10-19-2015, 06:31 AM
A lot of these portraits have a very nice energy to them. However, you should seriously consider the criticism aforementioned with values. I struggle with this as well. Think about how the light will hit the object, and try to view the face as a piece of still life. Consider skull studies and asaro heads as well. Try to understand how the skull sits in space and how the planes sit on the basic structure of the skull. Additionally understand how to shade basic objects from various light sources. Try to find patterns and try to be able to replicate those patterns onto those simple objects with various light sources from memory.
Then, once you have the planes of the skull memorized by rote or by testing and fixing along with a basic understanding of light, try tackling portraits with reference and try to apply what you've learned. What I found has been helping me out a lot recently is if I push the core shadow (the second darkest dark of the shadow family, behind the occlusion shadow) located in between the light and shadow family to be a little darker. This tends to give my portraits a little more solidity.
This is honestly something I should do as well. Cheers!
Then, once you have the planes of the skull memorized by rote or by testing and fixing along with a basic understanding of light, try tackling portraits with reference and try to apply what you've learned. What I found has been helping me out a lot recently is if I push the core shadow (the second darkest dark of the shadow family, behind the occlusion shadow) located in between the light and shadow family to be a little darker. This tends to give my portraits a little more solidity.
This is honestly something I should do as well. Cheers!