Hi everyone. here is my latest face for a bust I'm painting.
Due to me not having another HMFS meeting before wasmex, I was hoping I could ask the crowd on here for their feedback on my painting.

thanks in advance

P.S> before you ask, I did remove the black fleck off the face :-P I noticed it while uploading the photos

well while I was waiting for replies I did the eyes. enjoy. and any suggestions would be appreciated

and yes - he is supposed to have snake eyes

Well,
You definitely had to put some more shading in the face. It looks to flat.

Marc

Scott
I agree with Mark. The problem and challenge I think is that the very square jawline tends to flatten out the face.
I think you need to go in really a lot darker on the flesh base, work in your shadows and then start to highlight sparingly.
Might even want to try some stubble around the beard area.
It looks as if it'll be a really dramatic piece.
Regards
Derek

G'day Scott,

Yes more shading is required, specifically inside the nostrils, under the nose, under the chin and bottom lip and under the eye brow ridge.

I'd also recommend you outline the eyes by painting a very thin line of black under the upper eyelid. This will really make the eyes "pop". You can also add some shading under the eye to emphasise the round shape of the eyeball.

My best advice is to stand in front of your mirror and study how the light and shadows fall on your own face. Painting faces, even in large scale, requires you to think about creating contrasts which can seem unnatural at first, but the effect you are trying to achieve will look better if you can achieve smooth colour transitions and blending.

Good luck mate and I'm looking forward to seeing this piece at WASMEX. Only three weeks to go.

thanks for all the replies everyone. I will get onto that today while the oils are still wet. thank goodness for wet weather, makes life easier when you can't sit down all day working on your oils.

hey guys I'm back again.

same as last time, comments and suggestions are very welcome and are encouraged



plus here is view of the armour up to date:

G'day Scott,

You're making progress mate, but I think you can afford to increase the contrast between highlights and shadows. It still looks a bit "flat".

I'd definitely add some darker shadow under the top lip and under the eye brows.

To increase the contrast, I'd also add somehighlights to the tip and bridge of the nose and the top of the chin and the forehead.

I'd also suggest you add a bit more black under the top eye lid to make the eyes pop a bit more.

Hello Scot,
As Tony says you need more contrast.
I suggest also to make a mix from black and cadmium red. It should look like red wine. Put a thiny spot from this mix (thinny spot because it goes very fast (to much i mean)) into the deepest recess under the cheekbone.
With a drybrush you fade it out upwards. This will help you into a contrast on the side of the face and give's a five o clock shadow with some bloss. (if you use to much red he will look like a lady).

Marc

thanks guys. I will work on that tommorrow

thanks for the suggestions megroot. I'm not going to do a five o'clock shadow though as the character is never depicted with one and is always clean shaven.

arrrg. this is getting difficult. its hard to make this face not flat due to the scult of the bust. painting the cartoon characters always poses this problem due to them lacking the full detail that the historicals have.

oh well, I'll keep trying. I just darkend the underneath the eyebrows just then and about to do some highlight.

I'll do a photo of the side of his face for you next time

If you want not a five o clock shadow that's oke. But it give's at least still more character to the face. Try it, if you don't like it you always can wipe it off.

Marc

thanks megroot. I appreciate your suggestion

however, in this situation - its like doing a military uniform for a certain time period. you have to get it right otherwise people notice. for this bust, its depicting a character from a comic book. so I want to accurately depict him as he appears.



so, thanks again. I do listen to feedback - just in this case I'll skip

I'll put up new photos tommorrow for you guys

Hi
If you dont want to paint in a five oclock shadow as such
then a dakening of the skin tone in the beard area
will help to in pushing the light to the upper part of the face

worth noting that skin tones should be a balance of light and shade
with neither one overpowering the other

your painting so far is bright enough but lacks deeper shading
and also the the mid tones to create a transition between the two

looking at the illustration you have posted all be it monachrome
can see the transition between light and dark and it does graduate to the lower
portion of the face

looking forward to seeing more of your progress on this one

Frank

hey guys. No more digital camera I'm afriad. my mum's gone on holiday and taken it :-P

anyways...coutesy of the horrible mobile phone...here is the bust up to date:





The "jaws" of the bust have not been glued in just yet. they have been blu tacked to give you and idea of what it looks like complete.

All I need to do now is finish the horns and paint up the armour damage. Plus decide wether I'm going to risk keep on playing with the face or leave it as it is now (since the base oils are pretty muvch dry now)

btw - plate mail fans - how deep would a dent have to be top damage paint work and show the metal underneath? I don't know if you can see it in the photos, but there are quite a few dents there and I'm wondering wether to make the recess dark and highlight the edges with metal or paint the recess metal and edges light metal.

Thanks in advance