[Diane Cameron]

Thanks Jessica! 🙂

[Diane Cameron]

Thank you so much Chris, I really appreciate the encouragement! I’ll keep at it. This was a great way to get participants doing self-portraits and seeing other people’s work.

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[Diane Cameron]

I wasn’t satisfied with the self-portrait I posted so I did another one, and then this one. I learned something from each one and I think I’m improving. I’d like to complete a painting the same day to keep the energy going but I always get tired and start making mistakes so I go back to it the next day if I can.

[Diane Cameron]

Hi Beth, I just sent you a message on Instagram. I’m @artemis609. Your NMA participant image is sideways for some reason, at least that’s what I see.

[Diane Cameron]

Hi Beth, nice of you to check out my website. I sometimes wonder whether anyone looks at it but I enjoy adding to it and trying to improve it. Did you use photos to do your sculpture or mirrors? I do some sculpture but I’ve never tried a self-portrait. I tend to stick to 2D because it’s easier to express my ideas but I’ll get back into sculpture one of these days.
Diane

[Diane Cameron]

Beautiful portrait! It has a nice softness to it.

[Diane Cameron]

Very expressive! This is a very successful portrait/sculpture. It feels very real. If anything, I’d say that the eyes look a bit flat (maybe the outside edges should be a bit deeper?) but if you hadn’t said anything about the eyes I probably wouldn’t have noticed. Keep at it—this is obviously a good medium for you and you have something to say through it.

[Diane Cameron]

Hi Petr, this is a really nice drawing (the one of your friend  without a photo).  The only thing that distracts me is the light circle on his forehead just above his brow.  It reads as almost a hole so I’d tone it down a bit so it doesn’t draw the eye.  Otherwise, I like this drawing a lot–really nice contrast.  You’ve created a nice sense of atmosphere.

[Diane Cameron]

Hi Erkko, really nice drawings! What jumps out at me about the one you posted first, then changed, is the shadow of the eyelashes under the eyes–if the light source is from above and the eye is in the socket, and tehrefore back in space, i wouldn’t expect to see a shadow like that.  Maybe you did it from a photo and the photo was like that but you could play it down a bit so it doesn’t draw the eye so much. I also think the line on the left side of the forehead (her right side) should be smoothed out because it doesn’t look natural the way you’ve drawn it.  These are both very easy things to fix.  Other than that, I really like this and the other drawing you posted of the woman with the scarf on her head–very expressive!

[Diane Cameron]

Really beautiful work! What strikes me about the one with the cup is that the top left of the cup seems too high, making it look not horizontal a little bit.  This is really important because you’ve got 2 horizontals coming together in the middle of the picture–normally a no-no! The brights in your painting aren’t as bright as in the original, which makes yours a little bit less interesting. Those 2 things are easy to fix.  It’s hard for me to compare the works without seeing them side by side.  Maybe that’s possible but right now I have to scroll up and down the page to see them, not sure how to fix that.  Anyway, these are very nice paintings, well done!

[Diane Cameron]

Great suggestion Josseline. That would be really fun.

[Diane Cameron]

Hi Josseline, wow, you really did a great job on this now that I see the reference! Those things I pointed out are really there in the photo. I think this may be a case of the photo distorting the way we see things and the artist having to compensate for that since the viewer doesn’t see the photo. Joshua talked about that in a critique recently. Maybe someone who knows a lot about bodybuilding would recognize the way the woman is posing and find the things I pointed out normal. Nice painting. Maybe you could call this one done.

[Diane Cameron]

Hi Josseline, what draws my eye most is that the ribs on the left just below the breast don’t seem to match up with the armpit above. They should connect with a line if you imagine the rib cage underneath. I’d also expect to see more muscles in the arms so maybe you could add some shading to show that.  That would make your figure look more realistic. I think there may be an issue with the neck if you imagine it as a cylinder that should be coming up towards the head out of the chest cavity. Something about the base of the neck seems a bit off.  Keep painting! I can tell you’re having fun with it.

[Diane Cameron]

Hi Joshua, I’d love to see these critiques continue after the crisis but of course on a reduced scale. You could do 1 or 2 a month (or a week?) for subscribers who submit their work. I’d really look forward to the critique even if it wasn’t of my own work since I learn so much from them. People who want private critiques of their work could still pay for coaching and you could use the monthly critiques as a way to advertise your coaching programs or premium membership. Other community activities would interest me if I thought I’d learn something from them. Challenges are fun if there’s some structure to them, like giving people a deadline to post what they’ve done and maybe at least a brief comment or critique by an NMA instructor, even if it’s general for everyone who posted, as a group.  I think you’d have to somehow break down the community activities according to level. Thanks again for what you’re doing during the crisis. It’s a really nice addition to what NMA already offers and my work is improving as a result.

[Diane Cameron]

This is so helpful, thanks very much Max.   I see what you mean about the flat nose and eyes.  I know the planes are there but sometimes I don’t see much difference in them if the light is coming from 2 sides. The nose definitely needs some dark at the bottom.  I’ll keep at it!

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