Crit my face please

[Nefas]

I'm trying to get the face more realistic.

[Beirot]

yo Nefas,

trying to get that realistic look... respectable goal.

If you're trying to get the face down without always using a ref, skull studies are where its at. Once you get a basic understanding of bone and muscle structure you should be able to draw any face.

But in terms of your image, Its hard to see the bridge of the girls nose. Use values to differentiate that. (maybe its just me but the nose also seems a little small) did you use a ref?
You could also pull out the dark values a little, in terms of shading your light values make the face seem a little flat.

I would also suggest make the skin a little more realistic by detailing. In real life, values don't usually turn that smoothly if that makes sense...
Here is a nice brush pack that can help give you nice skin detailing.... http://danluvisiart.deviantart.com/art/M...-118954791 , the guys also explains how and where he uses his brushes.

... hopefully that helped : )

[adam-brown]

Hey Nefas,

Good job on the face. I agree with Beirot in regards to the anatomy and value changes but not the detail part. I dont think the problem here is detail it is the structure and values. You have a good basis here but you need to work on the areas mentioned above. When you get those parts a bit better you will see a big difference in your work. Think about the details after.

I did a quick paintover on your piece to give you a idea of what I mean. As you can see here I didnt add detail. One other thing I forgot to mention was more consistent lighting. In your piece the light could be a little more defined.

I hope this helps

Cheers
Adam

[Nefas]

i will def be doing some skull studies, and i did not use a ref for this thank you both for your help. I'm trying to push the realism so later I can pull back when I want to add style.

[MissLillyArt]

Another thing to keep in mind when drawing faces is that there are both hard and soft shadows. If you paint everything with a soft airbrush, regardless of the values, it's going to look very mushy. Use a hard brush to start with, block in some really rough shading and then keep refining it, you can always go back and soften it up later and don't add detail until the very end. But it's an awesome start, especially without any reference!

[Awynt]

Adam, I liked the format you used for your paintover, so I stole it mwahahahahaha

I would like to cosign what MissLillyArt said. Start with a harder round brush using the color you want for the darker areas, and then 'bring out' the highlights lighter areas.

Nefas, overall, you have a decent understanding of form and structure. No reference? Not bad! Some more studies of skulls will help you to remember where the bones are and how they affect the skin.

One thing I immediately noticed was the eyeballs. Remember they are a globe, and they will affect how the eyelid 'sits' on them. Studies of eyes of all different ethnicities will help with that. The corners of the mouth are more often than not directly beneath the pupils. I drew a straight line down so you can see what I mean.

The bridge of the nose should be a little more pronounced so that the nose doesn't just sort of sit in the middle of the face. When you show the nose connected to something, it will be more realistic. Again, skull studies will help tremendously. It's Halloween time, so try to find a good realistic skull at one of the Halloween stores! :D

Here is my sketch over. The red lines show where the skin is affected by the underlying bones, muscle, and tissue. The highlighted areas show which areas would be most affected by the bone structure underneath.

Hope this helps!



p.s. Don't worry about style. It will come on its own, organically ;)