|
Hello Leslie,
I didnt know what Meg Ryan looks like, so I did a web search and found some pictures of her. I wasn't able to conclude how good a likeness this is, because what I was able to see was sufficiently different in lighting and other respects that I wasn't able to form a judgement. But what struck me is that it resembles the young Faye Dunaway. But as you've noted, these "star" portraits are difficult to do from photos. I did an Elvis about ten years ago, and my brother asked me if it was a self-portrait. I got even with him by telling him that, no, it wasn't a self-portrait, it was actually a portrait of him!
Echoing what Steven said, there are a lot of things to like about this painting. For one thing, it looks proportionately fairly good as far as the drawing is concerned. The treatment of the eyes is pretty sophisticated, with the high values in the iris' opposite the reflected highlight off the cornea, although I think she would benefit from some shadow below the eyelids on the whites of the eyes. The edges of the hair against the background are softer than what is frequently seen in peoples early posts, so it looks as though you've been paying attention to that.
I think the direct frontal lighting in the photo you're working from makes this one very difficult. You might try bringing up the values on the tip and bridge of the nose and on the cheekbones and forehead to bring these forward, and lower the values on the sides of the head to make them recede a bit. As it is now, I think the planes of the face look a bit flatter than they should. All in all though, your paint handling looks very good. The basic skills are all there.
I'm not sure what her funny character is that you're trying to catch. Right now her expression conveys to me an attitude of mild attentiveness, but no strong suggestion of humor or any particular emotion. Actually, it's a fairly typical, neutral, portrait expression. What did you have in mind?
John
|