First painting of Jesus

[Ravenwind]

Hello everybody,

This is my first time posting at the forums. I must say, it's a fantastic website and I really enjoy looking at the art on here. Further more, this is a digital painting I made of Christ, which I felt spiritually inspired to create. In fact this is my very first time drawing the Lord in any way, No references were used when drawing this, It all came from my head. I began by drawing his portrait on a small piece of paper, then proceeded to paint it in Photoshop, finally changing the size and making it larger. Before it was stretched so I made sure the porportions were correct.

I do however realize that he is looking to the left, and I could have made stare at something, and yet I did not choose to do that, but next time I'll have to think about it.

This summer, I will create more religious paintings, most likely on Canvas instead of the computer.

[Kaete]

References are good, though. :) For instance, your Jesus's hair is a little wonky - it looks like a 3/4 view of hair, while his face is in full profile. This is a style popular for Fabio-type romance novels, but not often seen elsewhere. His nostril and the connection between his nose and upper lip are small and wonky, which could be easily fixed with references.

Also, you should paint things at the largest size you want them to be. It's almost always safer to paint large and shrink smaller. Don't paint something small and blow it up as you final process. At our current technology the picture will always look blown up and grainy.

I'm glad you're going to work on a series of religious paintings during the summer! Spiritual work that is near to your heart can make for some very interesting artwork. And doing lots of them will only help increase your skill. :)

[JAG.]

Kaete gives good advice..

also, the work isnt terrible, the beard plays well and the expression is nice too. but the skin tone is too pink-ish.. and the hair looks red.

to reiterate, plane ahead next time for image size and back ground. and yes refferences will help greatly. and they dont necessarily have to be refs of Jesus, just the male head and figure in general. - JAG

[Ravenwind]

Thanks very much for your critique guys, you are right in saying I need fixing of the nose and the hair I agree is too red. What happened though was I used the dodge tool over the burned spots so as to give off that affect by accident. In anycase, it's always important to draw figures, especially if I want to be a professional Illustrator.

Thanks again

KF

[tomwaits4noman]

i would agree with the others but would like to add something else which may or may not be helpful, (in my mind at least) when dealing with an iconic figure such as Jesus who has been the subject of countless paintings you need to do something different - I feel your piece is quite traditional in approach to the subject matter it would be nice to approach the subject matter from a different angle while still being faihful to the spirit of the subject.

Granted with such as iconic subject matter as Jesus people can be offended if your approach is too radical - which is not what I am suggesting.

YOu could say focus on Jesus in isolation, he always struck me as someone who felt isolated from the world ( often what he preached was rejected, mocked- carrying such a burden)

I guess in short it would be nice to inject some emotion into the subject matter.

[elsolo00]

hehe, hes not black enuff. otherwise its pretty good. i would make it a little sharper tho, it looks blurry.