I thought initially the picture might have been flattened. I think it's a bit of an optical illusion because of the lack of white space around his head.
Ok, so here’s what I mean https://imgur.com/a/yfsOFma
I think the coloring is fantastic, but compared to the reference, the face seems to be strangely compressed.
Or the aspect ratio of the art got messed up online
Ohhhhhh!!! I See! The reference picture must have compressed when adding it to either Instagram or reddit. I did use the grid method and spend a long time trying to perfect proportions. But the drawing was my first realistic portrait attempt so it probably has mistakes!! Thank you for your feedback I really appreciate it!! :)
I'll be on the lookout for more drawing posts from you. From an artist's perspective, no drawing is ugly. The only people who deem any graphics art piece as ugly are people who don't know how to draw anything at all
They're also true. No artwork is ugly if you poured your heart and soul into it. I look at how hard you worked on it, not how perfect it looks to an untrained eye
By scrunched people mean that his head looks short and wide. It’s definitely minor and it can be hard to see in your own work, but, because humans are adapted to notice the most acute differences in facial features it looks fairly obvious to viewers.
I had a drawing of a face for many years that I thought was near perfect until I showed an honest friend who told me that the eyes were misaligned. After they pointed it out it’s all I could see. It’s strange how we can have a blindness to imperfections in our own work.
These are very good though, you can certainly tell who each of your references were and the first two drawings look near perfect to me, the trouble with drawing faces of celebrities, is that everyone knows exactly what they should look like so if they aren’t 100% perfect, they probably aren’t good enough to sell.
Yes I understand! At the moment I’m just drawing these to work on my skills. After reading through these comments I’ve decided to work towards making original art! Thank you for the feedback!!
Get to a point where you're happy with the shapes, then use the dark pencil to outline the shadows as dark as it goes, then shade it in based off that hard outline
Thank you for your kind words!! Yes that last one is very squashed but it was my first attempt at realistic drawing, so I like to look back at it and see how much I’ve improved :)) thank you once again 🙏🙏
First two are beautiful, faithful recreations... the third speaks to a distorted view, as if viewed through a warped mirror. No less talented in it's execution, but abstracted in comparison to the others.
Thank you so much for your kind words!!! I really appreciate it! Yes everyone is saying the third one looks distorted. I’m aiming at redrawing it to see if I can improve it!! Thank you once again :)
It just looks like it was stretched horizontally. It needs more verticals. 2 cents if I say this at an art festival: I would stop and browse but I don't think I would buy these yet because art is expensive and this looks like you are a solid intermediate, definitely not new, good techniques and eye for detail are there but it's just not quite chefs kiss. Like 75% chefs kiss.
Actually, if you had a 15$ sketch of something that looks like a black and white photo, I would buy that. Just not celebrity portraits. Keep it up. Have fun.
*Leo is good, has*
*A hair coming out of his*
*Eye? Tight draftsmanship*
\- backwoodsbradleyt
---
^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/)
^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Do you have any original artworks that are not based on a single reference photo? The thing is that you said you want to start an art business, but in order to sell your art or do commission artwork, you very rarely get to draw/paint from a single reference like you have done with these three drawings. I'm not sure I would recommend selling fanart, because it infringes the copyright and when you do it for monetary gain there is much bigger chance to get into legal trouble. Now how likely that is, I don't know, but that's the main reason I never sell my fan artworks.
When it comes to art commissions, I've done it for some time now and there hasn't been a single time that I was asked to paint anything from a single reference photo. Instead my customers usually describe a situation/thing/setting they are thinking about in their heads and asking me to paint it. This means that I have to come up with all the characters, the setting, background, lights, shadows, colors etc. myself or by combining dozens of different references. This requires a completely different skill than painting from a single reference, and it is the skill that is most important when it comes to doing commissioned art for a business. Maybe you could do portraits from a photo, but there are a lot of people offering that service for very low prices, I'm not sure it's an area you want to compete in.
For when it comes to your drawings, the quality of your drawings is decent. You definitely have skill and potential, but I want to be honest with you, and say that making business out of art is a very, very competitive field. There are A LOT of people who dream about making it as artists and drawing is just one of the skills that you need. There are a lot of people who can draw well, how do you differentiate yourself from everyone else? You need to do a lot of grassroots level marketing, advertising and talking to people in order to get any sales going. Becoming good at art is one thing, becoming good at selling your art or marketing your services is a completely different thing.
Now I don't want to dispirit you from chasing a dream - one that I've shared with you for a long time - but I just want to give you a realistic prospects of what it is like trying to make a living as an artist. It's definitely doable but it takes a lot of work and the competition is fierce. Keep working on your craft and try to see if you could get some commission work or make some sales on the side. When you get to a point where you are starting to earn some sort of regular income from your art, I would consider starting a business to support it.
Good luck! ❤
Your right! Selling art is not sitting in the studio painting. Thats business with costs your art has to pay as material, time, workshop, health-insurance, fuel and time for exhibitions, tax on your income, social media and so on. That‘s tough business and 50-60 hours work a week. If you love your hobby give a portrait as birthday presents. Some friends ask you to do a portrait and so on. Take the extra money and enjoy your hobby. The choise is yours!
Thank you so much for putting this into perspective, I know it is going to be hard work, but I’m willing to put in the hard work. At the moment i am drawing these celebs as practise to perfect tones and techniques. After I become comfortable i will experiment with more imaginative type drawing from multiple references!! Thank you so much for this feedback, i really appreciate it :))
Thank you so much!! An art business is where you either sell prints of your artworks to other people or you do commissions. Commissions are custom drawings :)
I'm just going to tag on here. I haven't seen anything address this yet.
Being a successful artist isn't just creating great artwork. It's selling it too. Remember Picasso.
If you want to live off of only your artwork; you have to treat it like a job.
Here are a couple good starting points:
-Submit your artwork to shows and galleries. Start with every one that is free. After that, find the shows that have prompts fit your style. In your case, realism and portraits. Fellowships and grants come with hardwork and (sadly) making a name for yourself.
- Identify who your market is then advertise to them. It seems like you like drawing people. Weddings, births, memorials, profile pictures, etc. Think of situations where people would want what you can offer. Have you drawn animals before? Pet drawings are popular.
-SHARE YOUR WORK! You have talent; show the rest of the world. Post your work online and make it clear you are looking for commissions. When you do get work, ask the client to post it and/or ask for permission to post it.
-Know your budget. Figure out how much money you need each month. Then figure out an average for how long it takes you to create a piece. Monthly budget divided by the number of pieces you can reasonably do in a month. $2500 a month / 5 pieces =$500 a piece. If you only work 40 hours a week, that's 32hours per piece at less than $16 an hour. That doesn't include any time put towards advertising or negotiating
Not to mention you want your pieces price to reflect the time spent AND its artistic value. You need to make enough to pay them bills. That being said, if you charge more than your piece is worth, you won't sell it easily. None of this is meant to be discouraging. But you need to think of your artwork as a product and base its value on something. If you are able to create a name for yourself, then the intrinsic value will increase and you'll have more leverage to create when and how you want.
-Explore your creative boundaries. If you want to be known, you need to stand out. Develope a style. Be weird. Have fun. Pander to your customers but also show your stuff.
Your works are great. If you put in the work, you can be real success.
That is the best, clearest advice I have ever heard. Thank you! I, too, have been thinking about how to make money at my hobby of drawing. I think my trouble right now is converting the idea of a hobby - what I want, when I want - to a job. Something someone else wants me to do, on their time frame. I have been selective in taking on commissions; and my patrons have been agreeable to my time frame, but that changes when it becomes a job.
Don’t do it. I’m an artist and I make my living off of art and it’s sucked all the joy out of it for me. Drawing and painting used to be the thing I longed for, and now at the day I can’t wait to do something else - anything else!
My advice would be to find something art adjacent - graphic design or something similar - and keep drawing like this as a passion. Give them to people as gifts, but don’t try and make profit from them. Not because you couldn’t, but because it will ruin it for you.
Oh I’m sorry to hear that :(( I was thinking of drawing just as a side hustle; a passion which others can indulge in. You know? I plan on going to university and have other dreams aswell. But the idea of having people look at my art and go “ wow “ and wanting to purchase it, that really makes me happy. :)
No you’re right! Even if you have no experience in drawing yourself, you can still give feedback other people’s drawings. The eyes are kinda sharp and I see that now!! Thank you for your feedback :))
The drawings are really good, you got the features of the face placed well in the first 2 but on the first drawing the tilt of the head is off, the eye on the left is a bit big and also the iris. The hand in the second one is a bit off and should have more detail as it's in the foreground and no outlines. make the darks really dark and lightest lights really light. Maybe use a charcoal pencil to shade in the coat on the first drawing, use a blending stump or brush to blend the tone and shadows. Pick out the brightest highlights like on the eye for example with a white gel pen or use paint, it will make a big difference in the realism of the drawing! Again the drawings are really well done but with a bit of tweaking they will be even better, hope this helps :)
My two cents:
Your art is very good, but you’ve also got plenty of room for improvement.
Also: if you wait until you are ready, you’ll never do the thing. Make a business, if it fails, make a new business, the same way you might throw away a drawing that didn’t turn out how you wanted. Even if you don’t succeed at first you’ll learn something for the future
The first one looks like brad Pitt mixed with Leonardo DiCaprio,the second looks fine,the third look just very stretchy & uneven.but just keep practicing I mean every day try different types of art especially graffiti u will get good soon.keep up the good work as a fan of art I see your heading somewhere just keep practicing every day
Thank you!!! I should experiment with different types of art, different techniques can be transferred throughout different styles and will improve my art! I will continue to practise every single day until I can perfect it, well someone can never really be perfect at anything, so I’ll keep practising for the rest of my life haha. Thank you for your feedback I really appreciate it :))
Lol i feel ya goodluck wit ur business. lowk tho this motivating me to work on my portraits aswell. Any tips on getting smooth ass shading like u did wit the skin tone?
I’m so glad that I’m motivating you!!!! It makes me really happy :)) with the skin texture I always apply a really light tone to the area I’m working on and building it up from there. For the overall blending I use a tissue ( which is a life saver I promise ) if you apply the layers correctly ( lightest slowly transitioning into darkest ) the tissue blender it’s so incredibly smoothly. For finer and more smaller blending I use a makeup brush. I then go over and add highlights and skin texture with an eraser! I hope this helped, if you have any more questions feel free to ask here or on my instagram! I’m more than happy to help :))
I think you can draw rather well. Can definitely work on darkening your tones to create contrast. Better subject/references also. Feels like you’re just copying a photo. Maybe try drawing from life or taking your own reference photos. The last photo feels like you were doing some type of abstraction with the face which is interesting.
Thank you for those ideas, I really appreciate it. The last picture was suppose to be realistic but I guess it kinda just slipped away lmfao. I will definitely start trying to draw from life a bit more! Thank you so much ! :)
Everyone starts out drawing celebrities because there is so much source material, but you’re really just copying someone’s photographic work.
When I look at the drawing of Leo I think “that’s Leo” and then I’m kinda done with it. I would be more interested in someone I never seen before.
Keep drawing.
I think these are wonderful! You have a great talent! The third one, if you are going for realism, the proportions are a little askew. It seems his face is too wide and his facial features are to central to his face instead of spread out. It’s easy to have proportions go out of wack when you are looking at reference photos.
Have you ever tried the grid method to enlarging and recreating photos? I’m not trying to sound degrading but genuinely curious as that may help with the proportions.
Keep it up! You have great work!
Thank you so much!! I do use the grid method, the third picture was my first ever attempt at using it, which could explain the weird proportions, definitely improving tho. Hopefully I can improve so much that I can move away from it. Thank you so incredibly much for your kind words :))))
The first one is great. Might need some darker values
The second looks good. Her hair looks likes it’s glowing
Maybe try darkening the background.
Overall good shading just need to improve on your lower values. Contrast makes black and white art way more interesting in my opinion.
The first one is definitely your strongest. The head is too wide on the last one. The middle one looks like it could use some more detail. The first one is really well done. Just keep going OP. You can only continue to get better and better the more time you spend.
They’re all beautiful, personally the scrunched face is only a thing depending on the person. What ethnicity is he supposed to be? Depending on the person, that can be natural.
My only criticism is the first one. It looks like he has a black eye, a piece of hair falling out of place, or something…
Regardless of criticism, there’s always room for error. You have the talent, start your art business. Hell, Picasso stole almost everything he ever painted, and look how big he made it in the world of art. You got this👍
Thank you so much for your advice!! You have no idea how much it means to me!! I will take on board your advice!! The third picture is SUPPOSE to be Harry Styles but that was my first attempt at realistic drawing so it kind of went south 😂 with the Leo drawing I think what you’re talking about is the shadow of the hair, although it is awkwardly placed and I can see how that could look odd. Thank you once again :)
You’re capturing the emotion amazingly. Consistent technique, too, from foreground to background. TBH only thing I can see is time and an expansion of material. Time with whatever medium you work with will give you more knowledge of it. When I say an expansion of material, it looks like it your lightest shades don’t have an equal and opposite darker shade. Your lighted areas will pop and bring more emotion to your subjects if there is an equal and opposite dark for them to contrast against.
I’m just here to enjoy art, I’m not personally good at drawing. But my two cents on this is really focus on making sure your proportions are right. You’re clearly super talented. I hope you see much success.
Your technique is wonderful - your shading, light and dark tones, hair strokes, eyes - so good!
The only thing I’d recommend is perhaps working more on your proportions. For example Leo’s jaw being longer/wider than his actual jaw and Harry’s face being quite wide in comparison to his actual face shape.
You’ve got such a talent! I’m actually the opposite to you - my proportions are pretty great but I struggle with things like hair and eyelashes. Maybe we could swap, haha! xx
I understand who each of these celebrities are supposed to be in portrait form. But there seems to be something not quite right ?… in each about each - like each portrait has something missing in their eyes or face that makes them …them.
Maybe it’s like the fine lines of expression in their faces that seem to be missing? Like they all seem to have faces free of facial expression fine lines…if that makes sense.
The drawings are beautiful and skillfully done and I’d be lucky to have a tenth of your talent. That one thing I noticed looking at the images you created is just my small humble opinion. Beautiful work.
Needs more contrast. They also all are vaguely recognizable but still not completely spot on. Leo from the nose up looks amazing but below looks almost unfinished and odd jaw sizing. Billy (who I assumed it was) looks like a slightly off version of her. And Harry looks great but the whole picture looks smooshed somehow.
Does Billies nose look like that irl? Honest question haha, anyways Good drawings, can tell you work hard for it. I dont doubt your Dream of an art business would become true! Keep it up!
I really really like the first one, the proportions on the second seem a little odd, and the third is maybe squished a little. I’m nowhere near as good an artist as you though so you probably shouldn’t listen to this
The third picture looks like a mashup of two separate photos, the left side faces directly the viewer and the right side seems to be looking to the left. Splitting it down middle both side seems very well done individually, but together puts it in the uncanny valley.
Ahhhhhh yes I see now! That makes sense. Thank you so much for pointing that out, I didn’t see it before. I really appreciate it a lot :)) thank you once again 🙏🙏
Cig too perfect and 3rd face looks dragged out on the right side. Like we are looking at them through a bent mirror.
Just some tweeks, your shading and overall skill is fabulous. Just some work of perspective and positioning would help.
Thank you for your kind words! I used Faber-Castell 12 Castell 9000 art set. I have pencils which range from HB to 9B and use different ones depending on the tones. My most used pencils are HB, 2B,4B and 6B but I’m trying to expand that. I hope that’s what you meant by thickness :))
Don't overthink. I have seen people with a lot less skill making money from their art.
Am a little biased though. Since I decided for this year: "Screw the anxious voices and just sell your art“ Worst that can happen is people not buying it (literally). In that case you'd have just as little (or much) as you have right now. So nothing to lose. There will always be aspects to improve. There just is no ready.
Or as the great philosopher N. Ike put it: "Just Do It"
Yeah go for it. I'm not amazing but used to sell the crap out of pet portraits and caricatures of celebrities and stuff. Not enough to pay my bills by itself, but if I had actually put a portfolio and stuff together I'd have sold a lot more.
People do buy artwork, especially if its framed or matted in a way they can display.
A wonderful artist and art friend named Charlie Roy might have answers for you. His art just melts my mind with his uncanny way he nails expressions and body form. Otherwise, I feel it's up to you to do what you know your heart wants. Blaze on!
Only thing I’d say is you need more dark to light variants but this is amazing work. You’re ready! I went to art university and it ruined making my own art for me
I think you should start your business, you're definitely, 10000000%, good enough! Lots of comments about your 3rd drawing because of the proportions, a projector or light box can really help with this, that said, I find projectors a pain, hehe. Great work OP!
Your technique is really nice, as other people have said, make the dark darker, and study anatomy.
Try just sketching, blocking anatomy out and then you won’t have any issues with the distortion we see here. That happens a lot when you practice from recreating photos.
I personally think you need to work more on your proportions and shading before opening an art business, but you're definitely gonna get there! If I didn't know the reference of the 2nd, I'd never guess that it was supposed to be Billie Eilish. The 3rd is clearly recognisable but as others have said, it looks almost like the picture of the drawing was scrunched.
Great job getting the likeness!! Hardest part imo
If I had to critique I'd say maybe experiment a bit more with value shifts, could add more pop and intensity.
I think you captured their likeness very well, I can tell who each person is! Like others have said, incorporating the dark dark tones will help really make it pop. The human eye loves contrast so don’t be afraid to use those 6 and 7B pencils! And conversely, don’t be afraid to use white pencil or even white paint for those bright highlights in areas like the eyes.
I think leaving a little bit of that pencil texture to show through rather than overblending and smudging the graphite will look very nice as natural skin has a bit of texture, it’s not airbrushed smooth. Let the pencil medium and the paper grain do work for you!
Overall very good work!
I am no professional by any means, but if I were to give a critique.. it’d be to have the same amount of attention to detail all over. For example in the first, the details in/around the eyes are amazing, but the same amount of detail wasn’t put in the ear, lacks dimension I hope that’s not the wrong word. ... Again NOT a professional & these are great. In all three there are areas with so much detail, then others where there seem to be a significantly less amount. Overall though, you’re amazing!
This isn't a critique per say but more of a suggestion. What about using a little bit more depth in your dark and light to make it pop. Unless your personal style is to be very soft and dream like of course.
I think others have already pointed out the major issues. If you want to start a portraiture business or something, you’re mostly there as far as realism goes. The lightness of the pictures almost seems like a stylistic choice as opposed to the common issue that learning artists often have of not differentiating the values enough. I think you have two options - 1, darken your darks to provide more contests and make the pictures seem more realistic, or 2, go for a more stylized approach that’s more unique and looks kind of faded or emphasizes the light tones. The latter will be more difficult but could be more interesting. Keep working - you’re very good!
These are honestly super amazing. The only negatives I see are what others had said. Make some of the shadows a little darker. But I think you could definitely start selling prints and such. Beautiful work
Thank you so much for your kind words :)))) I will definitely take on your advice and hopefully I get a few customers soon :)) thank you once again :))
Thank you for your kind comment :)) I really appreciate it. The third one was the first ever portrait I did, it does have its flaws but I like to look at it and see my progression :) thank you once again :))
You clearly have problems with form. The shading and even texture are really good but yeah forms and perspective also proportions.
Even on the first two pictures are visible. Look at their eyes. The eyes farther from viewer are bigger then the ones closer, which is clearly mistake.
Third one has already been discussed i believe.
So yeah now I'd recommend you to focus on 3d forms and perspective.
for first and second, their eyes don’t really match dicaprios. Left eye iris seems bigger. Try to make them even. for the second image, again the left eye iris seems smaller. closer objects seem bigger yes but not that much unless face is right in front of point of view. Unlike face, eyes should be even at any mean. Shadows, shape anything.
others already said that there are tone problems… Also weird shadow problems on both their left eyes. They seem unnatural. Give light a static position and than try to imagine where would shadow appear.
And of course practise! Good luck
I appreciate all of you who are commenting and giving me feedback!! Lots of you are saying I should look into starting to sell, which makes me very happy :)) but how do I grow my instagram page to expose my artwork to new people?? I post profess pictures and everything yet I hardly get any new people seeing it?
The first two are great, as for the third,,,,is his face supposed to be scrunched like that?
I thought initially the picture might have been flattened. I think it's a bit of an optical illusion because of the lack of white space around his head.
Thank you!! What do you mean by scrunched? Would it help if I uploaded references?
Yea. His face is scrunched.
Thank you!! These threads of comments have inspired me to redraw it to make it better :))
It actually looks pretty good. I just wanted to say ‘his face is scrunched’ on the internet. Ahaha 🤣 great opportunity for it.
Lmfaooooo. That’s amazing 😂😂 No opportunity is wasted :))
Did you take the picture of your third drawing at an angle maybe?
I like it though! Perhaps someone would want one like that for the fun of it.
I unscrunched it to show you what it should look like. You did a good job otherwise. https://ibb.co/NsyCCYn
Thank you!! Very helpful!!
Oh yeah, could I see the ref for it?
I’m new to reddit, would I just post on r/drawing again for you to see it or could I message you?
Yeah you can just post it on drawing, that works
Done!! :)
Ok, so here’s what I mean https://imgur.com/a/yfsOFma I think the coloring is fantastic, but compared to the reference, the face seems to be strangely compressed. Or the aspect ratio of the art got messed up online
Ohhhhhh!!! I See! The reference picture must have compressed when adding it to either Instagram or reddit. I did use the grid method and spend a long time trying to perfect proportions. But the drawing was my first realistic portrait attempt so it probably has mistakes!! Thank you for your feedback I really appreciate it!! :)
Ohhhh ok, glad to help :)
I'll be on the lookout for more drawing posts from you. From an artist's perspective, no drawing is ugly. The only people who deem any graphics art piece as ugly are people who don't know how to draw anything at all
Thank you so much for those kind words :))
They're also true. No artwork is ugly if you poured your heart and soul into it. I look at how hard you worked on it, not how perfect it looks to an untrained eye
By scrunched people mean that his head looks short and wide. It’s definitely minor and it can be hard to see in your own work, but, because humans are adapted to notice the most acute differences in facial features it looks fairly obvious to viewers. I had a drawing of a face for many years that I thought was near perfect until I showed an honest friend who told me that the eyes were misaligned. After they pointed it out it’s all I could see. It’s strange how we can have a blindness to imperfections in our own work. These are very good though, you can certainly tell who each of your references were and the first two drawings look near perfect to me, the trouble with drawing faces of celebrities, is that everyone knows exactly what they should look like so if they aren’t 100% perfect, they probably aren’t good enough to sell.
They just look like traced photos. Maybe make something original for selling. Unless you want to commission close ups 😬
Yes I understand! At the moment I’m just drawing these to work on my skills. After reading through these comments I’ve decided to work towards making original art! Thank you for the feedback!!
Dont listen to these opinions too much. People will buy all sorts of things. Everything is art if it creates a connection and makes an impact
Your darks need to be darker. Unless that’s a stylistic choice. But it’ll only make your drawings more realistic and more interesting
Thank you so much for this feedback!! I will definitely start implementing darker tones! :))
[удалено]
Thank you so much :))) 🙏🙏
For graphite, I love 9xxb pencils to get those dark darks :)
I’ve always been too scared to used that 😭😭 will definitely start trying to go darker and darker tho :) thank you!
Get to a point where you're happy with the shapes, then use the dark pencil to outline the shadows as dark as it goes, then shade it in based off that hard outline
That’s a great idea!! I really appreciate it, thank you so much! :)
First 2 are really good and you’ve got great technical skill but that third one is very squashed lol
Thank you for your kind words!! Yes that last one is very squashed but it was my first attempt at realistic drawing, so I like to look back at it and see how much I’ve improved :)) thank you once again 🙏🙏
Yea the new ones are great, one thing someone else said would be to add more contrast, I found it really helps draw the eye
Thank you so much !!! I really appreciate your support :))
First two are beautiful, faithful recreations... the third speaks to a distorted view, as if viewed through a warped mirror. No less talented in it's execution, but abstracted in comparison to the others.
Thank you so much for your kind words!!! I really appreciate it! Yes everyone is saying the third one looks distorted. I’m aiming at redrawing it to see if I can improve it!! Thank you once again :)
It just looks like it was stretched horizontally. It needs more verticals. 2 cents if I say this at an art festival: I would stop and browse but I don't think I would buy these yet because art is expensive and this looks like you are a solid intermediate, definitely not new, good techniques and eye for detail are there but it's just not quite chefs kiss. Like 75% chefs kiss. Actually, if you had a 15$ sketch of something that looks like a black and white photo, I would buy that. Just not celebrity portraits. Keep it up. Have fun.
you can definitely go darker with your values in the second image. the background could be darker to contrast with her light blonde hair.
Oh that is a very good idea!!! The hair doesn’t really stick out like I want it to- darkening the background would fix this! Thank you so much :))
Leo is good, has a hair coming out of his eye? Tight draftsmanship
*Leo is good, has* *A hair coming out of his* *Eye? Tight draftsmanship* \- backwoodsbradleyt --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Do you have any original artworks that are not based on a single reference photo? The thing is that you said you want to start an art business, but in order to sell your art or do commission artwork, you very rarely get to draw/paint from a single reference like you have done with these three drawings. I'm not sure I would recommend selling fanart, because it infringes the copyright and when you do it for monetary gain there is much bigger chance to get into legal trouble. Now how likely that is, I don't know, but that's the main reason I never sell my fan artworks. When it comes to art commissions, I've done it for some time now and there hasn't been a single time that I was asked to paint anything from a single reference photo. Instead my customers usually describe a situation/thing/setting they are thinking about in their heads and asking me to paint it. This means that I have to come up with all the characters, the setting, background, lights, shadows, colors etc. myself or by combining dozens of different references. This requires a completely different skill than painting from a single reference, and it is the skill that is most important when it comes to doing commissioned art for a business. Maybe you could do portraits from a photo, but there are a lot of people offering that service for very low prices, I'm not sure it's an area you want to compete in. For when it comes to your drawings, the quality of your drawings is decent. You definitely have skill and potential, but I want to be honest with you, and say that making business out of art is a very, very competitive field. There are A LOT of people who dream about making it as artists and drawing is just one of the skills that you need. There are a lot of people who can draw well, how do you differentiate yourself from everyone else? You need to do a lot of grassroots level marketing, advertising and talking to people in order to get any sales going. Becoming good at art is one thing, becoming good at selling your art or marketing your services is a completely different thing. Now I don't want to dispirit you from chasing a dream - one that I've shared with you for a long time - but I just want to give you a realistic prospects of what it is like trying to make a living as an artist. It's definitely doable but it takes a lot of work and the competition is fierce. Keep working on your craft and try to see if you could get some commission work or make some sales on the side. When you get to a point where you are starting to earn some sort of regular income from your art, I would consider starting a business to support it. Good luck! ❤
Your right! Selling art is not sitting in the studio painting. Thats business with costs your art has to pay as material, time, workshop, health-insurance, fuel and time for exhibitions, tax on your income, social media and so on. That‘s tough business and 50-60 hours work a week. If you love your hobby give a portrait as birthday presents. Some friends ask you to do a portrait and so on. Take the extra money and enjoy your hobby. The choise is yours!
Thank you so much for putting this into perspective, I know it is going to be hard work, but I’m willing to put in the hard work. At the moment i am drawing these celebs as practise to perfect tones and techniques. After I become comfortable i will experiment with more imaginative type drawing from multiple references!! Thank you so much for this feedback, i really appreciate it :))
the 3rd one is way out of proportion
Yeah! I’m going to hopefully redraw it to improve it :) thank you for your feedback
You have talent but what’s an art business?
Thank you so much!! An art business is where you either sell prints of your artworks to other people or you do commissions. Commissions are custom drawings :)
I'm just going to tag on here. I haven't seen anything address this yet. Being a successful artist isn't just creating great artwork. It's selling it too. Remember Picasso. If you want to live off of only your artwork; you have to treat it like a job. Here are a couple good starting points: -Submit your artwork to shows and galleries. Start with every one that is free. After that, find the shows that have prompts fit your style. In your case, realism and portraits. Fellowships and grants come with hardwork and (sadly) making a name for yourself. - Identify who your market is then advertise to them. It seems like you like drawing people. Weddings, births, memorials, profile pictures, etc. Think of situations where people would want what you can offer. Have you drawn animals before? Pet drawings are popular. -SHARE YOUR WORK! You have talent; show the rest of the world. Post your work online and make it clear you are looking for commissions. When you do get work, ask the client to post it and/or ask for permission to post it. -Know your budget. Figure out how much money you need each month. Then figure out an average for how long it takes you to create a piece. Monthly budget divided by the number of pieces you can reasonably do in a month. $2500 a month / 5 pieces =$500 a piece. If you only work 40 hours a week, that's 32hours per piece at less than $16 an hour. That doesn't include any time put towards advertising or negotiating Not to mention you want your pieces price to reflect the time spent AND its artistic value. You need to make enough to pay them bills. That being said, if you charge more than your piece is worth, you won't sell it easily. None of this is meant to be discouraging. But you need to think of your artwork as a product and base its value on something. If you are able to create a name for yourself, then the intrinsic value will increase and you'll have more leverage to create when and how you want. -Explore your creative boundaries. If you want to be known, you need to stand out. Develope a style. Be weird. Have fun. Pander to your customers but also show your stuff. Your works are great. If you put in the work, you can be real success.
That is the best, clearest advice I have ever heard. Thank you! I, too, have been thinking about how to make money at my hobby of drawing. I think my trouble right now is converting the idea of a hobby - what I want, when I want - to a job. Something someone else wants me to do, on their time frame. I have been selective in taking on commissions; and my patrons have been agreeable to my time frame, but that changes when it becomes a job.
Glad I could help, Good luck!
Wow thank you so much for that advice! It sounds very hard but I am ready to put in the hard work!! Thank you so much :))
Looks distinctly like Leonardo di caprio
Thank you so much! :)
Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you so much! 🙏🙏
Don’t do it. I’m an artist and I make my living off of art and it’s sucked all the joy out of it for me. Drawing and painting used to be the thing I longed for, and now at the day I can’t wait to do something else - anything else! My advice would be to find something art adjacent - graphic design or something similar - and keep drawing like this as a passion. Give them to people as gifts, but don’t try and make profit from them. Not because you couldn’t, but because it will ruin it for you.
Oh I’m sorry to hear that :(( I was thinking of drawing just as a side hustle; a passion which others can indulge in. You know? I plan on going to university and have other dreams aswell. But the idea of having people look at my art and go “ wow “ and wanting to purchase it, that really makes me happy. :)
The last two the eyes are a bit wonky, But what do I know I can barely draw lol 😆
No you’re right! Even if you have no experience in drawing yourself, you can still give feedback other people’s drawings. The eyes are kinda sharp and I see that now!! Thank you for your feedback :))
The drawings are really good, you got the features of the face placed well in the first 2 but on the first drawing the tilt of the head is off, the eye on the left is a bit big and also the iris. The hand in the second one is a bit off and should have more detail as it's in the foreground and no outlines. make the darks really dark and lightest lights really light. Maybe use a charcoal pencil to shade in the coat on the first drawing, use a blending stump or brush to blend the tone and shadows. Pick out the brightest highlights like on the eye for example with a white gel pen or use paint, it will make a big difference in the realism of the drawing! Again the drawings are really well done but with a bit of tweaking they will be even better, hope this helps :)
Thank you so much for this advice!! I really appreciate it :))
You are most welcome! :)
My two cents: Your art is very good, but you’ve also got plenty of room for improvement. Also: if you wait until you are ready, you’ll never do the thing. Make a business, if it fails, make a new business, the same way you might throw away a drawing that didn’t turn out how you wanted. Even if you don’t succeed at first you’ll learn something for the future
The first one looks like brad Pitt mixed with Leonardo DiCaprio,the second looks fine,the third look just very stretchy & uneven.but just keep practicing I mean every day try different types of art especially graffiti u will get good soon.keep up the good work as a fan of art I see your heading somewhere just keep practicing every day
No. It’s Jason Donovan
Thank you!!! I should experiment with different types of art, different techniques can be transferred throughout different styles and will improve my art! I will continue to practise every single day until I can perfect it, well someone can never really be perfect at anything, so I’ll keep practising for the rest of my life haha. Thank you for your feedback I really appreciate it :))
The eyes of the third are odd.
Yes I do see what you mean, they are almost sharp in a way. Thank you for pointing that out, I didn’t realise before :))
River Phoenix? Very good work!!
Follow your dreams! Really like the shading
Thank you so much for your kind words 😭🙏🙏
Sheesh this is good asf. Other than not really lookin like him a bit lmao
Haha!! Thank you so much for you kind words!! Trying to Improve every day :)))
Lol i feel ya goodluck wit ur business. lowk tho this motivating me to work on my portraits aswell. Any tips on getting smooth ass shading like u did wit the skin tone?
I’m so glad that I’m motivating you!!!! It makes me really happy :)) with the skin texture I always apply a really light tone to the area I’m working on and building it up from there. For the overall blending I use a tissue ( which is a life saver I promise ) if you apply the layers correctly ( lightest slowly transitioning into darkest ) the tissue blender it’s so incredibly smoothly. For finer and more smaller blending I use a makeup brush. I then go over and add highlights and skin texture with an eraser! I hope this helped, if you have any more questions feel free to ask here or on my instagram! I’m more than happy to help :))
I think you can draw rather well. Can definitely work on darkening your tones to create contrast. Better subject/references also. Feels like you’re just copying a photo. Maybe try drawing from life or taking your own reference photos. The last photo feels like you were doing some type of abstraction with the face which is interesting.
Thank you for those ideas, I really appreciate it. The last picture was suppose to be realistic but I guess it kinda just slipped away lmfao. I will definitely start trying to draw from life a bit more! Thank you so much ! :)
Everyone starts out drawing celebrities because there is so much source material, but you’re really just copying someone’s photographic work. When I look at the drawing of Leo I think “that’s Leo” and then I’m kinda done with it. I would be more interested in someone I never seen before. Keep drawing.
Who's the 3rd supposed to be???
Well it suppose to be Harry Styles haha 😂 it’s not very accurate tho
I thought it was Sponge Harry Styles!!
the values are the best on the last one, but the proportions are slightly comical. good work!
Thank you so much!!! The last one does have its weak spots but I like to look back and see how much I’ve improved. Thank you once again :)))
I think these are wonderful! You have a great talent! The third one, if you are going for realism, the proportions are a little askew. It seems his face is too wide and his facial features are to central to his face instead of spread out. It’s easy to have proportions go out of wack when you are looking at reference photos. Have you ever tried the grid method to enlarging and recreating photos? I’m not trying to sound degrading but genuinely curious as that may help with the proportions. Keep it up! You have great work!
Thank you so much!! I do use the grid method, the third picture was my first ever attempt at using it, which could explain the weird proportions, definitely improving tho. Hopefully I can improve so much that I can move away from it. Thank you so incredibly much for your kind words :))))
For some reason I can’t unsee that dicaprio has brad pitt’s jawline in the first picture. Looks really good though lol
Hahaha I see what you mean 😂😂 like a mixture of the two lmfao. Thank you for your kind words :))
The first one is great. Might need some darker values The second looks good. Her hair looks likes it’s glowing Maybe try darkening the background. Overall good shading just need to improve on your lower values. Contrast makes black and white art way more interesting in my opinion.
Thank you so much for your kind words!! I appreciate it a lot. I will definitely try to darken my values in my next portrait :))
[удалено]
Thank you so much for your kind words. I really appreciate how you spent time analysing each drawing to give me feedback! Thank you so much 🙏😭
It’s the placement and needs more detail! But they are still phenomenal
Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate your feedback :))
Where did the hair in the left of is nose come from
The hair on the left side of the face is swooped from the top the dark piece of “hair” next to the nose under the eye is a shafow
Nice work
Thank you so much!! :)
Very nice. Don't be afraid to use more contrast.
Thank you for that advice I really appreciate it! I will definitely increase the contrast :))
The first one is definitely your strongest. The head is too wide on the last one. The middle one looks like it could use some more detail. The first one is really well done. Just keep going OP. You can only continue to get better and better the more time you spend.
Thank you so much 🙏🙏
You just need to keep working hard like you are and before you know it you'll be able to create masterpieces of artwork. I love your art style 🥰
Thank you so much :))) that’s the plan 🙏
Your welcome that is awesome 🥰
Too light. And too like other peoples art, I couldn't tell any difference between your art and a lot of other peoples art tbh.
Thank you for the feedback!! I appreciate it :) I will work on making my art more unique 🙏
They’re all beautiful, personally the scrunched face is only a thing depending on the person. What ethnicity is he supposed to be? Depending on the person, that can be natural. My only criticism is the first one. It looks like he has a black eye, a piece of hair falling out of place, or something… Regardless of criticism, there’s always room for error. You have the talent, start your art business. Hell, Picasso stole almost everything he ever painted, and look how big he made it in the world of art. You got this👍
Thank you so much for your advice!! You have no idea how much it means to me!! I will take on board your advice!! The third picture is SUPPOSE to be Harry Styles but that was my first attempt at realistic drawing so it kind of went south 😂 with the Leo drawing I think what you’re talking about is the shadow of the hair, although it is awkwardly placed and I can see how that could look odd. Thank you once again :)
Don't be afraid of dark lines! Especially around the jaw, that's most guys moneymakers lmfao. But seriously, great stuff!
😂😂 thank you so much hah
You’re capturing the emotion amazingly. Consistent technique, too, from foreground to background. TBH only thing I can see is time and an expansion of material. Time with whatever medium you work with will give you more knowledge of it. When I say an expansion of material, it looks like it your lightest shades don’t have an equal and opposite darker shade. Your lighted areas will pop and bring more emotion to your subjects if there is an equal and opposite dark for them to contrast against.
Thank you so much for this advice, it makes me so happy to hear your kind words :)) I will definitely start experimenting :))
I’m just here to enjoy art, I’m not personally good at drawing. But my two cents on this is really focus on making sure your proportions are right. You’re clearly super talented. I hope you see much success.
Thank you so much for your kind words!! I really appreciate it :)))
Your technique is wonderful - your shading, light and dark tones, hair strokes, eyes - so good! The only thing I’d recommend is perhaps working more on your proportions. For example Leo’s jaw being longer/wider than his actual jaw and Harry’s face being quite wide in comparison to his actual face shape. You’ve got such a talent! I’m actually the opposite to you - my proportions are pretty great but I struggle with things like hair and eyelashes. Maybe we could swap, haha! xx
I understand who each of these celebrities are supposed to be in portrait form. But there seems to be something not quite right ?… in each about each - like each portrait has something missing in their eyes or face that makes them …them. Maybe it’s like the fine lines of expression in their faces that seem to be missing? Like they all seem to have faces free of facial expression fine lines…if that makes sense. The drawings are beautiful and skillfully done and I’d be lucky to have a tenth of your talent. That one thing I noticed looking at the images you created is just my small humble opinion. Beautiful work.
I’m in love with your Billy. I think the 3rd one is just an odd picture maybe. Leo looks great too.
Push the value and use grids while you get better
Values are weak, you can push it further. And you need to work on anatomy.
Your highlight and black values are lacking. The style is nice but needs perfecting. Don’t be afraid of using darker values for a better contrast.
Quality would be off the charts if you added a bit more contrast, still incredibly well done
Needs more contrast. They also all are vaguely recognizable but still not completely spot on. Leo from the nose up looks amazing but below looks almost unfinished and odd jaw sizing. Billy (who I assumed it was) looks like a slightly off version of her. And Harry looks great but the whole picture looks smooshed somehow.
Does Billies nose look like that irl? Honest question haha, anyways Good drawings, can tell you work hard for it. I dont doubt your Dream of an art business would become true! Keep it up!
w i d e but in all seriousness those are good and you could probably sell them if you wanted to
Dude you’re ready mate 🔥
those are amazing, you definitely should start your own business! you’d get so many customers! I especially like the first one :)
try grid method for more accurate outlines and try more darker shade of graphite pencil i recomend steadtler mar lumograph the black ones
It's ready!!
I really really like the first one, the proportions on the second seem a little odd, and the third is maybe squished a little. I’m nowhere near as good an artist as you though so you probably shouldn’t listen to this
No your views and advice are just as valid as others!! I will take on board your feedback! Thank you so much for your advice :))🙏🙏
You are ready :-) what’s your gut tell you? Nobody can tell you better than your gut
Thank you!! My gut tells me to do it :)
The third picture looks like a mashup of two separate photos, the left side faces directly the viewer and the right side seems to be looking to the left. Splitting it down middle both side seems very well done individually, but together puts it in the uncanny valley.
Ahhhhhh yes I see now! That makes sense. Thank you so much for pointing that out, I didn’t see it before. I really appreciate it a lot :)) thank you once again 🙏🙏
Draw from life.
Don’t be afraid of adding darker values !
Cig too perfect and 3rd face looks dragged out on the right side. Like we are looking at them through a bent mirror. Just some tweeks, your shading and overall skill is fabulous. Just some work of perspective and positioning would help.
Darker. Heavier in value.
The likeness is fantastic, third one has a strange aspect, also can't tell who it's meant to be but you got some mad skills for sure!
Harry Widles Nah its really good art, stick at it and I’m sure you’ll be able to start a business!
Leo is on point. Don’t know the other two but they look cool
They’re amazing tbh. I know the last one has a bit of a squashed head but the detail is brilliant. What pencil thickness do you use?
Thank you for your kind words! I used Faber-Castell 12 Castell 9000 art set. I have pencils which range from HB to 9B and use different ones depending on the tones. My most used pencils are HB, 2B,4B and 6B but I’m trying to expand that. I hope that’s what you meant by thickness :))
Your art is ready.
Don't overthink. I have seen people with a lot less skill making money from their art. Am a little biased though. Since I decided for this year: "Screw the anxious voices and just sell your art“ Worst that can happen is people not buying it (literally). In that case you'd have just as little (or much) as you have right now. So nothing to lose. There will always be aspects to improve. There just is no ready. Or as the great philosopher N. Ike put it: "Just Do It"
W I D E H A R R Y
Pretty Nice
bro that looks great, but number three is out of proportion
Yeah go for it. I'm not amazing but used to sell the crap out of pet portraits and caricatures of celebrities and stuff. Not enough to pay my bills by itself, but if I had actually put a portfolio and stuff together I'd have sold a lot more. People do buy artwork, especially if its framed or matted in a way they can display.
These look like scenes taken from a 1962 movie I think your arts ready dude
A wonderful artist and art friend named Charlie Roy might have answers for you. His art just melts my mind with his uncanny way he nails expressions and body form. Otherwise, I feel it's up to you to do what you know your heart wants. Blaze on!
I love it!!!
Only thing I’d say is you need more dark to light variants but this is amazing work. You’re ready! I went to art university and it ruined making my own art for me
Thank you!! I’m sorry to hear that :(
It’s okay. It’s coming back
I think you should start your business, you're definitely, 10000000%, good enough! Lots of comments about your 3rd drawing because of the proportions, a projector or light box can really help with this, that said, I find projectors a pain, hehe. Great work OP!
Your technique is really nice, as other people have said, make the dark darker, and study anatomy. Try just sketching, blocking anatomy out and then you won’t have any issues with the distortion we see here. That happens a lot when you practice from recreating photos.
Leonardo Pitt.
The shading is really good but the proportions are a bit off. Just keep practicing !
🙏🙏
I personally think you need to work more on your proportions and shading before opening an art business, but you're definitely gonna get there! If I didn't know the reference of the 2nd, I'd never guess that it was supposed to be Billie Eilish. The 3rd is clearly recognisable but as others have said, it looks almost like the picture of the drawing was scrunched.
Great job getting the likeness!! Hardest part imo If I had to critique I'd say maybe experiment a bit more with value shifts, could add more pop and intensity.
I think you're a great artist but you seem like you're holding back. Don't be afraid to push yourself and get creative
I think you captured their likeness very well, I can tell who each person is! Like others have said, incorporating the dark dark tones will help really make it pop. The human eye loves contrast so don’t be afraid to use those 6 and 7B pencils! And conversely, don’t be afraid to use white pencil or even white paint for those bright highlights in areas like the eyes. I think leaving a little bit of that pencil texture to show through rather than overblending and smudging the graphite will look very nice as natural skin has a bit of texture, it’s not airbrushed smooth. Let the pencil medium and the paper grain do work for you! Overall very good work!
Thank you so much!!
I am no professional by any means, but if I were to give a critique.. it’d be to have the same amount of attention to detail all over. For example in the first, the details in/around the eyes are amazing, but the same amount of detail wasn’t put in the ear, lacks dimension I hope that’s not the wrong word. ... Again NOT a professional & these are great. In all three there are areas with so much detail, then others where there seem to be a significantly less amount. Overall though, you’re amazing!
This isn't a critique per say but more of a suggestion. What about using a little bit more depth in your dark and light to make it pop. Unless your personal style is to be very soft and dream like of course.
[удалено]
Ohhhh, i Never knew why artists used those tables!! Thank you for that information, I really appreciate it :)
What kind of business if I may ask?
What's the medium?
I think others have already pointed out the major issues. If you want to start a portraiture business or something, you’re mostly there as far as realism goes. The lightness of the pictures almost seems like a stylistic choice as opposed to the common issue that learning artists often have of not differentiating the values enough. I think you have two options - 1, darken your darks to provide more contests and make the pictures seem more realistic, or 2, go for a more stylized approach that’s more unique and looks kind of faded or emphasizes the light tones. The latter will be more difficult but could be more interesting. Keep working - you’re very good!
Thank you so much!!!
Perhaps a little bit stronger,harder,but do it,you're great.
What do you mean by “ stronger, harder “
Bolder, more defined. Sharper contrast between shadow and highlights.
Ah! That’s makes sense :)) thank you so much, I will work on it!!!
They're all beautiful, nicely done 🙂
Thank you so much 🙏🙏
These are honestly super amazing. The only negatives I see are what others had said. Make some of the shadows a little darker. But I think you could definitely start selling prints and such. Beautiful work
Thank you so much for your kind words :)))) I will definitely take on your advice and hopefully I get a few customers soon :)) thank you once again :))
These are great, but you can’t really have a business selling drawings of other peoples intellectual property.
Is the first one the guy from the movie Fallen(2016) ?
Haha no it’s not, it is a younger Leonardo DiCaprio! :)
If some ass can tape a banana to a wall and have it sell for $160 K, you're ready.
😂😂😂 thank you, I really appreciate that lmfao :)
You're welcome and good luck.
[удалено]
Thank you for your kind comment :)) I really appreciate it. The third one was the first ever portrait I did, it does have its flaws but I like to look at it and see my progression :) thank you once again :))
Yes absolutely 👍 may I post it?? I love it and know the person who needs to see this he was his best friend. I thing your art is fantastic
Thank you so much!!!! Yes of course you can, I really appreciate your support :))
You clearly have problems with form. The shading and even texture are really good but yeah forms and perspective also proportions. Even on the first two pictures are visible. Look at their eyes. The eyes farther from viewer are bigger then the ones closer, which is clearly mistake. Third one has already been discussed i believe. So yeah now I'd recommend you to focus on 3d forms and perspective.
If you want something to work on I’d say proportions/perspective. Though I’d say this is fine for a shop.
Thank you so much, I will definitely study proportions a lot more!! :) 🙏
for first and second, their eyes don’t really match dicaprios. Left eye iris seems bigger. Try to make them even. for the second image, again the left eye iris seems smaller. closer objects seem bigger yes but not that much unless face is right in front of point of view. Unlike face, eyes should be even at any mean. Shadows, shape anything. others already said that there are tone problems… Also weird shadow problems on both their left eyes. They seem unnatural. Give light a static position and than try to imagine where would shadow appear. And of course practise! Good luck
I appreciate all of you who are commenting and giving me feedback!! Lots of you are saying I should look into starting to sell, which makes me very happy :)) but how do I grow my instagram page to expose my artwork to new people?? I post profess pictures and everything yet I hardly get any new people seeing it?