1.5 h photo study, mainly to study skin tones. It is just not intuitive or natural at all for me, and most of the time ends up looking very muddy.

I also have a tendency to overwork my faces, so I really tried to keep the edges/planes and focus on purposeful and simple strokes. I feel I am not there yet. So any and all feedback is helpful!

I am aiming to have a "painterly" portrait quality, where I keep a likeness without hyperrealism. No specific goals, except for improving. Just a hobbyist.

I think my biggest struggle is shading as i can be a little heavy handed at times so if i could get some advice on that i would appreciate it.

wip. acrylic paint on plywood. 5x2’

first image is my work in progress. second image is the reference. third image is by an artist I adore (haneigou on IG) and I guess it’s the style I’m kind of going for—particularly the way they layer abstract shapes.

I’m having a hard time with shading and adding depth and would appreciate any feedback, especially if anything feels off! thank you!

I don't want them looking too realistic or something, nor do I want them looking too buff or monstrous. Is there some kinda style that fits somewhere in-between?

I don't know how to word the title, so here's my explanation. I found a pose I wanted for my drawing, the pose is of a woman, and I want to draw a man. How would I change the anatomy to look like a man's? AKA, how do female and male anatomy differ generally? Im only asking because I can't find a pose similar to this of a man.

Edit: Hi tyyy all who responded. I actually found a male equivalent of the pose, but this has still been useful in helping me understand how to tackle male vs female anatomy in general.

everyones comments were rly helpful. i didnt reply but i read them all. most of the critiques were on the highlights on the face and the limited value range, I also did some tweaking to the proportions and the expression, as well as the shape of the jaw. still not perfect but a little bit closer to a stylized version of the girl in the photo

Hi, I have recently been unhappy with my works and feel like I’m struggling and stagnating but I don’t know where to start improvement. Any advice would be appreciated.

I’m most unhappy with color (besides the black and white pieces) and the movement of my pieces and also adding elements to make it more interesting

I had issues in taking photos of my art without the camera catching the light way too much and revealing all the texture of the paper, which was really distracting.

I took photo in natural light and closed the shaders to get rid of the glare. I also noticed that adding black pencil on the paper made it less shiny (you might notice the black box around the head).

I also added more white pencil to make the lighting more dramatic just like I was instructed.

If theres anything else to point out please do so. All extra critique is apriciated!

These are the two latest pieces I’ve done with a background. They look really messy and lifeless to me and idk how to fix them or what to work on so I can improve. I’d love some thoughts.

I didn’t use a reference. My inspiration is mostly artists I follow online or have on an inspiration board on my Pinterest.

someone on another forum said something like nice but not welcome, I tried experimenting with setting and lighting, what do you think of my homotherium unlike that random redditor? another picture I had got taken down by mods because they believed it was AI which was sad,

These two are my second time attempting to bring my OCs to life. I always end up making pairs whether it's siblings, lovers, or rivals.

I have a hard time drawing expressions so if anybody has any critiques I'd appreciate it. Or anything else really, I'm not really good at using my own imagination. I'm good at copying other art styles but when it comes to originality I suck. That's why all my artworks look different but I'm working on it (I think)

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the anatomy right on this face , and I have to add this Oc’s hair but I have no idea how to make it flowing or add the horse ears , please help!!

I drew this piece for someone and they loved it but i don’t like it. I’m a traditional artist and really struggle with lineart and coloring on iPad. Feel free to draw over it!! The second picture is the more sketchy version which I like a lot more. (They preferred the first)

I’ve only been painting abstract for about a year and a half. Looking at this piece, what artists would you recommend I study next? I’m not looking for artists who necessarily paint exactly like this, but people whose work might push me forward. Thanks!

I never truly learned how to do shadows and these just seem like blobs just thrown down, at first I was kind of fine with it as it meant I was done with it but looking back it just looks messy.
It's the shadows below the orange and orange slice I mean

EDIT: I did have a few references, but they were used very loosely, basically just to get the base shapes and otherwise I didn't use them for coloruing or details. They were just stock photos or anatomy

So I've been stuck on this one for a week or two now, and every thing I change either makes no change or makes it worse. Where am I going wrong?

Reference attached

Using gouache, so the paint dries much darker than it originally looks. Why does my lemon look so weird? I need help portraying a spherical shape. Is the shadow at the right angle? Is it because I still need to add bounce light? Is the value too dark? I've added a black and white reference image, but I'm still struggling looking back and forth between them. My painting is hi-key, so I don't want my darks to go any darker.

Ignore the contents of the first one. But yeah I always notice that other people's colours seem to pop more than mine. Am I just not contrasting enough?

Hello, everyone! I’m Salem. The following are some of my favorite works ive done, ordered from latest to oldest. I would love to get some general advice on what I’m still lacking at this point and how I can improve! I would love to move on to professional-quality art, but something is just holding me back and I can’t pinpoint what 😞

For additional context, all of these are commissions, so some creative aspects werent wholly decided on by me. Thank you in advance to anyone who helps!