I hold it up and show my buddies,
Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, but no one laughs,
'Cause there ain’t nothing funny when a soldier cries.
An' I just wipe me eyes.
I fold it up an' put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an' get back to work.
An' it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home.
So far so good, but I'd make his skin color a little darker than the child to show a more weathered aged look and I'd use thinner faint lines for hair.
That's something to be proud of
That's a life you can hang your hat on
That's a chin held high as the tears fall down
A gut sucked in, a chest stuck out
Like a small town flag a-flyin'
Or a newborn baby cryin'
In the arms of the woman that you love
That's something to be proud of
This is adorable. I love how you have his cheeks and both of their faces have a very human quality. Very very nice. I am excited to see this finished. Both of my grandpas served in wars and one of my best friends is in the service now-very touching and very real. Good job.
you're the end of the rainbow, my pot of gold
you're daddy's little girl to have and hold
a precious gem is what you are
you're mommy's bright and shining star
you're the treasure i cherish
so sparking and bright
you were touched by a holy and beautiful light
like angels that sing a heavenly thing
and you're daddy's little girl
Wow, this is fantastic... I can't believe I didn't see it. I am so terrible about not browsing here lately, I got busy and forgot it's why I love this place. I especially like the way you got that loving "Daddy" expression... even with a partial of his face showing. That's what art is about, right there. I love that first song. :) There's one on Tracy Lawrence's new cd similar to that that made me cry.
This is coming along so nicely, I think if you use the blending techniques for the flesh that we talked about in your "Sprinkle" painting, it'll have that same smooth, realistic effect, if that's what you are going for. This has a kind of "Norman Rockwell" feeling to it, so you might not want to go all that real, I don't know. I wouldn't do alot more to his hair, for sure, if anything. That part looks totally great to me.
thanks. what about her hair? do you think if i sharpened it up some, but left some chunky aspect to it maybe would be ok? i want to keep some stylistic aspect to it, but not sure of the balance between that and just laziness not bringing it to a good level of detail. not sure not sure.
I'm not the greatest at hair, but yes, it does need some work. I don't know that I would make it stand out too much, because you don't want to make that the focal point of your painting, the focal point is actually working wonderfully right now, you are immediately drawn to the father's eye (which amazingly shows so much emotion, still kind of floored at how you achieved that) and the area between the eye and the actual kiss and the little girl's face. You don't want to outshine that part, but yes, work on the hair until it fits. Do I make any sense at all? Look at all these bunnies running around! :)
And at second look, (I know you aren't done yet), but the (whoops! right eye of the little girl looks a little strange, I think you might want to analyze that and re-work the placement a bit.)
haha. yes, makes sense. i have been avoiding her hair because it intimidates me. also, avoiding his jacket and insignia. detailed blur is going to be scary to achieve
Alright, now that I have the reference, some things to look into:
Use some darker darks under the man's cheek and nose (in realism, you will definitely need the full range of contrasts), use lighter lights on his cheek going into the roots of his sideburn and on the girl's face(maybe a yellowish white but with more white), pull out the corner of her mouth on 'her' right cheek, sharpen up the girl's hair (all I can advise on that until you work on it), and work in the gradients on the couch to give it dimension (maybe some shades of violet from the top working into some light pinks). I'm sure I have many more but I'll let you work out some of those first. Remember, pay attention to positive/negative form relationships for an accurate image if you choose to fix up proportions...good luck.
I have found that a good way for me to practice the positive/negative form relationship thing (at the time I didn't know what to call it, of course) is to take a reference photo, turn it into a negative of the actual photo, and then paint the negative. That way, it makes your brain pay attention to what you actually see and depict it accordingly, and you don't subconsciously paint in what you "want" to be there. Then when you invert the colors back, you can see where you did it correctly and where you screwed up.
And I can't call in sick on Mondays
when the weekends been too strong
I just work straight through the holidays
And sometimes all night long
You can bet that I stand ready when the wolf growls at the door
Hey, I'm solid, hey I'm steady, hey, I'm true down to the core
And I will always do my duty no matter what the price
I've counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice
Oh, and I don't want to die for you
but if dyin's asked of me
I'll bear that cross with honor
'cause freedom don't come free
I'm an American soldier, an American
beside my brothers and my sisters I will proudly take a stand
When Liberty's in jeopardy, I will always do what's right
I'm out here on the front line
Sleep'in in peace at night
American soldier, I'm an American soldier
drawn in 1 hour 7 min
drawn in 46 min
Like we ain’t scared and our boots ain’t muddy, but no one laughs,
'Cause there ain’t nothing funny when a soldier cries.
An' I just wipe me eyes.
I fold it up an' put it in my shirt,
Pick up my gun an' get back to work.
An' it keeps me driving me on,
Waiting on letters from home.
drawn in 28 min
That's a life you can hang your hat on
That's a chin held high as the tears fall down
A gut sucked in, a chest stuck out
Like a small town flag a-flyin'
Or a newborn baby cryin'
In the arms of the woman that you love
That's something to be proud of
drawn in 23 min
you're daddy's little girl to have and hold
a precious gem is what you are
you're mommy's bright and shining star
you're the treasure i cherish
so sparking and bright
you were touched by a holy and beautiful light
like angels that sing a heavenly thing
and you're daddy's little girl
drawn in 46 min
waiting for space.
drawn in 2 hours 37 min
drawn in 36 min
And at second look, (I know you aren't done yet), but the (whoops! right eye of the little girl looks a little strange, I think you might want to analyze that and re-work the placement a bit.)
Use some darker darks under the man's cheek and nose (in realism, you will definitely need the full range of contrasts), use lighter lights on his cheek going into the roots of his sideburn and on the girl's face(maybe a yellowish white but with more white), pull out the corner of her mouth on 'her' right cheek, sharpen up the girl's hair (all I can advise on that until you work on it), and work in the gradients on the couch to give it dimension (maybe some shades of violet from the top working into some light pinks). I'm sure I have many more but I'll let you work out some of those first. Remember, pay attention to positive/negative form relationships for an accurate image if you choose to fix up proportions...good luck.
drawn in 1 hour 13 min
when the weekends been too strong
I just work straight through the holidays
And sometimes all night long
You can bet that I stand ready when the wolf growls at the door
Hey, I'm solid, hey I'm steady, hey, I'm true down to the core
And I will always do my duty no matter what the price
I've counted up the cost, I know the sacrifice
Oh, and I don't want to die for you
but if dyin's asked of me
I'll bear that cross with honor
'cause freedom don't come free
I'm an American soldier, an American
beside my brothers and my sisters I will proudly take a stand
When Liberty's in jeopardy, I will always do what's right
I'm out here on the front line
Sleep'in in peace at night
American soldier, I'm an American soldier
drawn in 1 hour 4 min
drawn in 1 hour 27 min
drawn in 51 min
drawn in 25 min
drawn in 32 min
drawn in 47 min