Sandra

[Ross Macintosh]

You've captured the eyes perfectly. I don't see the jaw thing others are refering to. Sandra does have strong features.

Wolfgang - In all seriousness, perhaps you should develop a Sandra fan website. You have the skills (and luv) to do it better than anyone else. Make it so good that it will in time come to the attention of Sandra and give you the opportunity to perhaps meet her in the future. (For instance: Once you have a great site perhaps she'd agree to your interviewing her. Once she gets to know you, marriage will be inevitable).

I once read a story about a fan who created a awesome site about the Beastie Boys (white rap group). The band was so impressed with the site they hired the guy to tour with them and chronicle their lives on tour. It is a fans' fairy tale come true.

Wolfgang, channel you Sandra-luv into a nice creative project. It will give you an excuse to think about her all day long as well as your slumber dreams. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Crow Haven]

Thanks so much guys!!! Ross, I couldn't have gotten this far without you, Gary, and the others here. Your helpfulness and teaching is reflected in everything I design with Xara.

Wolfgang, you know, Ross has a mighty fine idea there...just think of the website you could create, and who knows--wouldn't that be wild if she contacted you about it!!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img] Hey, funnier things have happened and it's truly a "small world" as they say. At the very least, you could enjoy creating the website and be involved with Sandra to your heart's content (almost! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] ). Why not!?! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

---As The Crow Flies!---
Maya

[Su Lawrence]

... Maya, excellent portrait! Yep recognised her straight off.

The eyes are beautifully done and the hair looks great. You mention you only used 3 blends, could you perhaps enlarge on the technique, I would be interested in how you did this.

You also mention that you work on something then go back to figure things out, yes I do that too. I find that when getting really involved in a picture, such as one which needs to be 'just right' like a portrait, I can often 'stop seeing it', and so cannot tell what needs to be changed or what is wrong. I look at it and think this or that is not quite right but I'm not sure exactly what to change.

One technique I used to use when doing 'hard copy' artwork was to look at the drawing in a mirror. For some reason, I suppose because the drawing is reversed, the brain can then often discern better anything that is not quite right; because it is so used to seeing the image that a new 'angle' or view seems to click the right buttons.

Actually with computer graphics I suppose it would be easier as an image could just be reversed, to see what it looks like. Although I haven't actually tried this as I have only just thought of it ... hmmm.

Brilliant work Maya.

Regards

Su

[Crow Haven]

Thanks for your kind words!!! Yes, I know about the "mirror trick" too--actually my husband uses it when working on wood sculpture a lot. I haven't resorted to it yet, but I know it gives another aspect on shapes which can be helpful in figuring out where to change things. For me, though, if it looks poorly the right way it looks just as poor the wrong way [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] . The best thing for me is to just to leave it for a while and come back later after the eyes have had a rest--usually then the "problem" is glaringly apparent...then the situation is if it can really be fixed or if the whole thing is way off and needs a major overhaul. Different days make a difference too--some days it just all comes together perfectly, other days nothing seems right and that's the time to step back for a day.

I don't have any "tricks" for this--pretty much just the standard approach and very similar to the way Newton's tut shows it. Layers of diffused transparencies and feathering--close colors for getting the blended effect. Using "blends" isn't as accurate for me, so I just mixed blends a few times in the hair was all. The transparency layers, for me, is the fastest and most controlled--true, you can ungroup blends and select individual ones to change, but this also seems to create more shapes than is necessary at times to go through. I edit down through lots of transparencies and don't want any more than necessary to work through. This works well for me--on another portrait perhaps more blends would be used...just depends.
Vladimyr's style, on the most recent "Xena", is a much more blended effect--but this can be accomplished the same way, just use less detail and overall softening of the features for an oil-paint effect, as is Newton's--everything you need really is in Newton's tut, and I would recommend everyone study it who wants to do portraits in a similar syle [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img].
Thanks again Su!!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
---As The Crow Flies!---
Maya

[RAMWolff44]

I would love to see your technique on this piece. Perhaps, if you could manage the time, show us how you you did it step by step.

As you know I still do most of my "human" stuff in photoPaint and would love any excuse to try it in XaraX. I just looked at Vladimyr's stuff and the amount of little tiny pieces would boggle my mind. Like you and Su were discussing, you spend to much time staring at the project and you loose your perspective. I know that I would in such a case. I would have to walk away from it quite a bit and I am not one to do that. I read that you used minimal layers of color to get her done, I want to learn that trick.

So how about it??? Pretty Please [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Thank you Maya

RAMWolff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[Briar]

I have to add my congrats to the rest.
Lovely work.

Brian.

[Crow Haven]

I really appreciate your kind comments!!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

RAMWolff--a "step-by-step" would still be a huge endeavor, and would be far too big a "tut" for the forum probably. There are a lot of pieces in this one, I can't say if there are fewer than in Vladimyr's. Possibly there are because of the facial angle on mine and with simpler lighting and background...if I were to try to duplicate Vladimyr's it could be I'd end up with about the same as he has---I don't know how many layers he used without the .xar file. I can tell you, though, that being very close with your colors will result in fewer layers...what I mean by this is, like when I begin a face, I start with a medium color for the skintone (that which is closest to most of the face's coloration). The next areas, after the eyes, which will be shaded are the nose and lips (eyes, I always do first and work on quite a bit right at the start) and these are of course a bit darker in color than the surrounding medium skin tone. Tip #1--overlay "elliptical" shaped transparencies of lighter tone or darker to shade and blend. I use elliptical most of the time--circular on places that are really round, such irises, but elliptical works better in most of the shaping. Just draw a rough shape of the area you want to cover with a transp. layer, choose no line color, elliptical, feather a bit, adjust the transparency--you can also use the profile to further adjust the way the transparency shades, play with the color, clone the layer if it needs to be just a bit more opaque, take a chance and duplicate the object which moves it down and to the right---often this just adds more blending fortuituously where you may need it next...One shape can be used many times with just resizing the last one you used, rotating it, etc.
Tip#2---don't forget to shade with lines too--there I used tapered ends on most lines, even for hair tips as it gives a better look. If you have trouble making small roundish highlights with the circle shape, try a short bit of line and give it a fat line width, shorten some more and it can work out fine too. Use transparencies on your lines, and also the bitmap fill for a very broken diffuse fine line. Don't forget the "airbrush" brush line--it can help delicate shading in places, but be warned that use of too many "fancy" brush strokes can lead to the DREADED OFFSET deletion of your work.
Tip#3---I'm sure you know this, but for anyone else, BE SURE TO SAVE YOUR WORK VERY FREQUENTLY, AND AT VARIOUS STAGES SAVE YOUR WORK UNDER ANOTHER NAME ("SAVE AS")so if something like that offset crud should happen you still have something to go back to. I did this several times on "Sandra". The more shapes you add the more chance there may be a crash.
Tip#4---draw the shadows...outline the eyes, but for nose and lips just draw shapes of the shadows' areas. Add detail lines last if needed--and when using lines make them transparent and keep that color-picker at hand to get the color right.
Tip#5---feather, feather, feather--even lines you use for shapes.
Tip#6---don't be afraid to overlay white transparencies to bring forward areas and highlight them...pile them on just like a "glazing" technique in oil painting---lots of very subtle transparent layers sometimes is what is needed. Experiment with the types of transparency also, "mixed" isn't always the best.

Basically, a lot of playing and experimenting goes on with each shape added. There it is just up to you and what you are trying for in coloration. If you want a more 3D look to a face you need more color and/or contrast between the bone structure shapes....this is the trickiest in some ways, since when you get to this stage the shading can reshape areas you don't want reshaped and then you wonder why the features are changing away from what is desired. There's no right or wrong way to do any of this, in fact I think practice at it is the best advice. Just jump in there and expect to work at it a while. Every new project will teach you better and faster ways of your own and it will get easier and easier with the experience. I wish I could show you what goes on in my mind as I work on something like this, what decisions I make at each addition as the picture changes constantly...when I might choose colors to use you wouldn't expect (experiment with underlayers of warmer or cooler colors in shadowed areas on the face, etc...). It would probably be about as exciting to go through this "mind" scan as I worked on something, as to watch grass grow [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] . Perhaps I may do a simpler portrait and try to key in on the main points...I'll think about it, see if I could make it coherent for others. I find myself just "winging it" most of the time I work on anything---I like to see what will happen next when I experiment, this often produces results I really like more than what I had planned! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
For now, please study Newton's tut---his is the only example I had to use, and what I learned from that is what basically I built on for "Sandra"...and it would be very easy to get an even softer look like Vladimyr uses doing the same things, just use more softly faded shapes and line elements.
Tip#7---practice, practice, practice.
Tip#8---Lord's tip: "remember what you see".
Tip#9---give yourself frequent eye breaks, like Gary advises.
Tip#10---patience, patience, patience, don't hurry yourself, don't be hard on yourself, you'll get it right.

Hope there is some help for you in this! I'll do some more portraits soon and perhaps I can work out the steps fully for one... [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
---As The Crow Flies!---
Maya

[This message was edited by Crow Haven on April 07, 2002 at 14:58.]

[Bob C.]

I've been away a few days and so much has taken place here.

This is lovely Maya and nice to read about some of your technique too.

Bob C.

[Crow Haven]

Glad you liked her too!!! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
---As The Crow Flies!---
Maya

[Ross Macintosh]

Thanks for posting your tips. I'm at work now (Ya its Sunday night and I have to work as usual) so I don't have time to study them. I look forward to doing so when I get the chance. Thanks.

Regards, Ross

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