Couple oil paintings

[Noah Bradley]

Hi ya'll. My name's Noah Bradley, and I haven't posted a thing in ages. But hopefully that'll change soon.

Anywho, I just finished up my first painting class at the local community college, and have got two paintings out of it that I'm quite happy with.

Here's a self-portrait I did, in-class. Around 2 hours, 18x24"
http://www.noahbradley.com/selfportrait.jpg

This is my final project. It's based off a photo, and it's of me and my dad (when I was a little bit younger). 12-16 hours, 22x28"
http://www.noahbradley.com/goodfather.jpg

I'd appreciate some good, honest critiques on things to work on in the future. I don't think I'll go back into either of these paintings again, but there's always a chance. Thanks.

(Oh, and sorry for the shoddy photography... yeah.)

[jrr]

you need to use some bigger brushes and work on your drawing and porportions alittle more. don't lose your drawing as you're painting. painting has to be more than just filling the canvas with paint, before you start your painting take a few moments and figure out what makes the painting interesting and have that in your mind as you paint (this will probably change as your painting comes along), this helps the consistency of the painting.

[rasdasa]

Fully agree with JRR, in specific(for example) look at your dads lower leg and how short it it compared with the upper leg. The lower leg should stretch back further to his butt. Also, the ankle can't really bend quite as far as you've made it, and the break/edge at the back of it simply doesn't exist in real life. But, even though that pose is off anatomically you did capure the balance and weight quite well.

ras

[MCMA]

On brushstrokes, a wise person here on CA reminded me it's nice to sometimes go across the form as opposed to along the form.