These are great portraits. I particularly like the Norse vampire.

Diego, Wallace and Erisian - thank you all for your comments. These portraits are challenging but also very rewarding.

Now my attempt at a portrait of one of the great Scots, Sean Connery, who, in my view, was, is and always will be the best James Bond.

Beautiful! You are becoming a master digital Artist!

I agree with Pat.
From now on, every step forward will be an "annoying" and slow application of small subtle improvements. Take a drink before and after!

Pat and Diego - thank you for your kind words and encouragement; I like the idea of 'taking a drink'

Another favourite person, Sir David Attenborough, and one that tested me somewhat. Older people present a challenge with facial features and it is clear i have more learning to undertake yet ... still, a very enjoyable activity and I did like making the jacket .

Back to real portraits now and one for my son, the Buddhist monk. There is no real entity with which to compare my image as there are many visual interpretation of the Buddha. Because this one is not a sketch portrait or a cartoon portrait, I decided to put it in this 'artistic portraits' thread.

OMG, I just cannot get over how talented you are in so many fields! Is this something hereditary that runs in your family?

OMG, may I suggest you to run Gimp Unsharp Mask at the end of your process?
I did, here it is:


I applied it with defaults, but you may play with the parameters at your taste.

Diego - thanks; after our previous 'discourse' on this final sharpening issue, I have been following your recommendation, BUT .. I just forgot to do it on this one ...

I did a quick sketch portrait of Paul Hogan as Crocodile Dundee in my 'something different' thread, now here he is as himself, much older but still kicking around.

Very very good OMG!

Outstanding, OMG.

Your portraits are really good OMG. I wondered if you work from a photo and I found this withh g00gle image search. I recon you used this one

Tas - yes, I use a photograph as the reference for my work, especially as I do not have the person live in front of me, like Anh Do on the ABC. Yes, that was the reference photo I used, but I do change some things for effect or ease of creation, for example in this one I left out some of the more difficult wrinkles !!

Hopefully your pic shows i achieved a reasonable likeness

Your portrait is excellent. I like the tiny bit of relief light around the shirt. Less is more with filters generally I say
Hoges is a legend in Australia. He used to paint the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Anybody who has been up there knows how hard that would be. We even have a saying here 'when you finish painting the harbour bridge go back and start again'.

An African model (name unknown) and it was a tough one; lots more learning for darker skins.

I do like this portrait and it's great that you experiment with different subjects. I don't know the model, but it does feel like her skin is lacking a little 'warmth' - even very dark skin tends to have a little more brown in it. But that said, it also depends on the outside light and she could also simply be in shadow here. But overall, I think you did a very good job with trying different approaches and styles throughout this thread.

Overall, a hint is to add a little glint of highlight to your eyes. You used it in the Paul Hogan image, but it's something I suggest adding even if your reference image doesn't have it - the reason is that when painting from photo reference it's extremely easy to make your eyes look 'dead' without very, very careful shading. Adding a slight white 'glint' is an easy way to make the eyes look more lively with little effort.
.
Griatch

Griatch - thank you very much for you supportive and constructive comments. I appreciate it more given your own artwork and your history here/elsewhere. I am actually working on a couple of portraits now in the background. I've said it before here, that whilst doing these portraits is very rewarding and a process of continuous learning, for me they can be frustrating and they do take time; often I prefer something that provides me with quick returns