One-year-old girl

Alexandra Tyng · 06-28-2006, 01:16 PM

OK, you two, I stand corrected! I was thinking of the eye area rather than the eyeball specifically, but I should have been more specific, and children's heads do have more up there--it's all that potential.

Chuck Yokota · 06-28-2006, 07:59 PM

Alexandra, Sharon, and Richard,

Thank you for your critiques. I see from my reference that she did have her chin slightly tucked, which I did not show in the portrait. She was very active; with both her parents trying to hold her, she was a blur in most of the photos. I will need to understand color harmony better.

Here is the reference.

Michele Rushworth · 06-29-2006, 04:55 PM

I wouldn't paint from this photo, mostly because the mouth is a blur and trying to guess what it would look like will be impossible.

Chuck Yokota · 06-30-2006, 08:48 AM

Michelle,

Thank you for your good advice. I wish I did have a better reference. I took well over a hundred photos, and this was by far the best of the lot. I don't have enough windows to make the room light enough to use a fast shutter speed. With a child this active, it really was a problem.

Alexandra Tyng · 06-30-2006, 09:48 AM

Chuck, you could always take 100 more! If your space doesn't have enough light, maybe the clients' home does. Instead of making do with less than optimal conditions, it is important to create optimal conditions before you even pick up a brush. I am thinking of your hard work and precious time.

Michele Rushworth · 06-30-2006, 11:37 AM

Some subjects are just the wrong age to be painted, also. I know artists who won't paint a child under the age of 4 because they're often too wiggly.

Sharon Knettell · 07-02-2006, 12:59 PM

Chuck,

There is more than a wealth of infomation on this site adressing every problem you have encountered.

If you notice the heading of this Forum you will realize that it stipulates that it is a "Forum for Professional Portrait Painters and Serious Students.
It disturbs me that you have ignored time consuming advice from well meaning professional and continue to consitently repeat the same errors.

If you ARE serious about this field and not simply a Sunday painter I would suggest you take the time to enter a course of study of form in monochrome before you even consider tackling something as difficult as a head. I would spend several years of study before you attempt color. Also I would suggest you take as much figure drawing as you can.

There is also a wealth of information on taking good pictures which you also have ignored.

If you aren't willing to put in the hard work, there is little the Forum can do for you.