Look what the Sonoran wind just blew in!

[JosephCow]

Yeah his skin is very flawless. But it is very nice work! Congrats on that, hope you get more work from it!

[cgmythology]

Great job on the recent portrait, the skin is handled flawlessly! Love the subtle texture work as well, especially on the beard. Keep up the great work!

[Jephyr]

Jephyr that piece is ridiculously taking me by surpris.Not what i was exepecting.

One question i have does he have that baby skin or is this a personal choose?

I think a bit of wrinkle and beauty mark would give the finaly touch if he as any.

Otherwise i am floored.

Thanks so much Dark!  

He is very young in spite of the lack of hair up top and isn't really lined but I looked into brushes that Krita has and watched a few videos about adding texture to skin that will really help with future efforts

Thanks again

[Jephyr]

Thank you too JC!

As I wrote to Dark I learned a lot about adding skin texture after reading both your comments which will really help for future portraits.

Thanks again!

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Thanks so much George!  His beard and hair were why I wanted to paint him in the first place and I did learn a ton.

BTW — I went w a friend to where he works and he walked in and had SHAVED OFF HIS BEARD.

At first I wondered if he hated my portrait so much that he took it off — but he explained he had a job interview.  : )

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Thanks to all of you again.

So I finished a new portrait commission.  This one had some interesting lighting to deal with and a good challenge with that jacket.


Haven't shared this with his mom yet — hope she likes it  : )




And a look at a few steps along the way




I came across an older light caricature portrait I was working on of a UK politician who was involved in some kind of scandal and was photographed leaving court.

I really love his 'haunted' expression and those LINES — unless I get too busy I think this will be the next one I finish




Thanks for lookin' in.

Ciao Daggers

[darktiste]

You did a genius move and applied the feedback not everyone would have it it seem to pay off big time.

You really capture the youthful joyfulness of that little creature i am sure is mom will be please.

You got a nice contrast between the youth and the old.A perfect series to revisit rendering those juicy skin texture.

A face is like a story you really capture their story and you don't even have to add a twist to it.

I like how you used the blur tool to create some contrast in the detail of the texture or maybe it just as you hinted you didn't finish it but i think actually i already work pretty well.

You could certainly learn to dive into the ''less is more'' kinda approach being a bit more loose and playing around with that concept.I am saying this in contrast to the more ''hyper realistic vibe'' that have emerge recently in this sketchbook...

[Jephyr]

Hi Daggers,

Thanks very much, Dark — I really appreciate the encouraging feedback!

His mom did like her son's portrait — so that was good news.

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Although I did add more polish on my final most recent light caricature (you'll find below) — I did leave some of that looseness you suggested.  

Usually I go over every area and make sure I've refined everything to a high degree — but leaving some looseness made it more fun.

I also found when sharing that last portrait of Emilio — that several people asked if it was a photo or a digital painting — so if people just think it's a photo — it kinda defeats the purpose of all that work.

So I'll definitely keep working at a 'less is more' kind of approach — so thanks again, Dark.

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Anywho — here's today's offering:  My digital painting/'light caricature' of UK politician Kim Howells  (based on a news photo of him leaving court a few years ago). 




Thanks for looking into my corner of the Dagger's whirled : )

Ciao fer now

[darktiste]

If i was to study the concept of less is more i would look into speed painting .It the closest thing that as the initial intent of being able to drive you around with less yet still hook you by it boldness, the expressiveness,it storyline etc... it strenght is to force you to use all the fundamental in a minimalic way into something that pack a punch.

Studying how to create the focal point and how to make ''visual check point'' to move the eye accross the composition is also a key to reducing the workload i believe.

I think you could also do some study using a photo bashing approach because it force you to manage noise and to simplify and since light is already present in those picture sometime it force an awareness of light and shadow because photo often have to be adjusted to fit a scene. When you scale something down you loose pixel and that mean you loose detail but still need to make it read.The photo bashing path deal more with how fast can i steal something pre existing and transmute.The speed painting portion deal more with is there more tool i could use outside of those that i use that could give me more?

Obviously the domain where i would say the concept of less is more is best exemplified is busy environment focus painting due to the share quantity of detail you would have to insert in the work if you didn't have trick to ''force the viewer'' to look where you want it to look.

One of the thing i find interesting is when you have to deal with large number of object that repeat in a scene like tree or people how do artist manage to simplify large crowd of people or what trick they have up there sleeve to fill a scene with tree.
 
The idea is that even if speed painting or environnement aren't your cup of tea they deal with certain problem that still occur outside of those specific art scenario.It just that in those area of ''art'' they are ''force to be creative'' in the less or more departement which can be translate into a skill that can be use anywhere else in other field of visual art.

[cgmythology]

Really nice updates here, the skin for the politician you recently painted is very detailed, natural, and convincing. Great job!