Brutal feedback welcome
lack of contrast in the eyes is bothering me, bc there're darker spots in the paining. Also the neck and shoulder just seems neglected
Agreed. Everything below the main figure’s mouth feels muddy. I think I want more definition on the two secondary mouths because right now they’re blending too much in a way that makes the overall effect less clear. To be honest though, I had to think for a moment before recognizing anything that I really wanted fixed ; this painting is gorgeous
Yes, my only thing I could pull out was a refinement on the lips cause they looked like hands and fingers at first glance. otherwise its an amazing picture- very well executed and the colors are striking, but not over bearing.
Adding on to the eyes, the subject’s left pupil is higher up than the right one
Colors are muddy and the light source on the second set of lips (the unattached ones) looks off from the rest of the painting.
I agree with the contrast comment. The center corners of both eyes should the darkest spots, but they get lost in everything else.
Love the concept though.
The eyes could use some more detail they look blurry and up the contrast
I like it, so fuck you very much you worthless bastard
I get that you're joking but some of the other comments also Crack me up because I feel like a lot of people are interpreting "hard criticism" as "just be fuckin' mean" without the tounge in cheek, and its wild reading all the comments. I too like the painting. I don't really have any constructive criticism.
That's why I said it... I wanted to give praise but I didn't have any criticism of the work to make it fit the assignment. Had to go personal.
I love the piece. Do i think there should be a tinge more definition to the eyes? Yes. It could set a vibrant, almost aggressive glare as if a person is falling apart and can’t stop it. Am I gonna sit here and shit on a piece? No. So many people in these comments did NOT understand the assignment.
Hard criticism isn’t roasting.
Totally. It's virtually impossible to truly evaluate color values in a painting via online photos anyway. Ever seen something in person that totally changed how it affected you? Of course you have.
Unbalanced feedback isn't super helpful unless you already think you're shit. The feedback sandwich often helps, even when someone knows you're doing it: praise-critique-praise. "I like the concept. Maybe it would be more effective if you (insert critique). If you tweak that, it'll add to an already strong piece."
THE PAINTER IS DENIS LEBECQ IT TOOK ME TRACKING DOWN FHE EXACT GALLERY BY PICTURES OF STREETS AND THE INSIDE AND IT TOOK FOREVER BUT I FOUND HIM
DENIS LEBECQ
I found his works at Gallery Rue Toulouse in Carmel, California. The entire gallery is sick and my favorite in the whole area. Huge diversity of styles and two floors. I couldn’t get enough.
He says “After years of searching, I finally found the red I was looking for. A red that makes you react and that you don’t forget.” He wasn’t kidding. I think about that painting all the time.
I think catharsis is the most useful part of art, in any form. I really do love your enthusiasm.
Sometimes I'll hand write a thank you letter to a creator. I've gotten a few responses, which was nice, but the writing and sending is the best part.
It’s the “hey i love your work, this piece is burned into my brain”
(Sorry i couldn’t spend more than my car loan on it 😭)
Yes yes!!!!! The irl vs digital evaluation thing is so so important. I take pictures of my paintings and want to throw away my camera AND my piece because now they both look different so one is right and one is wrong and yay now i hate them BOTH!!!
Which is totally unfair and cruel to yourself. Like I’m one of those unicorns with an extra cone that can see those extra values most people can’t so it’s even more of a stark contrast seeing something digitally vs in person because screens aren’t capable of perfectly reproducing physical media effect.
People, especially other artists!!! need to be way more focused on the realities of media when they critique.
And thank you for mentioning how a piece affected you in person. I caught a glimpse of this incredible painting by this… french artist, i believe, who incorporates asphalt in his paints to give ridiculously neat texture. It was like 5 feet tall and a couple feet across. I was busy but i kept thinking about the flash i caught it so i went back.
The painting was a single shade of red with black paint for the subjects and asphalt for texture. I mean I stood there for an hour totally enthralled by it. I still can’t explain how that painting wrapped its claws around my soul. It wasn’t… pretty? I mean it WAS but it was such a violent display of this red asphalt almost looking like lava but the subject was of a person in a boat in a harbor
It was unsettling and intriguing and beautiful and awful to look at. There’s no way in hell a photo would have been able to capture it. Digital art and photos of pieces are not the same as a physical piece
That's a cool story 🙂 if you ever make it to the Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian, Kehinde Wiley's Obama portrait is a master class in vibrant colors that truly pop. Not so on a screen.
It's a nice painting and I generally enjoy the blurring but to make the blurred features feel intentional and not a mistake you need one area of tight refined detailed. I think even just refining the second pair of lips or the second nose could give us more to work with and provide a little more interest by showing depth. Maybe the features closer to the camera are more refined, maybe the face farther away from the camera is more refined. It just needs one moment of detail otherwise it just feels like an uncertain, muddy painting to me.
I love the idea, I just think it could be more. More contrast, more saturation, more confidence
The area around the jaw feels very muddy, and the eyes, which are clearly the main focus, get lost in the rest of the face. It feels very experimental right now, but if you make things look a little more deliberate, this could be a very striking piece
I’ve got no crits here. I like the rough juxtaposition of the features, the splotchiness and the values of color. It’s like you painted a human glitch. I dig it.
There are two faces here in fragments but one is more complete and is lighted to be a clear focal point. If you want to go for an abstraction, you want less representation, I would have multiple fractured faces and no clear "true" perspective. Otherwise it just looks like you tried and failed to jazz up a boring portrait. But are still presenting as a portrait, not quite like a surrealist or abstract commentary on the concept of identity?
It's much better than majority of art submitted here. There are already a lot of great advices here and tips which you should apply. I would double down on continuing to learn the head structure. Props for trying concept beyond just simple portrait painting, but all conceptual critique you received is legit. I would add that you need to consider more complex and interesting color palette. Right now you have pink face and green background. Those colors compliment each other, but they do not communicate beyond that. Try finding different shades of red, have shades of green on the skin itself, vary temperature of color in shadows and light, use different shades of green as well.
Edit: yes there are some different shades here and there, but not enough to create a complex interesting color palette.
The eyes seem a bit dull is what I first noticed. I think adding some of color or highlight would really do this piece justice. Otherwise, I love it :)
You accidentally drew two mouths and two noses
I hate how good it is
Lmaooo i was trying to think of a critique and this was all i could come up with too. reminds me of Jenny Saville a bit whose work i love.
Nothing to criticize. Bold. Confident. Visceral.
Same. I forgot the artist but he did that series called “glitch”. Reminds me of that but green. This artist used mainly blues.
A conceptual critique: the gimmick of the layers could be interesting, but I want either more or none of it. We have a duplicate mouth and a bit of a jaw but that’s it really. There’s not a double vision above the nose. And the left side (our left) jaw thing is a bit confusing/awkward. The rest of the abstractions are just conspicuous patches of paint on top, so I don’t feel like you’re seeing or saying much with them.
What’s the idea—a fractured memory? A hyper focus on particular parts of her? Painting time like the cubists by showing multiple versions at once? The fleshy patch on her hair and many of the green blotches don’t really do any of that. Whereas the part where the eye on our right merges both versions of the face, with a such a subtle imperfect circle of the iris—that’s great. More of that type of thing please. And less of “green paint here, green paint here.”
Some other points
Do you want duplications to show us the same thing or different things? If they are essentially the same, it feels more literal, like a camera lens or a rainy window, or studying a photo. If they are different (different mouth or eyebrow expressions for instance) it will feel more like something changing over time or seeing multiple aspects at once. Food for thought.
It feels like you don’t care that much about the background. But if you’re going to facture images in space, then the space matters on both sides of an edge. Cezanne or the Analytical Cubists might be examples.
Be mindful of your focal points of contrast. The eyes should probably be what we want to look at, but our left side eye is duller in contrast than the light skin patches near it.
love it! but ok I would switch the color of her eyes with the color of the background... the cooler color being far away gives more an illusioin of depth
So solid painting my crit is that the second face takes away some focus on the focal point of the piece. Also in my opinion the bottom of the painting where the shoulders are suggested just seems unfinished at this point. So it's either not finished but it might overall be unnecessary too. Maybe just add some more of the background colors there and a bit over the second face part?
Definitely work on adding more raw emotion in the eyes. This painting LOOKS like it should be deep, thought-provoking, and emotional. However, the blank stare and boring expression on her face makes it very hard to feel any certain emotion. (This is a gorgeous piece by the way, but that was the first and only criticism that came to mind).
I love the texture and the adventurous use of color. I envy this, as I am not as courageous.
My major problem comes with the form and modeling of whatever is going on in the bottom third of the painting. I see the attempt at cubism, but to me it isn’t fully formed as yet.
She looks like she’s smoked ten cones so maybe just some eye drops required.
Since you requested harder criticism the main thing I would consider changing is the irises (either they should be about the same size or more obviously different) and the lips. The lips lack texture, highlights and form on the bottom lip. They are reading as a little uncanny. The concept is cool and the brushstrokes are nice, the features just need a little work.
I like it so I’ll be brutal in how I deliver it It’s GOOD, dummy! Sure the eyes are a bit dim, but I would take it as an intentional allusion to a lack of focus leading to a fractured duality in speech. If you listen to these idiots (meant entirely in jest) and “Fixed them” you’d rob me of that personal take away, you selfish jerk. Also, I’d worry that sharpening the eyes would draw my eye away from the lips. My eyes would rest on the figures eyes and I’d be less pulled to explore the image!
Ironically, yet Sincerely, Rolland
choose a focal point and emphasize it more
Love it.
I love it. My nitpick, left eye is making direct eye contact, right eye seems to veer a bit off. Forehead might be a touch short
It's representing the small forehead community and I for one am here for it
Sincerely,
A small foreheaded bitch
What's your intention with the piece. Right now it doesn't really invoke any special feeling in me it's good art but feels bland and a bit soulless.
Lower right is heavier and pulls down the eye. Less there or balance it elsewhere
I think the green streaks by the face breaks it up too much for me. If you used more skin color to give it that 'moving' effect i think it'll look more put together
Contrast and highlights would benefit this piece. If her eyes are the focal point you'll need to add more detail. Right now there's no focal point and you need that for pieces like this.
I don't like that bright patch of beige, it seems to be stealing the focus so you'll need to either blend it darker to match the hair or change something and add a new element/split it up so it isn't so solid. I understand why it's there; you'll need to do something to balance the piece. personally I would blend either cooler or warmer colors in with the green in this piece and create some variation. I would go cooler with some royal blues or violet shades. The solid green is probably what's giving it the blasé vibe.
I like the low contrast and blur. It adds a sleepy, forgotten vive
the eye shadows seem muted, not enough contrast and needs darker shading
The all over skin tones are too muddy and although it's just me, I'd make the lips a bit darker and vivid
Idk how to be brutal, but I enjoy the glitchy double image thing, I just want more of it. I think the eyes doubled up would be cool
It's a little too soft for my taste. Have more hard edges and boundaries. The composition is also too tight to be a good thing.
It’s good but it seems unintentionally muddy in places like the torso.
I’m a little reserved when critiquing an abstract painting. What I would question might be exactly what another viewer finds appealing.
The eyes are different sizes
The shift is towards the right, but there’s lack of definition in the left to start a focal point for the shift.
A painting (even abstract) should force a viewer’s interest into a specific direction. You’re not there yet.
I love the idea.
You should check out Disco Elysium if you haven’t, the art style is super reminiscent of it
With the cheek on the left and extra mouth on right, it produces an emotion of vertigo or dizziness.
Me, chewing 5 gum, 2024
It’s scary
The cropping is odd and throws the composition off by hitting right at the top of the head
i love it as a whole but i’m not a fan of the tan blob on the top left of the head.
Contrast seems to be a common criticism. Perhaps looking for more contrasting colors on the shadows, like mixing red into to help the greens out.
Otherwise very beautiful composition- keeps my eyes moving across the whole piece.
i was also thinking it could use more contrast in the eyes
The flesh color you put over the hair looks a bit like a bald spot and I think the picture would look even more beautiful if you put over the green instead. If you want to put something over the hair I think small strokes of the green would look better. Seriously a fantastic artwork though
It’s brilliant! It has a deeper meaning. I find it intriguing.
It’s spooky lookin
you haven’t cultivated a 3d space. looks flat because there’s a lack of areas of contrasting light
The eyes look kind of dead to me. Some contrast and light in the right spots will make it look alive. Great work btw
Really cool piece! I think alongside contrast for the eyes, you need to be a little more conscious of ensuring you've get hard lines where there should be. The eyes are very blurry and smudged for example, when there should be sharper transitions to get them to pop more.
Go darker in your shadows, and add a little more contrast. Especially around the second set of lips.
Nah you’re a gem
Eyes too cartoony
You are a terrible person and all your friends hate you
Oh you meant the art
Makes me uneasy… that’s all of my criticism.
Unfortunate transport.
She’s awfully mouthy
I like it, I wouldn't change it. But if you are going to continue this style, go harder with the texture and choppiness. Make it even more harsh!
take an anatomy class.
eyes should be in the middle of the head, she has a tiny cranium
Does not seem original.
The eyes look super realistic compared to everything else but not sure if that’s intentional. If it is I recommend drawing even more attention by adding more contrast or at least highlight. And the bottom piece looks less like it’s melting or whatever the vibe is and more like a few chins lol. Overall tho this is an amazing piece! Very detailed!
I disagree with the comments calling for more contrast. I think the sorta muddy color palate works really well here
her right eye bothers me bc the eye bag is kinda weird and different from her left eye
I mean majority of ppl are actually not symmetrical. If you make a piece that's truly symmetrical things can look equally if not more off
okay what I mean by kinda weird is right eye bag is way too dark and lack form bc the lack of highlights. when I said different from the other eye, i mean the level of rendering.
How's it way to dark tho, it's on the shadow side. It's just how this artist is trying to frame the light. But we are allowed to disagree
Honestly it’s a good painting, the portrait is solid and interesting. But that color green is very off putting. Green is a tough color to mix with oils (I’m assuming this is oil). But if you’re going for an offputting, sort of bizarre color experience for the viewer, you nailed it lol.
I also really am distracted by the cropping on the chin. It sits right in the center and almost becomes the focal point for me, when I want to be looking at the eyes. I’d consider knocking it back a bit.
Is this how you see the world?
The green is kinda making me nauseous, I think an abstract green to blue blotches would work nice
Does not seem original.
The distortion double face thing is overplayed all over the place.
First impression: looked like a flesh-beard
Not original. Find your own style and run with it.
Great advice. Just find your style, man, just fish it out of the pool of styles like all the other cool kids.
bro how do you think people find their style?
“Hard criticism only”???
? bro i asked you a question my guy. just saying “find your style” isn’t that good criticism. give them tips on how to do it.
It’s not good criticism…it’s hard
This is tripping me out lol I am also on mushrooms but whatever 😁
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