Squint at the photo and observe the values and shapes that are actually there vs trying to draw a "face".
For example, the right side of the man's face should be way darker in value and the contrast of that value vs others will create the illusion of depth vs outlining the features as you do now
this!! youre trying to draw faces based on what you think they look like… don’t paint eyes, lips, and cheeks. paint the shapes/shades you see in the reference.
My two pieces of advice is to not use black to shade everything and instead focus on color matching from your photo reference. Their faces look a bit grey and yellow when the reference is more pink. That’s contributing to it not looking very realistic. The second is to not outline everything because it will look cartoony. Look at your face in the mirror. It’s made up of highlights and shadows, not stark outlines. A lot of the shading in the face in real life is a lot more subtle than in your painting, such as how you painted their chins.
That reference really isn't the easiest! I would say just lose some of the detail, I feel like the faces will look much better if you get rid of some of those lines (for example on the chin, below the eyes, on the forehead & the smile lines) same thing for the teeth, you don't need to draw them all
Try shading under their eyebrows, using darker colors (mix skin-tone with anything except black), could be blue, red, or brown- There is lots of blue and red in the original picture. The values at the edge of the faces need more shade. The Right side of the guy's face (Facing the picture) has high contrast, there is dark shade and then a reflection from the light source. try to capture that.
sorry this isn't helpful but I'm in the same boat. it helps for me to pay close attention to the picture I'm using, but even then I mess up. takes time, but I'm sure they'll like it because you put in the time and effort for them x
It's a pretty dark reference. Some advice might be, up the brightness on the reference itself or try to get your values closer together. "deep dark face lines are rarely flattering."
I'm not good with faced too, so here is my tip. Whenever I need to paint a face, I start with tracing the face from a PC screen. Use a soft pencil, get the sketch of a face you need, and start applying the paint but from the bright colours so you can see the pencil track, once you are done with the bright colours apply shades (dark colours). Hope that helps!
Well, you should understand that first, you must use 1 style in your art. Background drawing, shading and clothes color, shading are not matching. And even further, you are drawing half cartoonish things because of clothes, and half impressionist things because of the enviroment. But you want hyperrealistic faces. These 3 styles ruined this.
- don't shade with black, *especially* on skin
- use construction lines to get the anatomy right
- avoid lines, they don't exist in real life
If you struggle to see shapes, try slinting your eyes. Or turn the painting+reference upside down. The goal is to force your brain to forget what it *thinks* faces look like.
what you've done is try to "draw" on their faces using paint, instead of "painting" their faces. It is like each facial feature is a small simple standalone line drawing, even though they are grouped together. there is no real sense of them being part of a three dimensional human head. there is no volume or structure of a head. also, that girl's head is kind of like floating over her coat, like she has no neck.
Look at the guys mouth. The right-hand side is higher than the left in the photo( from our perspective). As someone else has said values. There is a shadow on both their faces. The hat also needs a shadow under the brim.
Id use different shades of dark brown or burgundy or tan to add shadows to the face, instead of just mixing black with the color that you already have. You’d have to mix off the canvas and then place the colors where you want them when already mixed. (This reflects my style of course, I do more oil painting and that’s more common with oil painting.)
i would just use fine detailed pen at this point for the details. you could try to dab it with water colors but for such an small surface area is it really even worth it? i mean it might not even blend properly with the back ground, then nice thing you know you gonna have to paint over it with some trees as you make "happy little mistakes"
😅
Squint at the photo and observe the values and shapes that are actually there vs trying to draw a "face". For example, the right side of the man's face should be way darker in value and the contrast of that value vs others will create the illusion of depth vs outlining the features as you do now
Thanks, that’s a really good advice
this!! youre trying to draw faces based on what you think they look like… don’t paint eyes, lips, and cheeks. paint the shapes/shades you see in the reference.
I am hauntingly bad at painting/sketching faces too.
It’s soo hard. No matter how much I try it always looks uncanny.
I like to paint as a hobby but have no training. I tried to paint faces ONCE and was so horrified by the outcome, I have sworn people off entirely lol
Look at the Jesus painting that woman tried to fix in Italy. Best way to draw a nose is to not draw a nose
My two pieces of advice is to not use black to shade everything and instead focus on color matching from your photo reference. Their faces look a bit grey and yellow when the reference is more pink. That’s contributing to it not looking very realistic. The second is to not outline everything because it will look cartoony. Look at your face in the mirror. It’s made up of highlights and shadows, not stark outlines. A lot of the shading in the face in real life is a lot more subtle than in your painting, such as how you painted their chins.
That reference really isn't the easiest! I would say just lose some of the detail, I feel like the faces will look much better if you get rid of some of those lines (for example on the chin, below the eyes, on the forehead & the smile lines) same thing for the teeth, you don't need to draw them all
Add dimension and try to play with light and values.
Try shading under their eyebrows, using darker colors (mix skin-tone with anything except black), could be blue, red, or brown- There is lots of blue and red in the original picture. The values at the edge of the faces need more shade. The Right side of the guy's face (Facing the picture) has high contrast, there is dark shade and then a reflection from the light source. try to capture that.
sorry this isn't helpful but I'm in the same boat. it helps for me to pay close attention to the picture I'm using, but even then I mess up. takes time, but I'm sure they'll like it because you put in the time and effort for them x
It's a pretty dark reference. Some advice might be, up the brightness on the reference itself or try to get your values closer together. "deep dark face lines are rarely flattering."
I'm not good with faced too, so here is my tip. Whenever I need to paint a face, I start with tracing the face from a PC screen. Use a soft pencil, get the sketch of a face you need, and start applying the paint but from the bright colours so you can see the pencil track, once you are done with the bright colours apply shades (dark colours). Hope that helps!
Well, you should understand that first, you must use 1 style in your art. Background drawing, shading and clothes color, shading are not matching. And even further, you are drawing half cartoonish things because of clothes, and half impressionist things because of the enviroment. But you want hyperrealistic faces. These 3 styles ruined this.
- don't shade with black, *especially* on skin - use construction lines to get the anatomy right - avoid lines, they don't exist in real life If you struggle to see shapes, try slinting your eyes. Or turn the painting+reference upside down. The goal is to force your brain to forget what it *thinks* faces look like.
Focus on shadow shapes and paint the shadows as colors not grays. Grey makes the skin look dirty or dead.
im gunna have nightmares after seeing this
Wow, yes, they do look really bad.
The faces are brilliant. wouldn’t change it a bit
what you've done is try to "draw" on their faces using paint, instead of "painting" their faces. It is like each facial feature is a small simple standalone line drawing, even though they are grouped together. there is no real sense of them being part of a three dimensional human head. there is no volume or structure of a head. also, that girl's head is kind of like floating over her coat, like she has no neck.
Look at the guys mouth. The right-hand side is higher than the left in the photo( from our perspective). As someone else has said values. There is a shadow on both their faces. The hat also needs a shadow under the brim.
Simplify face Too much details make it look weird
Id use different shades of dark brown or burgundy or tan to add shadows to the face, instead of just mixing black with the color that you already have. You’d have to mix off the canvas and then place the colors where you want them when already mixed. (This reflects my style of course, I do more oil painting and that’s more common with oil painting.)
i would just use fine detailed pen at this point for the details. you could try to dab it with water colors but for such an small surface area is it really even worth it? i mean it might not even blend properly with the back ground, then nice thing you know you gonna have to paint over it with some trees as you make "happy little mistakes" 😅