Ranger portrait - help really appreciated

Acolet 2017-05-02 17:28:31 UTC #1

I've been having a lot of trouble with this portrait - I know something is fundamentally wrong (probably multiple things), but no matter how hard I've tried to find and fix it, it just doesn't work. And stupidly enough, I have no proper photo reference.

Normally I would drop it and start again, but this is really important to me (it will be a gift) and I've already dropped few attempts - I like this one, so I would love to find a way to make it work.

Things I'm struggling the most is -she should have almont shaped eyes and a mischievous -but not evil- grin.

and this is picture before my "repairs", if you want to critique this one instead, I have no problem going back and painting from this again, I think it captures far more spirit than the later version.

and just for reference (of how much I strayed from original ) , she should somewhat resemble herself from this picture

So what do you think? Salvageable? Or should i just start again?

jenniferbrincho 2017-05-02 20:29:13 UTC #2

Hi Acolet! Looks totally salvageable to me. Seems like the shape of her face is a little longer in the reference, and her hair is a little fluffier. Her lips are probably a tad fuller too, but your eyes seem like they are fine as-is. You could probably elongate them just slightly if you really wanted to.

Anyway, here's a quick paintover. I basically just moved around parts of the "uncorrected" version in the liquify filter.

Hope that helps! Your art is awesome.

RawSunlight 2017-05-02 21:00:30 UTC #3

Completely salvageable...in your sketch she has a cute vulnerability, which maybe isn't what you were going for, but is quite nice nonetheless

I kept your shape but defined the planes more... and then gave her those almond eyes and mischievous smile...flick between this and yours and hopefully you'll see how and why it's starting to achieve what you were after... good luck with it and hope this helps
H

exofley 2017-05-04 16:51:11 UTC #4

Those other two had some great advice honestly, took all I had to say haha. Either way I hoped you figured out what was wrong with your painting! if you did would you mind explaining to me? I feel like I might fall into this problem down the road and I'd believe it may help me when push comes to shove, thanks!

Acolet 2017-05-04 18:05:47 UTC #5

@jenniferbrincho Thank you so much!! The lines of the hairline in the paintover especially made me see how straight I made them. Also the eyes, you are right, they look more almond when they are elongated.
Thank you for taking the time to do it, it really gives a new perspective on what I was missing.

@hcserrano I really appreciate you doing this! The cocky raised eyebrow is exactly what I was going for but falling short of actually doing You got right that playful mischievous look that I need. I'll check the differences more closely when I get to painting. Thank you so much!!

@exofley I was thinking of doing a simple skull overlay to check if it's structurally right and then put all the great advice to try and make this work. I'll get to it this weekend (as I paint all day at my job and I learned the hard way that pushing myself to also paint when I get home does.. not end well :S ). I'll sure keep you guys updated!