Oh dear finding this quite hard but determine to keep going for the moment! Didn’t think I would enjoy staring at a photo of myself so decided to use a prettier model (though we took the pic rather quickly and with hindsight I should have perhaps got her to brush her hair!). Enjoying the lessons Lettie, thank you. Finding it quite intimidating to post up stuff that isn’t going to plan but in the interests of learning (and encouraging others to start posting!) I am putting it out there :-)

Anyway, issues I am aware of:

1) struggling with getting my outline (especially on the chin) to not be so shaky, even with lots of streamlining on the brush. Will need to practice trying to get my outlines a bit more steady on the iPad but find it hard to drawn steady longer lines like chins and necklines but  it is hard to join shorter lines as I can never get the pen back in exactly the same spot. With hindsight I was also using a new brush so maybe I should have gone back and tried one of my usual ones, didn’t think of that at the time.

2) Not particularly happy with the hair - will maybe get another pic with hair down and try to redo that later when I have a bit more time. Was trying to go for cartoony look initially but now have the hair somewhere in between that and realistic but not managing either very well!

3) Bit worried the sketch showing the placement of her facial feature suggests she is going to end up looking much older than she is? Hopefully that won’t be the case when all the bits are drawn properly and I can somehow show the rounder cheeks and bigger forehead without it just looking badly drawn, lol.  Any thoughts on this Lettie? Used grids to line it up but looking at it here without them her eyes look like they are too far apart?!

Any advice gratefully received x

 

 

 

Ok so have had a go at making the hair (on the ponytail only so far) look a little more realistic using your advice Lettie. Think it could probably be pushed more and maybe make the sections nicer shapes but am I getting the idea?! Please say if anything looks wildly off. 

 

  

Hair finished and Nose

 

 

The eyes and a bit of shading

Will add highlights (and adjust the shading) once I have done the mouth but here is where I am at after the eyes class. The shadows are much darker in the photo but think that is more because of the poor lighting when I took the pic, didn’t want to go overboard on my pic - but revisiting it now I think the eyelashes and eyebrows probably need a bit more work so will continue with this.

Please feel free to advise if anything else. is looking a bit off or could be improved upon x

 

 

Mouth and adjusted shading

And here is how she looks with a mouth and the warmer colour of shading. Face has ended up much rounder than I intended, so much for the oval shape I started with, and she looks a lot older but think its the best likeness I am likely to achieve (nice to see how she might look in a few years, lol). Have really enjoyed bringing her to life - the only thing still frustrating me is the shading - I am guessing that's where most could be done to make her look more like her real life version? 

Have learned so much, didn't intend to go for a realistic type avatar so the more cartoony style I planned will need to wait til another day (might also have to brave looking at my own photo for that one!) but, if anyone else is still reading (there is a bit much here I know!) I can thoroughly recommend Lettie's help if you are feeling a bit stuck, she has really spurred me on with this challenge x

 

Planned to revisit the shading as suggested below but  appear to have become quite attached to it as it is so not sure I can bear to make any further changes. Instead decided to have a go at a more cartoony style version of me ...

 

 

Still not quite as cartoony as I planned (definitely not easy for me to do the quick sketch type thing, lol) but have added some interest stuff as per the composition video  ... and gone with a bit of a loud colour scheme :-)