I've been thinking about doing some portraits in watercolor but I thought I'd try it out on myself first. I don't really like this first painting but I think I learned a lot while doing it and can do better next time. Firstly, I know there are drawing problems, but not entirely sure what they are so some comments on that would be good. Also any comments on watercolor technique would help since I'm not that experienced with them. I liked the painting in earlier stages of it and I am hitting myself for not taking photographs for you, but I always forget. I think a big problem is the color. It was really beautiful in the first layer but then got all muddied up. I think I need to wait for layers to dry, right? And then you can do some glazing and what not?
I am also the queen of bad light sources so I used an overhead light which is why the shadows on my chin are so dark and I had a hard time making them not look like a beard. And why does my neck seem to be coming forward? I fixed it a little bit but it still bugs me.
I think I need to keep in more simple too because do you see that one brush stroke on my hair in the upper left corner? That was just one stroke and I absolutely love it. I wished the rest of the painting looked like that. I also like how I left the highlights on the hair just white because it creates interesting negative shapes. Should I do that in some of the face? K I just wanted to let you know my thoughts so you can agree or disagree. thanks.
3 comments:
Well as for layering it is one thing I love about watercolor. To avoid the muddy color, the layers or glazes need to dry well. I use a hair dryer b/c otherwise it would take twice the time or more. Sometimes you definitely want that wet into wet thing but when you need control dry it first. Mix up lighter washes to start and add more pigment if necessary. Hope this helps. I have a book about some techniques if you want to borrow it let me know.
One drawing problem I noticed is the position of the mouth. The corners of the mouth should line up almost directly beneath the middle of both irises (this almost universally true for all people). As it is, the mouth is shifted a little to the left, I think.
I think the reason that your neck appears to be coming forward is that there's MUCH more value contrast there than in the face. As you recall, closer objects have more value contrast than objects further in the distance. I think darkening up the shadow on your right cheekbone and around the eyebrow area (like what you'd already done with the chin) will help solve the problem.
Also, I would decide what temperature your shadows are going to be. Right now they range between green, blue, and purple. Different colors are perfectly fine, but I think they should probably be in the same family of warm/cool temperature.
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