asian black and white portrait

[caligula]

this is my first gouache portrait. http://www.69alpha.com/sketchbook/gouacheman.jpg

[AndrewLey]

Quite nice and expressive - not much to crit

[Arctis]

Nice contrast. However there's some issues :
- composition is bad : the head is too big, so it's cut on the bottom. Make a clear choice : if you show the whole head, add space on every sides around, to make the comp breath ; if you want a close up,then compose it in order to keep only the eyes and the mouth, for ex. but you can't make 2 choices at the same time.
- Upper lip need to be defined : it disturbs completely the perception of the whole mouth, though the bottom lips seems fine.
- Same thing for the nose : look closer at you ref, and you'll see that a nose is attached to the rest of the face, not just put on it.
-Same thing for the ear.
- his left eye is a bit too big, and too high

[jermainevl]

I guess Actis sums it all up really, about the crits. How big is this piece, I wonder? On what kind of surface/material did you paint this? I'm just curious... I've never worked with gouache myself before.

[caligula]

wow thanks for the crits! it helps!


this piece is approx 6x6 and painted on bristol.

[vcoleman]

sometimes it is too tempting to get stiff and chunky with gouache. If you can water it down and then build opacity up its easier to keep the painting clean and establish alot more depth.