[WIP] First Portrait [myself]

[Andre]

Hello everybody, this is me:


and this is my self portrait



Please, help me making it better. Thank you!

[balls01]

are you going to keep it as 2 colors/shades. or you going to add more,

its a good start, but i think in your piece, the chin is more rounded than in the photo

[Andre]

I think I'll keep it Black&white dude, just to learn how to work with contrast and shadings properly, here's an update:

[Atnas]

Is that what you see when you look at the picture? I'd recommend doing the portrait with the same expression as the reference so you can learn to think of the face as a collection of planes. Use your imagination as little as possible if you want it to look like you. Don't think of it in terms of eyes nose mouth, as that will tend to leave you placing symbols. Examine the surfaces and represent the form accurately. Shout if you want an edit.

[Euphronios]

Please start here: http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/; http://www.face-and-emotion.com/dataface/anatomy/anatomy.jsp

I don't think you're on the wrong track right now. You just need to keep in mind that one of several hundred pieces you do right now is going to be something you'll want to continue with. Read a little of what you'd like to know and then fill ten more canvases.

I believe a novice should try to keep in mind the proper ratios and that you shouldn't try to break the rules until you know them.
This is not to say that you should overlay all of your work with the proper ratios and do all the math because that would make art really shitty and boring for you. Just look at the stuff and keep it in the back of your mind as you paint.
http://web.mit.edu/cultureshock/fa2006/www/essays/face.JPG
http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/en.wikipedia.org/img/E3853418-5FAF-48CA-9757-245196915F40
http://www.miqel.com/fractals_math_patterns/visual-math-phi-golden.html

On to your work:
It appears that you've layed down an oval to represent the head structure. I think the piece as a whole spirals down from here. Reform the head to clearly define your very strong mandible and mentalis. I believe the correct placement of the features will become very apparent to you afterward.

Technique:
It seems you've used an auto dither brush. Bleh.

As I said, I don't think you're too far off the path just keep filling canvas.

[Andre]

Well Euphronios, thank you so much for the material, I'll sure take a closer look at the books, Also the polygon thing...I need to train it, I had anatomy classes on college but nothing focused to art and body simetries, this contribution is go'n to help me so much, Thank you.

Atnas, I tried to update it to a more loyal form


and I would certainly like an edit.

Now I'm go'n to try out the espirals thing...

[Jim16]

I like the new one! the other one would of made you look like an ugly F%$Łer. And your not(If I was a female I would ).
The nose bothers me and I salute you for using 2 colours on the character! The hair is awesome! keep going dude!

[CaKsTeR]

The eyes are pointed in opposite directions, might want to look into that

[Andre]

Well haha thank you for the support mates
I need help with the mouth thing...

It's hard to make teeth aswell as lips using only 2 colors

I got something nice with the mouth closed:


On the eyes, I mean to make em looking foward, have I made it wrong?!

[Atnas]

Crap I just spent an hour typing up a critique to back up a shabby edit and I hit f5 by accident ;_;

I'll rewrite what I wrote tomorrow after exams. 

here's the edit but it's kind of no help without the explanation so just hang tight.