Flesh tone experiment with Young's latest

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Michael Tse

A Fixture
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Messages
1,072
Location
Moon
Hi all,

Been a long time since I last posted a thread. The air remains fresh in PF.

Recently came under fire due to my consistently candid comments with some of the fellow hobbylists' works. No harm meant and sincere apologies to all parties offended.

I am hugely inspired by Mr Ishii's take on figure painting, AND of course his sculpting style too. Here is my clumsy act as a copy cat. If one can't rock like a rock star, walk like one at least. And this is me walking that walk. Looking stupid but no pride to lose.

The last picture actually shows a previous step, with uneven tones and way too visible strokes. Airbrushing is then applied, modestly sacrificing some subtler "whiter" highlights.

Please excuse my chaotic arrangements. The bottom three pics refer to the above text whereas the top three are adjustments and progress following the first full page of comments made by kind-hearted PF fellas.

Bottom two pics show latest progress, revolving around the involvement of Prussian Blue for deepest shadows.


Thanks
Michael
 

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The tones looks pretty good, however, I am not sure at what stage you are in the painting. To my eye, it looks like you have started but not completed the highlighting process, and have yet to start doing the shadows. I think what you got so far looks great, but need a few more highlights and then some shadows. Granted, I am not familiar with the person's work who you are trying to imitate, and perhaps his style is one that lacks contrast. Either way keep it up! It is always fun trying to emulate someone's work you admire. I have done that in the past as well and found it to be a very educational and rewarding experiment.
 
Too bad I missed those candid comments of yours....!

Anyway, I think you show us something quite nice here. You definiteley need some more tonal variation, even more than added contrast in my opinion, but this sure already looks quite human. Maybe some subtle filters of green or blue below the eyes, and some warmer reds below the nose, around the eyes and the lower cheeks.
And the 5 o'clock shadow of course.

This will turn out very well I think! Will be following your progress.

Cheers,
Adrian
 
I think that you're heading in the right direction. I'll be candid,:D I think that it's a bit on the pink side.
Carl.
 
Well done!

Hi Michael!

I like the way you begun to paint this fellow. I will follow it(y)
 
It's probably my PC, but I'm picking up the tones as almost a lavender shade.
Amazing to me that an airbrush can be used on something this small...good luck.
 
I don't think so; my monitor is calibrated and the pinks are definitely pink. It may be partly due to the ambient light, though. I expect that it will clear up as the painting process continues.
 
Thanks a lot everyone for dropping by and contributing your thoughts!

Yes it was too pink and there was not enough white. Pink has always been my thing. And this issue definitely needs looking into. How about the new set of pics now? (I guess it will still be too pink for some...) What happened in the last set was that I mist- airbrushed the whole piece with a flesh mix where Old Rose of Vallejo prevails. And without any further steps, such as compensating for loss of highlight, I published them. Lesson learnt.

Note the red nose. It is no success. But this marks the beginning of my struggle to depict cold weather in the decades to come. For what worse bitch than an unfogiving winter can a (underequipped) WW2 militaryman imagine? This is what I have been referring to as Mr Ishii's strength as a painter (one of).

Now that I have done the beard this way, blonde hair is no longer an option for me. And there go my favourite blue eyes too. This got me thinking. To favour the paint job's referencability (if this word exists), light grey pupils would be perfect. I have read about, and befriended Eastern European persons with such eye colour and it certainly beguiles me as much as blue.

Lips are not done either. Very visible (to my standard) light flesh strokes surround the mouth, which I hope will pay off handsomely if I do the lips right via the magic of contrast.

Thanks for wishing me good luck. We all know I desperately needs it.
 
Why did you change the original pictures in your first post? The comments after that post relate to those images and as such now don't make as much sense. Also the progress you've made from those first images to the current state of play cannot be seen. Surely it would be better to post the new images in your last post.

Alan
 
alanmac said:
Why did you change the original pictures in your first post? The comments after that post relate to those images and as such now don't make as much sense. Also the progress you've made from those first images to the current state of play cannot be seen. Surely it would be better to post the new images in your last post.

Alan
Click to expand...

Sorry Alan that was rather inconsiderate of me. I simply haven't thought about that and your reminder is much appreciated. The original pics are now restored and bolded text added to explain the order.

Many thanks!
 
Michael

Why not leave the original post as it is, then the comments made logically follow on from that. Then the last post describing the next set of changes with those photos make a logical progression rather than all this jumping about and text changing which then gets the responses out of context. It seems to be the way most people do their work in progress blogs and make senses to me.

Alan
 
alanmac said:
Michael

Why not leave the original post as it is, then the comments made logically follow on from that. Then the last post describing the next set of changes with those photos make a logical progression rather than all this jumping about and text changing which then gets the responses out of context. It seems to be the way most people do their work in progress blogs and make senses to me.

Alan
Click to expand...

Alan,

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to return to my old infamous, candid self. This is due to my vanity at work. I have worked quite hard and for quite a few hours to get to the current stage, and I do hope the progress to show up on the homepage, even before people have clicked into the post itself. As it stands, this purpose is served, as the picture associated with the post on the home page has been updated by the system after some time.
 
I think the red on the nose is a nice touch, but as you're trying to give the impression of cold, I would go with a slightly bluer tinge.
Carl.
 
He is really looking good. I like where you are going with him and it is obvious you have been putting serious thought into painting techniques. Don't be afraid to take the advice of adding a touch of blue to your mix for under the eyes and the darkest shadows. It really does add the dimension that you desire. I look forward to seeing you complete this one.
 
I know it's not done but I like what I see here.

I like the subtle contrast you have so far. This is a more realistic approach IMO.
I think that you do need to give it a variety of different skin tone, though.
I prefer colors like green, purple, lavender, crimson, etc. to change skin tone.
 
Carl and Mike,
Thanks for the tip! I will brave thru it since you both mention it. Seems important.

Taesung, thanks a lot for the suggestions. It's true that my motto thus far has been "Make it pink, make it subtle". And my approach never is bold enough in terms of variation because I am quite the chicken... Allow me to look into these colour choices you recommend. I know for sure I will be rewarded.

And thanks everyone for being so generous with information and opinions!
 
Michael,

Despite your vanity :) I think it is looking really nice! The added shades really helped to bring out the features of the face. I do think, however, that the 5'oclock shadow is too monotone. You can even highlight and shade this area as well to add more interest and depth to the face. Am looking forward to the next step!!
 

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