Here is my latest finished figure which is a piece that Guy kind of forced on me. I have told him several times that I never want to paint a bust. My Grandmother painted ceramic busts of pirates and had them all over her house, so to me a bust is very "Grandmotherish". Well, apparently Young did not make the busts my Grandmother painted, this bust is really awesome. It has actually swayed me to possibly paint another bust or more. I found it more difficult to paint on the larger scale, which is fine i am trying to get better. On this one I want some criticism or advice on what I should have done, maybe the face is too dark or whatever. this is my first bust to paint so I want the honest and/or painful truth. I always thought I was a figure man, but now maybe a bust man?

He turned out great Mike. I see vast areas of white that don't seem to have much contrast or shading. On your next white subject area I would like to see you get more contrast.

Have you decided on your next bust yet?.......lol........Jay will love this, you turning to busts. He did the same thing.

Really nice job Mike, BTW your Grandmother sounds cool

Hi Mike, as well as more shading and highlights in the white as Guy said I'd like to see highlights in the hair as well.
Love your leatherwork.
Congrats on your first bust.

Good work.
I'm with the guys before me. Alot more shading will do the job.

Marc

Thank you fellas for the honest comments. I'll be honest too, I am scared to death of white, you just can't cheat with it. After your comments I am going to give it a go and try to add more highlites and shadows. Hopefully I don't screw it up, but that is part of the process of learning. Again, I am thakful for your honesty.

Matthew; Yeah, my grandmother is pretty cool. She is quite the painter also, I wish she could still paint, I'd give her a few figures to try but being 91 and not doing so well would make it hard.

Have to agree with the other guys, but for a first attempt at a bust you did a good job.

Cheers David

I agree with my friends, very nicely done.

Keep up the good work and keep those brushes wet.

Cheers
Roc

updated picture

I worked a little on more contrast tonight. I want to make sure I am going in the right direction, make no mistake it is not pretty as I am almost repainting him. The only thing I count as done is the face after touching the cheeks a bit.



thanks for looking.

Well this looks no different from my other pictures It looked different on my lap top last night. Maybe I need to layoff the egg nogg, nah. Oh well.

I like the additional work you have done on the White Mike. It makes the cloak come more alive.

Yes Mike,
This looks better. You have more contrast and therfore your white looks more white.
(UHHH)

Marc

Mike, first of all, you have a great first bust effort here. I'm glad to hear you liked it and hope to see you doing more in the future. I agree with the others, a bit more contrast would make it have a tad more depth. I really like where you're going on the new touch-ups, keep us posted!

Jay H.

Mike,
Very nice for the first bust.
Cheers,
John