How I paint portraits

[leyna55]

Recently, I received several comments which suggested that I took "heads from pictures and then ran them through filters." and possibly "stole the bodies too." Now I was annoyed, and the matter has been dealt with, but I would like to set the record straight. There are people who are justly proud of their photomanipulation and photoshop skill, but

Comments

[droolfangrrl]

You really are quite good. I think people are twigging off on the limitations of working off of photos. I would love to see how taking some life drawing classes would improve your skills.

[leyna55]

Thanks :)

I'm happy to see improvement in my work over the last year or so, (all that practice!) but life Drawing classes would be so useful, and anatomy drawing in general. I'm trying to actually think about the anatomy rather than just copy reference images, but its a slow learning curve *g*

[droolfangrrl]

I can't draw well at all, and it's not something that I feel compelled to do, but I do have a fairly good eye and I can see how there's something with the set of the shoulders that doesn't seem to go with the head, but it's really not that off.

Honestly, it's that you draw well enough that it looks like it's been traced or filtered, lol. Your best bet if you can't take classes, is to convince friends to sit for you and just to quick 15 minute sketches.

[leyna55]

The neck angle and his body don't properly align, and I just fudged the join, so that is probably what strikes you as off. For a more serious painting, I'd spend more time to figure out the correct neck position (I still might, because it is bugging me, too!)

I'll take that as a compliment! *g*

[ileliberte]

Ok, that's annoying but somehow the most hilarious thing I've ever heard! It's kind of ironic that some people who actually put stuff through basic filters get away with belligerently denying it and having people say it's obviously hand drawn, and somehow there are people who think that artwork of your caliber could in any way be photoshop filters :/ If only there could be a filter coming anywhere close to the kind of work you do, but then again, it would probably need to be a filter called "Paint awesomely intricate lighting and shading and composition" and would take, like, five hours to run through. And look like the sixth picture of the progress wips you just posted.

[leyna55]

Thank you for the support. I was alternating between feeling huffy and thinking Seriously? Where is this Photoshop filter because I really want to use it next time I can't get something to look right!

Joking aside, I like collecting tutorials and admiring people's clever techniques. The very few times I've tried photoshop textures they haven't looked right, and it just reminds me that some people are really skilled with Photoshop, but I am hopeless with anything that can't be traced back to traditional sketching and gouache painting. *g*

[crysothemis]

It's very cool to see the stages of your work, although I have to say that, having betaed your work, I can guarandamntee that it is drawn, not filtered. I have seen you altering poses, moving arms and legs around, correcting features to improve likeness, etc.

Personally, I can't get my brain to work in a way that allows me to draw with a tablet. I guess I need more practice, but my brain just can't seem to handle the connection between the tablet and the screen. So I'm doubly impressed at the accuracy and fineness of your work.

[leyna55]

*g* You would definitely know! Otherwise I have a secret stash of photos with misaligned eyes, and awkward looking hands, which I've been using to throw people off the track!

More practice with a tablet might not help if your brain isn't happy working that way (and I can quite understand the objection - it's a weird way of doing things). The new Cintiq's look promising - you can flip the monitor flat and draw directly onto it, so you are looking at the image as you draw, but whooo, they seem a bit expensive!

I've got the midrange tablet,and the main frustrating thing about it, is that it doesn't allow you the fine sensitivity control & pressure you have with a pencil. I suspect you would really notice this. The digital ink pen and blending brush combination I'm using above is my workround since I can't use some of my traditional techniques. I'd like to try one of the better tablets, which I think might allow a better approximation of pencil sketching.

[ratcreature]

I have similar problems with my tablet (also my rats have bitten through its cable, so that made it kind of moot -- traditional pencils are more tooth resistant). Sometimes I wish I had the money for a proper tablet PC so I could draw directly on screen and look where I draw.

[gloriana]

Wow - thankyou for posting that up :) It's a great reference doc - I'll be looking at that again!!

[leyna55]

Hope it helps! Even if I'm not going to use a technique, I like looking at tutorials anyway.

[riazendira]

Thank you so much for posting this! Its an absolute delight to see how you work your magic.

[leyna55]

I always enjoy seeing other people's techniques, and have intended to do one. I just had to finally remember to take all the screenshots of the progress