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Some advice on eyes.

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Peter Smith

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Yesterday I painted this picture of Katherine the Princess of Wales, thinking it was time I painted someone that might be recognisable. This is the picture I copied: I was reasonably pleased with the picture until I e-mailed it to a friend for her comments. The hair is Ok, she said, but 'your trademark eyes detract from the likeness'. I didn't know I'd got trademark eyes! I was just trying to copy what I could see in the photo.  Help me out folks, what am I not seeing when I paint eyes (no pun intended!). To me they look OK but clearly they are not. What do I need to do differently? At the moment I'm confused. Peter
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Gillian Cooke

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The eyes are too big which  I believe is a common mistake when first doing portraits! If you compare the eyes you can see there is more white also the sclera is not a pure white. I am sure someone will. give more practical advice 
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Peter Smith

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They are too big Gillian, you're right. I haven't used pure white but probably need to tone it down even more.

Denise Cat

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A good effort Peter. They eyes look to big for the face. The forhead is wide. On the photo, you are seeing more of the right side of the face than the left. She has some shadowing under the bottom lip that helps shape the chin. On the photo the chin comes to a slight point. Just things to consider from the photo.

Tessa Gwynne

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The eyes have it Peter! I think what your friend means is that the eyes are basically too big. Each eye and the space between them should measure about the same. I’m wondering if her mouth is also a bit big? Someone will say, we all look differently.  What is very good is your light and shadow on her face. If you have a printer, print off a copy of the photo and make marks/measurements and you’ll see what I mean. If you ever watch Sky PAOTY you will see many of the artists using an iPad or phone with a photo often gridded up. While I don’t particularly like this when a model is sitting in front of you, I assume Kate won’t be coming to your house anytime soon, so it could be useful. Portrait painting is notoriously difficult. We used to have a lady who came to our art group over a number of years to sit for us for a portrait. She had a sort of non stand out face (with respect) and our attempts were generally pretty awful and unrecognisable!  Well you did ask. 🤔

Jenny Harris

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Peter, a good tip for drawing or painting a face from a photo reference, is to turn the photo upside down, which makes you focus on the shapes of the features (make sure you check the measurements as you go along) rather than drawing what you think is there.  We used to do this in art class and it’s surprisingly effective.

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by Jenny Harris

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Peter Smith

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Thanks, this is all useful stuff. I'm going to have another go at it and see how it comes out. 
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Peter Smith

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See if this looks any better: I need to reduce her forehead and widen her face on the right. Among other things!!

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Christine Rogan

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Peter I would agree with what others have said. The eyes are too big compared to her photo. If you look carefully each eye is slightly different both in shape and the colours within the eye. The whites of eyes are rarely white, more pale grey or grey/ blue. Her eyebrows also frame her eyes slightly differently. I usually have to zoom in on the eyes on a photo to see as much detail as possible when drawing a portrait to get them right.  I hope this helps. 
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Peter Smith

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You're right Christine. I think I've got to go back to pretty much every portrait I've ever painted and make the eyes smaller!  I think I'm going to leave Katherine as she is now, at least for the moment: I don't have this trouble with trains!

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by Peter Smith

Alan Bickley

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Eyes and eyebrows need some attention, and the mouth in relation to her nose isn’t right. Hold it in front of a mirror, amazing what you will see. Use the grid method every time, it’s the tried and tested way for portraits!
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Peter Smith

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I'll do that Alan, I've never tried it.
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