self portrait

[cwec03]

this is my first self portrait, and life drawing, done in graphite from a mirror

http://img54.photobucket.com/albums/v165/cwec03/self_portrait_from_life.jpg

[cwec03]

i am very new at this, please some critiques, even insults ... i'll take anything

[sweijenberg]

Please keep in mind that I am in no way an experienced graphical artist, but I will try to give some suggestions here. Also for me it would be very usefull to get corrected.

1. As the picture was loading, down to the nose for me everything seemed pretty good. The mouth is the weakest point of the drawing for me. You might try not ot outline the lips.

2. There are too many lines, and alltogether too little contrast. If I squint at the image there is actually very little contrast, and the darker area you defined does not support the shape of the head very much. You could simply try to look closer and compare better with the life example, but probably the better way is to find tutorials on simplified head drawing, constructed by planes or basic forms (cube, cylinder, sphere) Coming back on too many lines, you might want to try and use simply white as a value too, and if you shade, try to bring structure to your lines - either make them parallel, or have them follow the shape. If you have them random, they can easily deform your shapes, or distract attention from the intended form. There is this famous drawing by Durer, http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/images/picture95.jpg which shows shading describing form very well...only this pic is too small to show it, except a bit on the sleeves. You might be able to find a better pic yourself.

It also doesnt help your drawing that you stopped over to the left, so the head and especially neck look thin.

I want to repeat though that everything above the mouth is pretty good, it's mainly the lower part of the image that weakens it. Did you digitally fiddle around with it, btw? :)

Most imortant advice I can give you is, dont give up, the more you draw the better you'll get. Look at alot of other artists, read alot of stuff, here you have found an excellent place.

Greetings,

Sietse-Jan

Edit: much better link, first one is pretty useless

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/d/durer/2/11/3/

[Robert.B]

i think you should loosen up more your to literal with you line quality.





http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22268

[emperor_boy]

The lips could use less of an outline, and you should probably concentrate on better pencil control. But the eyes are nice and intense, even if they aren't technically great.