Ann 01 Nov 2009

Hi Ungureanu, I think you've done a great job on this.

While I'm not a portrait artist, a couple of things I suggest is that "her" right eye is too far into the corner and her ear is too small (also enlarge the hole in her ear).

Other than that, I think it's a lovely portrait of a beautiful woman. Ann

morris shelton 01 Nov 2009

I don't think anythings rong with the drawing. I am not trained, but my opinion-- I think the drawing looks very well.. Very Pretty girl. Is this you? if so..... WOW!

jan lee Lumkin 05 Nov 2009

Hi Ungureanu, The expression on her face is dynamic. Her eyes tell a story. Perhaps she is making eye contact with someone across the room. I have some comments on the ear placement and size. Generally, the top of the ear lines up with the top of the eye. Use a ruler to get the line up correct. And enlarge the ear as it looks too small compared to the face.

chris newbrook 05 Nov 2009

I think all the proportions of the head are fine, i like the way you suggest hair with excellent strong shading, rather than try to be too detailed.

I can also see you have a feel for sensitive lines and you create the soft edges really well. This shows you are interested in line and form, more than just trying to capture a likeness.

You have a good ability that can be developed by continuing to draw regularly and feeling the subject as you draw with a combination of hand and eye.

Try to find a direction to go into with style. many artists like to just use line instead of shading, such as the Austrian master Egon Schiele. The attached image shows the way he created form and weight of body by using line and no shading.

A weakness I see in your drawings is the use of quick shading. It needs to give a sense of more than just tone, it needs to create the illusion of surface and texture also. Rather than smudge with shading try to use a cross hatching effect or a distinctive use of subtle marks, as in the second attached master drawing.

chris newbrook 05 Nov 2009

Drawing with strong mark making contrasts and cross hatching.

Nathalie Chavieve 06 Nov 2009

Hi Ungureanu

I do agree with Ann about the right eye. The nose is looks flat to me. And in my opinion the lips line is to long.

Linda Eades Blackburn 06 Nov 2009

The first thing I notice is that they eyes are white. Only the lightest light in the eye would actually be white. It just never looks natural when the eyes are left white.

Michael Huskey 08 Nov 2009

I think you did a great job on the drawing. Amy Lee has light eyes, so I think you did the eyes justice, because she has light eyes right? I think in the particular photo you rendered this from, her eyes are light. As far as the ear goes, I can't comment about the proportions of the head and face, as I am just learning about the anatomy of the head and face. But man, looks just like her to me. Great job with tone and values.

james boyd 11 Nov 2009

The ear falls between the eyebrow and the base of the nose. Use that for sizing and remember to curve your guidelines so they follow the curvature of the face.

Eye pupils are PERFECTLY round. Use a tool for this if your hand skills aren't up to it.

The hair shold be shaded so as to indicate the flow of the follicles from the head outward, like rivers. Use more line work to build up the texture here and don't worry so much about color until you have a basic structure first.

You seem to be smearing rather than building pencil tone evenly. Avoid that whenever possible. It makes the drawing look "dirty" instead of purposeful. Work the pencil tones layer upon layer. Use gloves or a tissue paper to rest your hand on when doing this to avoid the smearing of the pencils. Also, if you are using a "B" softness in your leads, you might want to try a harder lead to avoid this smeared look. A 2B is, for example, MUCH harder than a 6B. Experiment until you find what works for you, but try to have a light hand in using them.

Make sure your hands are really clean and also experiment with different paper. Some paper has a strong "tooth" or texture, and picks up pencil easily but lends itself to a rough look whereas other paper, called plate finish, is smooth and lends itself to a smoother look.

Finally, great pencil art has a full range of tonal value, from very light tones to black tones (some people actually use ink for this). The use of full tonal values adds to the realism of a piece as, in the real world, objects usually show a full range of value.

Other than these suggestions, your art shows great promise. I recommend you use a projector also, to get down the initial composition. I know you may think of this as "cheating" and its true that you need to learn proportions and basic stuff as you learn to draw, but the tracing of images is a traditional method of learning and can "teach" a hand as well as any other technique. With the projector, you can concentrate on shading and tonal value as opposed to where everything goes and you can gain self-confidence as well.

Good luck, though and keep going!

Looks good!

M

joanne nash 11 Nov 2009

Hiya im definately no expert but from just looking at ur picture the way i would look at my pictures, i would think that the left iris is to far to the right of the eye, she almost looks cross eyed. But it is a beautiful drawing. :)

Nashlon Jackson 13 Nov 2009

first of all i love your use of hard and soft edges. I think that I would add more dimension to the hair though if its not to dark.

Carissa Stevens 21 Nov 2009

good.. just remember that shading comes with practice.. i've been drawing portraits for about 4 years now, and doing them daily really has improved my shading... and if you're having trouble getting the shape and size of objects to look right, try the grid method. just draw a grid on your paper very lightly with pencil and do the same on your reference picture.. then you're trying to make it look right in each square rather than the entire space and it makes it much easier... make sure you draw them very light though, otherwise the lines are hard to erase later..

hope that helps : )

W. James Taylor 16 Dec 2009

Hello my friend ....for just starting your career I hope(smile)....its comming along , I also visited your page and its a very impressive beginning ... my suggestion is this ...try to use your eraser when doing hair to suggeest movement....negative space is " ART " shading i think should communicate depth , so have a darkest area when shading ...the suggestion to use a grid is what a lot of Artist do ...I think the position of the eyes in any portrait is paramount ...so pay close attention to that aspect ... practice a lot on close friends and observe the spacing on certain things of the face like the eyes , distance from the nose to top of lip etc. although its different among many people , you can establish a standard ...knowing when to stop is critcal ...and only you can make that detemination ....just remember less is best (smile) ....keep up the good work and check out some of my portraits at www.genevagalleries.com ....and Artwanted .com

A Friend in Art W James Taylor

Kathleen Oliver 20 Dec 2009

You dod a good job on this. It looks unfinished, though.

More shading to the face and neck is needed.

Gary Adams 02 Jan 2010

I have only done one portrait so i am still learning, but looking at this made me realize one of the things that i was not happy with in my own portrait. That being the eyes. When I looked at yours I had the same feeling and then i thought about how our eyes do not move independently, so that both pupils should be in the exact same position within the eyelids. Also the black area in the center is always in the center of the pupil (at least in my eyes). So apparently the position of the eyes is of utmost importance. I hope this helps. At least i have learned something from the process. Otherwise I think it is a great portrait!

Abigail Adams 06 Jan 2010

The shading is smudgy. That is, it looks more like smeared dirt than actual shade. I agree with earlier comments about the placement of the eyes, ear, lipline, etc. It's mainly about the distance between all the features on the face. The difference between eye and ear, for instance. The left eye looks a little large or the right too small, the ear isn't proportionate, but mainly it comes down to measuring. Use a photo for a source material and measure everything.The length of the nose and the size of the iris in the eye, for instance. You'll soon see where you got off track.

Reply