Dan
 

I am posting these reference photos for critique. This portrait could be made either a professional portrait (engineer) or a more informal portrait. Do any of these look like they are on the right track?

Second photo

Third photo

Fourth (and last) photo

Hi Chuck,

I like the 4th one the most. It is more informal, casual and he seems more relaxed.

I think you should ask his preference too because some people view themselves a cetain way. This is especially if it is a commission.

Hello Chuck,

The first three are a bit stiff. It appears that you attempted to take these photos in low light with the camera hand held. This is tough to do. If you don't have a tripod try resting the camera on a chair back or lean yourself against a wall. Even at that it's a hit and miss when you get below a 30th of a second on your shutter speed.

The last photo shown has a more appealing, comfortable expression but has two problems that I see. First the hand, this is not a good place to cut the hand off, a bit of a faux pas. Secondly, the angle you have chosen is a bit too high above the subject. Sometimes you just have to bend your knees and get down there to eye or just below eye level.

I hope you don't mind, I took your last shot and diddled with it. I love these compositional puzzles. If I only had these four pic's to work from I would do something like below. Just one guys take, good luck.

Hi Josef,

Thanks for your comments.

Dan had a slight preference for a more formal pose in the coat and tie, as in the second photo. But his expression in the portrait is more important to him. He would like the sort of "alert and likeable" expression he has seen in other portraits. I think the fourth photo captures this the best. When he was in a formal pose, he looked almost painfully uncomfortable; the ones I posted were the best of many tries. I would be able to go back for another photo session if I think I can get a better reference.

Hello Mike,

Thank you for your response. I like what you did with the photo. I forgot to say "digital demonstration OK" and I'm glad you went ahead.

I did take a photo that was at a little lower angle and a bit more zoomed out. I posted the other because I liked the expression a bit better.

Chuck,

If you go back for more tries maybe you can combine the suit and tie with an more relaxed pose. I think this combination can be very effective.

I would also encourage you to find a more controlled environment, possibly your home or his, but somewhere where you feel comfortable and feel that you are doing "portrait work" not computer work. I have places that I go back to time and time again. I think this gives the client a sense that you take your mission very seriously.

Create a scene that suggests your vision from edge to edge (should be done before your client arrives). Make it your goal to create a suitable photographic portrait, foreground, background, and in between. And then within this environment you can alter your pose. Do the suit, then do a lelaxed type in a sweater (not the business shirt buttoned up).

This guy has an interesting face, could make a nice portrait. Oh yes, get a tripod, you can find them at Wal-Mart for not much money.

And then if you really get bored you can read this post:

http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...=&threadid=958

Mike,

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I will work on incorporating them in the next photo session. Thanks also for pointing me to the thread on camera techniques for taking reference photos.

I was trying to use his computer area to indicate his work, but computers are so general-purpose that they don't evoke any particular profession. It doesn't say "engineer," much less "mathematical optimization of system architecture for nationwide telecommunication networks." :)

The cart before the horse approach
 

Chuck,

I see by your bio that you want to take portraiture seriously. If that is so, you have to do all the serious study a field like this entails.

You obviously are an educated and intelligent man, not afraid of hard and dedicated work.

I would suggest you review the suggestions I made in the thread "Critiques and Anger; a Lethal Mix".

Roberta Carter Clark has an excellent book called "How to Paint Living Portraits". I would suggest you do that from A to Z. Do not use color until you have mastered form. Then get Daniel Greene's drawing tape, next his painting tape.

I would prefer to see your next post be a study of a head from life, not just another rendering of a photo.

Sincerely,

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I am serious about improving, and will do whatever work I need to to accomplish this. I will look into all your suggestions.

I do not have a painting from life; I am attaching a drawing I recently did from life. I can see the same issues that were brought up about my painting in the Oil Critiques section: I handicapped myself from the start with frontal and non-directional lighting, and did not use the cues remaining to render the full three-dimensional form of the overall head. This in turn contributed to drawing problems: the hair looks flat, the forehead is too flat, she looks cross-eyed, and the edge of her face on our right comes out too far.

"Normal" lighting
 

I am just realizing how much my unconscious idea of what constitutes "normal" lighting has been influenced by the years I've spent in rooms lit by arrays of ceiling-mounted fluorescent fixtures. I had come to take this as my default lighting when rendering drawings, even despite the actual lighting conditions. I wonder if future generations will wonder why old paintings always showed people in dark closets.

Good Beginning!
 

Chuck,

That is an very nice initial drawing. Consider it your first tiny step.

You have much to learn before you can hang out your shingle. I would not even consider doing commissions right now. That would be really jumping the gun. Give yourself several serious years or more of intensive study before you handicap yourself.

I see much too much dreadfull commissioned work done before the artists are ready. I have done that also and I wish I could burn those canvases.

Being an accommplished artist is not a race. Approach this a not wanting to be a portrait artist, but wanting to be the best artist you can be.

You did not get your first position based on your experience with a toy chemistry set from Toys 'R Us.

Sincerely,

Hi Sharon,

Thank you for your advice. I will have to consider it carefully; I would be a fool to simply ignore the advice of an artist as successful and experienced as you, as hard as it may be for me to hear it. It is a little late to not begin, but I will have to think about what retrenching or stopping would mean at this point. I suppose putting "the cart before the horse," as you put it in an earlier post, comes naturally to me; I worked successfully as an engineer for fifteen years before I ever took an engineering class.

Chuck,

Ironically, so did my brother-inlaw. It is never too late to pursue something you love even if it is only part time. Life should not be wasted on regrets or what ifs.

Look 5 years down the line and see what you would like to be doing. Portrait art is a very competitve business, and takes 5 to 10 years after you have mastered your craft to get somewhat established.

I am now doing my own work which I will post soon.

Good luck on whatever direction you decide to take.

Sincerely,