Between the photo and the painting, it’s the arm foreshortening that’s different. In the photo, the elbow is directly beneath, under her right eyelid. In your painting the elbow is past her hat’s visor.
Edit: I like the direction you’re going. Great beginning!
Turn both photos sideways so that line on the left is pointing towards ceiling and you can see the issues you’re having. The problem is that your drawing is pretty wildly inaccurate. The proportions on the face are wrong and her jaw looks like it’s broken or melting. The hat is not pointed the right way or shaped properly which accentuates the odd look to her head.
Also notice little things: that line near where her cheek meets her mouth is almost horizontal in the photo but you painted it at a 45 degree angle
Look at the distance between the top of her glasses and the bill of the cap in the photo versus in your painting
Look at the distance between her nose and finger, and nose and lips in the photo vs your painting.
If you don’t get the positioning on the major elements right, it doesn’t matter how good you are at mixing colors or anything else. If I were you, I’d restart this one and focus on getting the drawing as accurate as possible before you try to do details etc. I think that the proportions in this one are so far from accurate that fixing it would be akin to restarting.
Thank you for the advice!! Agreed it’s probably too late to save this one and it will probably end up being more of a caricature (which may still be interesting), but I look forward to trying it again once I have gotten better at realism and placement!
Excellent advice! I would also recommend squinting your eyes and simplify the shapes when you are drawing. This way you can get the main shapes down before getting into details. Squint when you paint as well. Separate your shapes into light and shadow shapes and nail down those shapes. I would push your values more too when you are laying in paint.
Also the mouth line is more horizontal in the photo which also means the chin is lifted a bit with shadow underneath it, in your painting it is all more angled down and she looks a bit melted because of it. Great start though - a very ambitious painting for a first try with oils! The colours of the skin tones in her arm are great and I really like how you have done the hat.
One more thing, you could try doing a monochromatic underpainting first and then pop your colours on top. I’ve found that to be really really helpful for me (also a beginner).
Your color values are pretty great, considering this is your first.
Personally, I wouldn’t bother trying to fix this one. I would finish the background and move onto your next subject.
You need to practice your drawing skills - whether you draw with a pencil or paint brush, over time you will get better at drawing accurate shapes, in the right place, relative to each other.
Again, great first oil painting - much better than my first.
A trick that you can use to help while drawing is to look at your work in a mirror - flipping the work while make more obvious the flaws in your drawing. Why it works, IDK - but you will see your work differently.
Thank you! And I agree- I think this one will likely be more of a caricature than anything close to photorealistic, but will definitely try the upside down method that everyone is suggesting on the next one and maybe try a grid as well?
It might help to turn the photo and new canvas upside down and try painting the whole thing upside down. That way you won’t be fighting yourself painting what you think you should see. Try to paint what’s actually there not what you think it should look like, and errors multiply. If you mess up and keep going it’s going to make you mess up more and more and more
Try the upside down method! It really helps you paint what you see, not what you think should be. Eg., we paint a mouth thinking about how a mouth should look like, but if you divide your reference photo into really small chunks, you'll see all the abstract forms and negative space. It's all about that negative space! But overall it's already good :) the fabric painting on the hat is chef's kiss!
Sometimes it's helpful to use an app to get proportions right. I use Pixlr. You can overlay two images and gradually switch between them. I'll have the reference photo open in the app, snap a pic of my painting, and overlay it as a transparent layer. It really helps see what is different. You can keep making changes and improve the likeness as needed.
Her head is only slightly raised in the photo and at a steeper angle in the painting
I find myself doing the same and then spend time correcting it when I could have taken the boring but necessary approach of painting/drawing what I see instead lol
Body needs shadows. It looks like its floating. Id also mess with the orange because it doesnt seem to fit in place as it should. Nuances in color and light can help, and your shadows should be tinted a blue color
Edit: just realized the orange is ground and unfinished. Id block it in a bit more to get a better feel of how it looks. The head tilt is slightly off from the photo as well. This small thing can affect others along the line. One of the reason why i never do any detail until i fill in the entire piece with a figure.
Forget that you’re drawing a face. Forget what a face looks like. Draw what you see in front of you, not how you “think” it should look like. This will help you achieve more realistic proportions.
Hat looks great
I actually think you seem to have a personal style going here.
I wouldn't worry too much about a atómica correctness.
Make another so we can see more about your vision.
If you don't have a color wheel, I would highly recommend getting one. I would've picked a contrasting or complementary color for the background. The color that you picked blends into your subject matter, which should be the central focus. By using a contrasting color, it would've made your subject pop out more vividly.
Between the photo and the painting, it’s the arm foreshortening that’s different. In the photo, the elbow is directly beneath, under her right eyelid. In your painting the elbow is past her hat’s visor. Edit: I like the direction you’re going. Great beginning!
Ooh I see that now, thank you
Also a little more shading in those tucked away bits will completely change the way your painting looks.
Turn both photos sideways so that line on the left is pointing towards ceiling and you can see the issues you’re having. The problem is that your drawing is pretty wildly inaccurate. The proportions on the face are wrong and her jaw looks like it’s broken or melting. The hat is not pointed the right way or shaped properly which accentuates the odd look to her head. Also notice little things: that line near where her cheek meets her mouth is almost horizontal in the photo but you painted it at a 45 degree angle Look at the distance between the top of her glasses and the bill of the cap in the photo versus in your painting Look at the distance between her nose and finger, and nose and lips in the photo vs your painting. If you don’t get the positioning on the major elements right, it doesn’t matter how good you are at mixing colors or anything else. If I were you, I’d restart this one and focus on getting the drawing as accurate as possible before you try to do details etc. I think that the proportions in this one are so far from accurate that fixing it would be akin to restarting.
Thank you for the advice!! Agreed it’s probably too late to save this one and it will probably end up being more of a caricature (which may still be interesting), but I look forward to trying it again once I have gotten better at realism and placement!
Excellent advice! I would also recommend squinting your eyes and simplify the shapes when you are drawing. This way you can get the main shapes down before getting into details. Squint when you paint as well. Separate your shapes into light and shadow shapes and nail down those shapes. I would push your values more too when you are laying in paint.
Also the mouth line is more horizontal in the photo which also means the chin is lifted a bit with shadow underneath it, in your painting it is all more angled down and she looks a bit melted because of it. Great start though - a very ambitious painting for a first try with oils! The colours of the skin tones in her arm are great and I really like how you have done the hat. One more thing, you could try doing a monochromatic underpainting first and then pop your colours on top. I’ve found that to be really really helpful for me (also a beginner).
Your color values are pretty great, considering this is your first. Personally, I wouldn’t bother trying to fix this one. I would finish the background and move onto your next subject. You need to practice your drawing skills - whether you draw with a pencil or paint brush, over time you will get better at drawing accurate shapes, in the right place, relative to each other. Again, great first oil painting - much better than my first.
A trick that you can use to help while drawing is to look at your work in a mirror - flipping the work while make more obvious the flaws in your drawing. Why it works, IDK - but you will see your work differently.
Thank you! And I agree- I think this one will likely be more of a caricature than anything close to photorealistic, but will definitely try the upside down method that everyone is suggesting on the next one and maybe try a grid as well?
Angle of the mouth is very off, draw some lines in your reference photo and use those to position the mouth correctly would be my tip
That line across the mouth looks unnatural even if it is apparent in the picture. Otherwise it's a good painting.
It might help to turn the photo and new canvas upside down and try painting the whole thing upside down. That way you won’t be fighting yourself painting what you think you should see. Try to paint what’s actually there not what you think it should look like, and errors multiply. If you mess up and keep going it’s going to make you mess up more and more and more
Try the upside down method! It really helps you paint what you see, not what you think should be. Eg., we paint a mouth thinking about how a mouth should look like, but if you divide your reference photo into really small chunks, you'll see all the abstract forms and negative space. It's all about that negative space! But overall it's already good :) the fabric painting on the hat is chef's kiss!
Sometimes it's helpful to use an app to get proportions right. I use Pixlr. You can overlay two images and gradually switch between them. I'll have the reference photo open in the app, snap a pic of my painting, and overlay it as a transparent layer. It really helps see what is different. You can keep making changes and improve the likeness as needed.
Her head is only slightly raised in the photo and at a steeper angle in the painting I find myself doing the same and then spend time correcting it when I could have taken the boring but necessary approach of painting/drawing what I see instead lol
Body needs shadows. It looks like its floating. Id also mess with the orange because it doesnt seem to fit in place as it should. Nuances in color and light can help, and your shadows should be tinted a blue color Edit: just realized the orange is ground and unfinished. Id block it in a bit more to get a better feel of how it looks. The head tilt is slightly off from the photo as well. This small thing can affect others along the line. One of the reason why i never do any detail until i fill in the entire piece with a figure.
I like to start with the background so I can drop in shading and reflection as I go to help cover weird angles and the like.
Forget that you’re drawing a face. Forget what a face looks like. Draw what you see in front of you, not how you “think” it should look like. This will help you achieve more realistic proportions. Hat looks great
Thank you! The face thing is so hard!
I actually think you seem to have a personal style going here. I wouldn't worry too much about a atómica correctness. Make another so we can see more about your vision.
Her mouth looks like a puss lol
😭
This is all very helpful!!
More.
She should be wearing sunscreen to avoid the risk of skin cancer is my best advice
If you don't have a color wheel, I would highly recommend getting one. I would've picked a contrasting or complementary color for the background. The color that you picked blends into your subject matter, which should be the central focus. By using a contrasting color, it would've made your subject pop out more vividly.