portrait of 3 children

[carolinekatie]

MY IMAGE(S):







GENERAL INFORMATION:
Title: portrait of 3 children
Year Created: 2006
Medium: Oil
Surface: Canvas
Dimension: 10 x 12
Allow digital alterations?: Yes!

MY COMMENTS:
This is going to have 3 boys, one on either side of the brown-haired boy

MY QUESTIONS FOR THE GROUP:
I was hoping for any advice on how to make these boys more realistic looking. The reference photo shows the boy on the right as having dark hair and eyes, but he is actually very light blonde and blue-eyed. The boy in the middle, brown hair and brown eyes.

[carolinekatie]

Here is the updated picture as of tonight. ANY help is always appreciated - thank you!!

[weera]

hi carolinekatie

good job! what's paper source did you use , I like it's texture. I'm a new for painting but I see your update that you add a little dark to these boy , I think you should add some more and stress on the right boy's front hair .

[carolinekatie]

Hi! Thanks for the help, ok, I will try that tomorrow, thank you. The paper is actually a very cheap canvas that I bought and it does seem to have quite a lot of texture. The nicer ones I bought were smoother, but it does give an interesting look doesn't it?

[nafa]

Your porttriats look flat because you have not correctly sculpted the facial planes with the correct value. Most notably, you need to darken the areas under the eyes, next to the nose bridge, under the cheekbone etc. Correct values are critical to realistic portraits.

There are also quite a number of inaccuracies in the facial features. For example, the younger boy's head is too wide relative to the length. For the older boy, you have maintained the tilt angle for the face and mouth as the reference, but changed the angle (more horizontal) for the eyes and nose.

[carolinekatie]

Thank you, I really appreciate the advice, but do you happen to know if there is a tutorial on here somewhere or elsewhere that I could read and follow to try and learn how to fix these issues? I am fairly new to painting, and when I darken tones they tend to look dirty etc. If you could point me in the right direction, (even a book I should read etc.) I would really appreciate it. I really do want to improve!

[Nayana]

nice start, feels like it needs more shadow, the boy on the right fades into the background a bit.

[Gavinart]

I cannot see the values based on the drawings -- I feel you should darken the background as to find your value scale

[Likestodraw]

This site has some very good insturction available for you. What works is milage. A simple rule to follow for depth is, Darkest darks to lighest lights. That is what turns a corner, or makes things stand out. If you squint your eyes and the picture goes away, it aint dark e nuff. If your colors are looking dirty you might be mixing too many together. Another simple rule is don't mix more then 3 colors together, or you'll get mud. Try to work from a very good sketch to a value study (one color) then block in the detail with color then to finish. Keep after it!

[carolinekatie]

OK, yes, thank you - that is so helpful - I am going to go back to work on this tonight and darken the background and then start over on just these tonal ideas. It might take a few weeks, but then I will post what I come up with. Thank you all so much, I really appreciate you guys taking the time to help.
Caroline

[carolinekatie]

I know it isn't perfect, but she needed it, so this was the best I could do - I tried to change the background and tonal values as best as I could - what do you think? For future painting knowledge?
Thanks!
Caroline

[mkillough]

This is your first portrait! It is much better than I could have done.

I am learning to mix colors, and this week I finally learned how to darken a color by using it's complement.
Example: to darken a peachy flesh you add a tiny dab of blue. To darken a pink; you would add a tiny dab of green.
Use whatever color is opposite the color you want to darken on the color wheel. If you want to darken yellow; look across the colorwheel and see what color is there.... purple. So you would darken yellow with a tiny dab of purple.

[carolinekatie]

Oh wow, that is a great tip - no wonder my colours kept looking "dirty"! I was using brown to darken everything and it just didn't look clean and fresh anymore. Thank you so much, I am going to go practice that right now.
Caroline

[Dreamcatcherrr4U]

Hello Carolinekatie,

Well, I cannot believe this is your first portrait. What an extra unbelievable painting. I liked your painting before your changes.

The eyes of your boys were closer to the pic. Just darker highlights in the boy's hair, more shadows under and around the boy on the right side.

Cannot wait to see your final portrait. Great job !!!

~ Dreamer *.*

[Dreamcatcherrr4U]

Hi again Carolinekatie,

Here is a website that you can read F.Y.I. Skin tones for painting.

http://studioproducts.com/demo/palettxt.html

Let me know if this takes you to the correct page.

Hope in the future you can give me some help on painting portraits as well.

Good luck,

~ Dreamer *.*