control over most skin tone issues. It sounds extreme, but the limitations are actually making it easier to learn how these pigments interact and how to use them to manipulate skin tones.

I've been called crazy over this, BTW.

But, if you want to explore, give it a shot one day.