Watercolour portrait, looking for suggestions

[Iuvien]

So I finally had the courage to try what I always wanted to try: a portrait. Because I'm a chicken I did a monochrome one :P



It's 24x32cm, on 300g/m2 Hahnemühle Britannia, I inherited my colours so I don't know what company they are. I did a lot of graphite portraits in the past but no watercolour ones, so I'm happy about suggestions to improve upon this. I don't consider it done quite yet, but I'm now at a stage where I'm not quite sure anymore what to improve. I tried to consciously watch my soft/lost edges for the first time but I have the feeling I could make it a bit more realistic still, I just don't know how.

Thank you for any comments and critique or just watching

P.S. I had a photo for reference but I wasn't trying to make it a 100% copy.

[pjartwc]

A very nice first portrait. Your drawing is excellent. My main concern is that you have her facial features too perfect. Take a look at your reference. Is there color in the white portion of the eyes? Do the eyebrows have little hairs protruding and are there different values within? Look at the mouth. In the reference, is it perfect? Or, are there areas where the lips and face merge? Look at the reference ear? Does it resemble yours? You did an excellent job on her hair! I think what I'm trying to say is to really look at your reference.

[WthrLady]

I like it. Her ear needs work though. I know the intent was to show hair tucked behind it, but it looks as though the ear is on a stalk and then elfin shaped, while the rest of her face is stunning.

[Mike3839]

I'll have to agree with Caryl about the ear. Aside from that this painting is outstanding and full of life, her eyes are especially penetrating and entrancing. Wonderful work.

Mike

[sidbledsoe]

Because I'm a chicken

you don't to be a chicken anymore .

[Iuvien]

Thank you everyone for helping me out Jan, you are right, I have a tendency to make stuff too clean. Mike and Caryl you are right about the ear, the elfin comment made me giggle. The ear was a bit too small at first, so I tried to make it bigger, but couldnt really lift enough colour anymore. I wanted to put single hairs over it, but I'm scared I won't get them thin enough and it might look weird. I got the same problem with the eyebrows. There are single hairs that aren't as dark, but I'm scared when it dries that I will get hard edges that are darker, which might draw attention I don't want.

I think I will work some more on the ear without being too scared that I will overdo it and fix the eyebrows. Then I'll try to look at the eyeballs. I flipped the picture every now and then to see if I'm far off on lines and values, but I still don't really control the watercolour as much as I'd like, it can be quite daunting!

[querin]

Doing well the shadow on the left eye is distrating not sure where that would be coming from and yes the ear The white if the eye's need color

[Iuvien]

I struggled so much with that line left of her eye, because I couldnt make my mind up between a very soft edge that looked wrong and a very hard edge that looked wrong as well. This is where I am at now:



Added more colour to the eyes, went over the chin, tried to fix the ear, darkened her hair more, addded single strands and added some more eyelashes (that weren't done before) and some single hairs to the eyebrows. I feel it's 96% done, but the paper is starting to act a bit odd now, I think I might have touched the paper too much or something. (some shapes in the background where the colour lifted oddly)

It's really hard to find the time to stop something you worked so long on, I'm still giddy that I finally dared to make a portrait now though and once I played enough with some colour and stalked this forum more, maybe I'll try the next

[CreativelyMe]

Wow, I think it looks beautiful. I thought so with it at first and now it is really wow with all your touch ups and redo's. Love it! I haven't tried a portrait yet. Scared to try also.

[WthrLady]

IF AND ONLY IF this were MY painting, which it is not, I would remove the ear.

I'd lighten/lift the hair all the way up to the part and then down to the midpoint on her neck, including the ear and then paint the hair again covering the ear area. It would then be a loose pulled back style. OC I would be terrified of the whole time, but I'd try it anyway.

Not only is the ear still off, I'm finding it distracting from her face, which I LOVE. Take a scrap of paper and cover it in hair and lay it over that area I'm talking about and step back and look at it. It makes her face pop!

Good luck with whatever you choose

[tommyjav]

Such a beautiful face! You painted it very well!
Tommy

[kayakartist]

I think it is absolutely beautiful...can't quit looking at the ear, only because so much talk about it. Ears aren't esp. attractive at best...I might try Caryl's suggestion, but in any case it is gorgeous!

[Lowe]

Very nice

For me, I would tweak her mouth. Since the face is at a kind of three quarter angle perspective, her mouth would not be visible as face on. The side farthest from the view would be foreshortened sightly. In fact a straight line from the corner of her mouth up to her eye falls in the corner of her eye on one side and to the centre of her pupil on the other side. I would change this slightly so the corner of the mouth lines up with the eyes equally.

Hope that makes sense. It is only my opinion and it is a very nice picture in any event

[Mayberry]

Absolutely gorgeous! The eyes, nose, mouth, ear all look beautiful and very well done. And the modeling of the skin and hair is delicate and lovely. I agree with Lowe about the mouth though. It doesn't seem to curve around her head quite enough. I think maybe her right eye needs to be a bit more in shadow too. The white of the eye looks a bit too white for being on the darker side of her face. Her neck seems a bit abstract and flat, though it's not really noticable because the face is so well done. I also like the color you chose for the monochrome.

[Celia Blanco]

Beautiful portrait of a beautiful girl. I like the touch ups you've done, even the ear. Nice combination of soft and hard edges.