Looking for critique

[bluewatermonk]

I am trying to get a bit of feedback on two particular digital renditions I have done. Where they succeed, fail, or can generally be improved.

No need to pull punches here, I am looking for good, honest and brutal critiques on these images.

Weary
http://www.pbase.com/image/31470631

Cute
http://www.pbase.com/image/31495163

[texindian]

I'm no expert, Mr. Monk, but here's for what it's worth.

The color manipulations are quite evident. Nothing wrong with that in itself. It works pretty good on Cute (except maybe the cheek area) because the color enhancements are obvious and create a sort of mood or style. On Weary, it seems to create a plastic look to the skin - also the darkness of the skin color hides some of the facial detail that you were aiming for.

[bobt54]

The thing that I see in both pictures is the lack of contrast with the background that is present in the rest of your work. I also thought Weary's skin tones were a bit too dark.

I also think in both of these images that you took it a little too far. I took these two images and judged them against your others. I think, in my opinion, your most successful images are the ones where reality pops from the "painting". This is very evident in Chloe and Baby Portrait as well as the Anissa and Andrea images.

I would also like to say, as a guy, that I loved your image that is very aptly titled "The Chair". My first thought upon seeing it was "WHAT CHAIR???"

[bluewatermonk]

Tex, Bob,

These is the type of feedback I am looking for.
Tex, It does not matter if you are an expert or not. Many times the best feedback I have had is from the casual observer. Often times they see things we miss. Especially since we tend to look at work with a technical eye, and may miss the basic esthetics of the piece.
I see what you mean by "plastic" on "Weary". Your comments, along with Bob, have me looking in a totally different direction than I was going. The dark skin tones are his natrual tones, so I believe will have to go in and add quite a bit of highlighting.

Bob,
Thank you for the excellent critique.
Going from the Baby and Andrea Portraits to these two will be difficult for me. They are done in two completely different styles.
There is one thing you did point out to me that I am looking VERY closely at, the darker backgrounds. I think you may be right about how it makes my pieces "pop". I will see if I can incorporate this into either these two, or future work, a bit more.

The Chair....LOL...what chair?!?!:?!?

That piece took on a life of its own. I do know that she is missing pupils also. This was intentional, and done for reasons I can't say here...LOL

Thank you both for the critiques. Hopefully I will here from more. This feedback helps more than some realise.

Michael.

[ilanphoto]

The pictures have (or had) great potential, I myself do not like the manipulations you did on them they both seem to be stron pictures at source.

I would really like to see the originals

[beekeeper]

Cute was good, and 10 years ago you could have passed it off for a painting and nobody would have been the wiser. The first just doesn't do anything for me, especially his saggy waxy arm.

[bluewatermonk]

Thanks Ilanphoto,
They were rather ordinary shots, however, it is not the pictures I was interested in showing. I was interested in the reasons you do not like the manips.

Beekeeper,
Kind words and painful ones too...LOL
The general consensus seems to be that "weary" is not working real well. I my have to just scratch it, I was not able to impove very much on it yet. I do see the waxiness in it.
"Cute" seems to have a better response. I did do that piece with much less pressure and quite a bit more blending. Thank you for the kind critique on that rendition.

[ilanphoto]

Thanks Ilanphoto,
They were rather ordinary shots, however, it is not the pictures I was interested in showing. I was interested in the reasons you do not like the manips.

Beekeeper,
Kind words and painful ones too...LOL
The general consensus seems to be that "weary" is not working real well. I my have to just scratch it, I was not able to impove very much on it yet. I do see the waxiness in it.
"Cute" seems to have a better response. I did do that piece with much less pressure and quite a bit more blending. Thank you for the kind critique on that rendition.

I think it is because they look manipulated as bee said ten years ago ... I don't fancy the PS filters on photographs

[themanda04]

it's very clear that these are not simply filtered images; they have been "smudge painted" which is very difficult to do and requires a lot of skill.

[bluewatermonk]

Ilan,
I appreciate that you don't like photo manips. However, that you don't care for them is of no help to me at all. Thanks for taking the time to look at them anyway.

Themanda,
Thank you for the response and recognizing the work that goes into this style. Good or not they do take quite a bit of time and effort. I appreciate you seeing that in these pieces.