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littledeadybear — Face study
#blonde #face #girl #portrait #rapunzel #study #watercolor #woman
Published: 2019-02-26 08:59:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 462; Favourites: 53; Downloads: 0
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Description
Found a beautiful face on Google image short. Unfortunately I did not remember to save the reference. But suffice it to say, it doesn't quite look anything like the original model so I am not terribly worried about stepping on anyone's artistic license. Funny enough, I had actually planned for both her hair to be black and for her sweater to be a slightly lighter purple; however, my husband came home while I was in the process of letting a layer dry, and he told me he liked the balance of the blonde hair so much, so I decided to leave it. She looks a little bit like Rapunzel, doesn't she?Questions I have about this piece for any critique givers that stumble by that have experience with watercolors: At what point do you stop with a portrait like this? Do you plan for backgrounds and flowers, or do you just lay down an abstract background and then create forms within it? Watercolor feels like such a loose, organic medium, but it feels like there needs to be so much planning. Is it better when starting out to never mind stark highlights and to just keep an acrylic white paint for when it comes to those type of details?
I guess in a way this feels unfinished but at the same time I am uncertain of what to add and I am scared to mess up my baby, since she's the prettiest thing I've ever done.
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Comments: 16
The unfinished hair looks weird...and the fingers are kinda awkward as well...Also I think that the facial features are a little too large and the right wrist isn't supposed to look like that...Other than the weird shoulder, good job!
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Now that you say it I do notice those thing
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Wow this is absolutely beautiful and so expressive!
I especially love her hair and the soft color use. <3
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This is a very lovely study! Very nice flowy textures, excellent usage of color blending and luminosity and very nicely calm color palette.
About when to stop, it pretty much depends on your goal. If you aimed to make this just a study or a sketch, I don’t think much needs to be added. It’s serves as a study just fine, but should you want to finish it, I think something on the background would do the trick. Currently the splashes you have there look a bit random, as in I’m not sure if they are there on purpose or if they are just random mess from the painting process.
As the face it detailed I think the background could be simple area or color with some texture (this is just a personal preference though) – perhaps something blue or green to complement her hair. The same tones could also be added on the shading of her face for more unity.
I think with watercolors you don’t always need to plan ahead and usually a good place to stop is when the painting feels full and finished. If you want to add details stuff on the background you’d have to pick colors and tones from the image but on the other hand some bright colors might looks fine too. Personally when I paint I go with the flow and see what comes (sometimes the outcome is not good but hey it’s learning) yet when I have a background in mind I usually plan ahead and start with the background when painting.
As for highlights – I’d advice you to avoid white paint and instead leave the top highlights unpainted to let the paper tone shine through. Perhaps use masking fluid to cover areas you want to keep white. White ink is great for small details afterwards, but it’s still not as bright as white paper would be. Of course some little details (like shine spots) can be added with white paint and it’s just fine, but the white paint often tends to look different from the paper and sometimes doesn’t blend in that well in the painting.
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This is wonderful, brimming with life and originality and spirit. I love it.
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That's all I could ever hope for. Thank you!
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Well, you’re great at using your media to make art.
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Squeeeeee, someone is calling something I made art! Thank you.
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I like the balance of detail and simple lines. The water color rendering is excellent and the subject/character is very expressive and lively. This is a piece with a great deal of charm and quality.
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Oh, thank you so much! It almost feels like the watercolors did all the work for me... like I somehow took an easy route. I was very, very lucky on how the shading and color mix turned out, because they weren't what I originally planned...
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You are more than welcome!
I've found that sometimes accidents or unexpected results can be wonderful.
Often my best work was an accident or it went in a different direction from what I had planned. like someone once told me many years ago; "Let the picture draw it's self." For a while I pondered this and what they meant, then it came to me; take a Zen approach ( like a Japanese archer) by letting the art flow on it's own and without over thinking it.
And by gum, it works!
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D'aww! Thank you, that warms my heart! I was so afraid that I would have lost all of the progress I made, because I hadn't touched watercolors in about 8 months.
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no is amazing, and you have a personal touch, is very import by original !!!
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