Portrait of self as a young maniac [WIP]

[SwapBrain]

The goal is to have self-portrait that is Rasputin-esque. Reference: my face and a mirror. Did most of the drawing in GRAFX2.2, then didn't know how to crop so did that in Gimp.

Early-stage WIP.

C&C, edits, etc. requested and welcomed.

[Lukkas]

Not a bad initial sketch. Already though, the shadows (blue) don't seem quite right. The forehead looks strange (almost gives the impression of a lump on the noggin), and I think the left cheek needs to be re-shaded. The shadows give an impression of an oddly shaped cheek in my opinion, though it may clear up anyway, when you define your sketch further.

I feel the hair is quite well sketched, and I'm interested in seeing how that'll progress as you work on this piece.

You may also need to be careful with the left eye as you further define the work. It's a little difficult to understand what's going on with it now, and that could get worse as more detail is added. I think he's squinting the left eye, but I'm not entirely sure. It also looks a little like the eye may be injured instead. As you progress the piece, be mindful of what the eye is supposed to be conveying, because it has the potential to become more obscured later.

Can't wait to see how your next iteration of it looks.

[SwapBrain]

You are right on all your points:

The eye was a placeholder/artifact of me squinting while sketching (it was easier to just draw it as it was and then rework it) - updated (perhaps for the better - although I am concerned about it being too symmetrical.) The shape of the shadows is getting reworked (overworked?) constantly to match reality. It was tending towards the pillowy so I am trying to be mindful of that.

I see what you are saying about the blue, but since the overall image is red I want to live with the blue a bit longer since I can get a fairly decent chromatic gray by mixing the two. That said I am not married to it, and will play around with color once I am happier with the overall form.

Also dropped a number of colors.



Update: Ditched the blue. F blue. I hate blue.



Update: And now for something completely different. Used Ptoing's C64 Pallette without adhering to any other restrictions. (Still very WIP, obv.)

[SwapBrain]

I hope I am not too out of order with a bump at this point. Still WIP, obv.

At this point I am trying to get as far as possible using only clusters and no dithering. Still contrast and lighting issues I am working out.

[Lukkas]

It's nice to see the progression. I'm liking it

However, I feel that right now the facial hair (especially the part immediately around the mouth) looks out of place in your latest version. It's too shiny. It actually looked better in the image before.

Aside from that, I think the shading in the hair is getting a bit weird. I think you need another inbetween shade (there's too much highlight), and a shift in palette. The brown/white/black thing looks kind of odd.

I also think you could improve it by brightening the eyes. They're well done, but far too dull, now that you've changed to a vibrant peach/purple skin/shadow coloring.

Very cool though, I'm enjoying watching this grow.

[buddy90]

I feel that the hair is too insane. It's very noisy, and the shapes of the hair are hard to read. I get that you're trying to make him seem crazy, but the way the hair is right now is not working. Especially since the face is fairly smooth compared to the hair, it doesn't match overall as a composition. Also, I think the contrast in the colors of the hair is too high.

But I do like where this is going.