[WIP] Mathilda

[NaCl]

Hey guys,

I am working on a piece of Mathilda from the movie Leon. Again, I am having problems with my palette though. I believe it is contrasted enough this time, but still looks wrong. Also, I don't think I captured her essence here. I realize it takes a lot of skill to do that, but looking between the ref and my pic, I just can't tell what is off.

Here is mine, followed by the reference:



Any help or suggestions are very much appreciated. Thanks.

Current:

[Dr D]

I think the fact that she's looking at the plant (and not really facing it, looking at it from the sides of her eyes) helps add to the mysteriousness/awkwardness of the picture. Also little uncommon things, such as having an oddly lifted finger, add to that as well. And, maybe you should make her hair brown?

[Willows]

Don't be afraid to use your friend the eyedropper tool in the name of education! Though it feels like cheating, if you hand/eye pick your colours first, then use the handy-dandy eyedropper tool to figure out exactly how your colours are wrong, you can begin to see colours in pictures more clearly for what they are. It's kinda cool, really. Someone will try tell you it's "Hunter green" and you shout back at them that, no, it isn't. It's R80 G120 B70!

...anyways, yes. Pick your colours by eye, compare them to your reference with the eyedropper tool.

My eyes tell me that you need high-saturation (like 80%?!) orangey-yellows for highlights, dropping fairly steeply to still-high-sat near-reds for the midtones and and slipping into low-to-mid sat oranges/reds for the shadows.

[NaCl]

Thank you both for the excellent advice! I added in more of the details that made the picture unique. I feel that this helped quite a bit. One thing that I did too, that I found REALLY useful was to mirror the image and look at it. I guess it lets me see it freshly or something, but it allowed to to improve the facial anatomy. For picking colors, I did as you suggested, Willows, and it worked quite well! I suppose that I need to be able to determine colors (HSL and RGB) by eying them, and peeking at the original images colors helps a lot.

After incorporating the suggestions, here is what I have:



I havent done the hair, shirt, plant, or background yet.

[gamingjustin]

Excellent progress made so far-- big improvement! However, more can be done regarding the facial structure. I whipped up en edit for you to look at. Mine is far from perfect but what I mostly did was fill in the face. The nose and lips are much bigger now, I gave her more of a chin and made her head/face thinner and taller. I think I picked at the hair as well. Your color palette right now is "punchy;" light and dark. I think this is okay, except when I was drawing the lips I was struggling with their shape because there is no real "middle" color. I see three light shades, and two dark shades. Maybe add a middle color and getting the face right will be much easier (and closer to the reference).



I noticed you said you mirrored the image to "see it freshly." You are definitely on the right track (fighting how your brain "wants" you to see)! Another tip when drawing would be to take note of where parts are positioned; check where things are relative to each other, check angles. one specific example would be the lips relative to the tip of the nose. In your most recent WIP the nose extends farther to the left than the edge of her lips when, actually, it's the opposite. Things like that.

So, overall, great stuff. I would only suggest you add a middle color, add more diversity to the lighter colors and darker colors, and check where facial features are relative to each other.

[NaCl]

Hey gamingjustin thanks for that awesome edit. You really captured her essence!

I integrated your advice as best as I could into it, and I feel looks significantly better. I still have not quite captured her, but I will continue tinkering and experimenting. I believe I do not yet have a strong enough "objective eye" to see the details that make a person look unique, but I'll work on it.

here is the update: