Painting

[LidoBlu]

I've been working on this painting of some friends in the states. I'm planning on making them a Christmas card from it.
I would like some opinions or suggestions on how what may need improving. He's very sick and in the original photo is pale and splotchy. I've tried to give him color etc.

Blu

http://whynotme.free.fr/LidoBlu/DandM%20paint.jpg

[jch71566]

Blu,

This is excellent work! You've done an excellent job with the skin tones and the hair.

There are a few minor areas I would look at, though:

1) Eyes. The eyes lack highlights, and this makes them look drab and lifeless. It appears that the lighting is from the slight upper right.

2) Background. The background behind the man's head is -slightly- distracting. Perhaps you could use the wall color there down to the lady's arm?

3) Texture on the man's shirt. Add something to give it a little more than the solid color that it is. Perhaps just giving it a brighter color that would work with the lady's denim dress. I don't know.

As I said, this is excellent work. I would not have even presented any faults if you had not asked for areas to improve.

Regards,
Jeff

[LidoBlu]

Thanks for the kind words Jeff and the help. I'm grateful for the critique about things I haven't the experience to see myself.
The hardest part for me is going to be the eyes. Any suggestions?

Blu

[jch71566]

Blu,

I just did the eyes here. I took a closer look and found that there were traces of the hilights in the man's eyes, so I chose to enhance them.

First thing I did was run PSP's "JPEG Artifact Filter" on it to smooth out the image. You probably do not need to do that since you will be working on the original.

Second, I scaled up the picture by 500%! That way, I could see the shape better.

Third, I used PSP's Retouch Brush in "Lightness Up" mode. I know that Photoshop has something similar, but do not know the term. I selected a brush size of 10 pixels, and a hardness of 50%, and an opacity of 50%.

I put my cursor over the lighter part of the pupil in the man's right eye, and clicked 5 or 6 times to get a nice almost-white spot. I then repeated this for the man's left eye.

For the lady, I approximated the position of the man's hilights on her pupils. This time, I had to click 6 or 7 times to get the same effect.

Finally, I shrunk the picture to 20% to get it back to original size, and then saved it.

Cheers!
Jeff

[LidoBlu]

Thanks for everything Jeff! I've been working on the areas you pointed out and although it still needs some work I think it's much better. What do you think?

Blu

http://whynotme.free.fr/LidoBlu/DandM%20paint2%20.jpg

[LidoBlu]

I forgot to mention something. I totally changed the background thinking something light might look better but I tend to like the first one. But, I don't trust my own judgement so please tell me which you think is better.

Blu

[jch71566]

Blu,

I love the shirt! I'm a guitar player, what can I say?

Eyes seem better.

As for the background, I think it is a judgement call. If you want it to seem more intamate, go with the original. For a more formal look, use the remade background. Your choice.

Keep it up!

-Jeff

[LidoBlu]

I went for the intimate look as I like it better. Kept the shirt and corrected the distracting background as you suggested. I found the eyes really difficult but think I finally have it.

No details steps as I was just moving along. But basically I just used brushes, healing tool and dodge tool at different settings depending on what effect I was going for.

Thanks again Jeff, your help has been invaluable. (I will post a guitar pic I have that you might like soon.)

Blu

http://whynotme.free.fr/LidoBlu/DandM%20paint2%20.jpg

[jch71566]

Simply beautiful, Blu!

I'm sure your friends will love it.

-Jeff