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My father in law's hair
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Message
Posted
Hello, I've been working on my annual painting, this time my first portrait. It's of my late father-in-law, with two of his favourite passtimes. It's oil on board, 18x12 inches. I've really tried to capture the effect of a bright day and I'm pleased with it mostly. However, something about his hair just isn't sitting right, the right is OK but I can't seem to get the rest looking natural. Now I've looked at it so much I can't even tell the values any more! Any advice on realistic looking hair would be appreciated thanks
Posted
Hair is a moot point with me. Because I do portraits in a time limited class of 2 hours, I rarely get a chance to concentrate on the hair, so I have never really developed the skills I need to draw or paint hair. I would be grateful for any tips that anyone can give for any medium.
As for the painting in question, I am lost in admiration for you portrayal of the newspaper and beer glass, the star of the show.
To help assess the values, I would look at a black and white version of both your painting and the reference photo to compare and decide, what you would like to change. I would also turn up the saturation of your reference photo, to help see the nuances of the direct light through the window and the reflected light, especially on the face, hair and glasses. Hope this is useful.
Posted
Thanks Steve and Linda for taking the time to reply. Steve perhaps your suggestion to leave as is is the one to take. I am a tinkerer, and struggle to finish a painting because there's always something just not quite right. Or maybe at least put it to one side for a while, and then do what you've suggested Linda in comparing it to a black and white reference, when maybe something obvious with the values will jump out. And give me something else to tinker with......
Linda how you manage a portrait in two hours is beyond me, two months is my standard speed for all painting!
Posted
Darren - I too would leave it alone for now: a difficulty anyone has in assessing whether the proportions are right - which is probably what's actually troubling you here, and if pressed for an opinion (you don't have to press hard!) I'd say the head was a bit on the long side - is that we didn't know your father in law. Your painting of the incidentals, the props, is amazing (and I'd love to know how you did it) but of course - we DO know what those things look like.
Put it a way for a bit and take a look in a few weeks - oil will easily take further work - whatever's troubling you might then leap out at you.
I've been tasked with producing a portrait from photographs - which is my idea of Hell on stilts..... So far, I've produced three; the one I'm now happiest with is the one I did on a scrap of oil painting paper, which I'm going to have to work on further and adhere to a rigid board. Tried too hard with the others? I tinker, too.......
Posted
Agree with Robert about painting from photos, a total nightmare in my book, but obviously there was no alternative in this instance.
There are two issues here for me, the first one being that the pint of beer is taking centre stage and the eye is immediately drawn to that, rather than to the main character… it’s actually larger than the head.
However, its made for an interesting and somewhat unusual composition and I’m all for that!
The problem with the hair is that it’s a similar tone to the background, I would darken it all slightly… generally speaking the whole head would appear darker when viewing it against a source of light from the background - contre-jour!
Edited
by Alan Bickley
Posted
Thanks again so much to everyone who took the time to share advice and ideas. As Robert suggested I left it completely for a week or so, then I tried Linda's idea of referring to a black and white reference to check the values. That confirmed Alan's tip that the back-lit hair would appear darker so I've darkened it very slightly. Steve and Tessa suggested I used a mirror to check as well, and I noticed the glasses needed a reflection, so I've done that but otherwise taken Steve's advice to leave it. As for the pint glass being larger than his head, beer did play a big part in his life, so I left it! I'm hoping that the long face is down to the angle of the photo I've taken, but I'm sure my mother in law will let me know otherwise. Thanks again
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