Thursday, December 18, 2014

Final Portraits


FKA twigs // wet media portrait

For my first portrait I chose to do the musician FKA twigs in wet media. I really liked using this medium, although not as much as the dry media (surprisingly). I mainly used the camel brushes, round brushes, a couple blender brushes and the real 2B pencil.


Apolysis // dry media portrait

For my second portrait I did the alternative model Apolysis. I actually really liked using the dry media for this one, although I feel like it is a bit difficult to tell it's dry media because of all the blending; but I guess I'm okay with that. I used the 2B pencil to draw the outline, then the real soft pastel and the round soft pastel to draw the rest of the portrait. I used the detail blender brush to blend everything together, then the square soft pastel to add the squares at the end. Overall. I feel like I greatly improved from my first to my second portrait.

9 comments:

  1. Sarah I really enjoy the unique vibe the second one has! It's so simple and so effective at making it more atmospheric than a simple portrait. Would love to see you continuing to work in this style because you've really got the hang of it.

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  2. Your wet media portrait is beautiful! you did a really good job with blending and lighting. The only thing I would have to say is that the shading on the wet media jawline and with that texture is a bit odd, I can't tell if its a good odd or a bad odd, but it creates some interesting movement.


    Your dry piece is also really well done, its a bit fuzzy and not as clear as the wet media but thats just part of the medium I guess.

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  3. i love the second one that you did way more than the first. i think it turned out amazing. and i love what you did with the squares. i think the blending in the second one is beautiful. the first on is good too but for whatever reason it seems a bit ore stiff. i can definitely see your progress in learning how to use this program and i think you did an amazing job

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  4. They both look great. I love the second one and how you created a pixel environment for the digital painting. I think your coloring and lighting is spot on and I like how you're able to paint hair, giving the illusion of multiple strands and colors.

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  5. I really like the added flair of those squares on the second one. I agree that you improved from the first one as well, but the first one is still really good. I liked the line drawing you did of FKA Twigs. I think it would be cool to make something out of it that is less painterly.

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  6. Both of these portraits are really beautiful! They both give off different kinds of vibes and both have their strengths to them! On your dry media portrait I really like how you created the squares around the figure. The figure was so well done and I feel like the shapes complimented them so well.

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  7. These are really fantastic. I totally dig the experimentation with geometric shapes in your second portrait, and I would love to see more of that abstraction in this style. I can't get over how well executed the hair is in your Apolysis portrait! The only thing I would point out is that the line strokes are going in mostly one direction and don't seem to be following her jaw quite right, but I think doing a simple paintover to blend those strokes would make it look more accurate.

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  8. These are really nice! The dry media piece is stunning - it's really nicely done, great use of textures and color - and I think you really nailed the medium. It looks like this is a great fit for you - I'd encourage you to use it more! One thing I like a lot about the dry media in contrast with the wet is that you are able to optically blend colors a bit more naturally -- there are some really great "dustings" of color on some of her skin - and in her hair. The texture in her face is really neat, too -- a nice stylistic touch, but it feels really nicely rendered. I think that the wet medium piece is really close! If you were to change the background color and then use a bit more accent color placement on her face, taht might make the whole thing a bit more similar in contrast and interest as the one on the bottom. I think because she's very monochromatic (the whole piece), that you see a lot of the brown color, and if you were to tone it with a slightly different color, her features would stand out more, and you'd be able to focus some warmth on areas where you want them to stand out. Maybe you could do a small overlay of color on top (and since it's ok to do it in whatever media at this point!) with a dry media brush, or something with a bit of texture? Maybe that might let you add color slightly without it being too much! These are really nice and It's great to see your process for both - I like that you started out with a really refined sketch - I'm sure it had a lot to do with how nice your final came out. Thanks!

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  9. Your linework in the drawings is gorgeous, I would love to see you go back and do these pieces in photoshop or something that might keep that linework intact. That being said, your application of the media is really nice in both of these. I love the highlights you've done in FKA's hair, and I think the little boxes you have floating around in the second one is a nice touch that brings the piece together. I think more highlights, or more blended highlights, in the one of FKA would definitely benefit it, especially on the right side of the face, and maybe some darks around the hairline, or some texture that keeps the forehead and the hair from looking like separate blocks.

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