For my self portrait, I narrowed down my options to three pictures: one of my in a warm lighting, one with blue and yellow light on my face, and another of my holding a bunny. I had a really hard time drawing the composition sketches of myself and it took me a very long time and I am still not very satisfied with them, but they gave me an idea of which one I'd like to do. I like the one of me in the green shirt because I think the warmer color in the skin goes well with the color of my shirt and the background. I also like that my hair is out because it would be interesting to paint. I also liked that in this picture, I am the main focus, and don't have other details distracting from me.
For me aside from sketching, the most difficult part was doing the eyes and eyebrow. I found it hard to make the tiny lines without it blending into the skin or standing out too much. I initially had difficulty with the hair too, but it was easier since it was a bigger area to work on. One mistake I made was not erasing my pencil lines before painting, because it showed through my paint and I had to do multiple coats to cover it which was hard.
I still don't think it looks exactly like me, but I like the way the skin color and hair came out, and it definitely reminds me of my self. If I were to do it again, I would put my paint down thicker, and use a larger range of values to bring more contrast to my face. I would also try to improve the eyes and the lips, which I had some difficulty with. Since this is the first portrait I've done and I don't have much experience with oil paint, I think if I continue practicing it will turn out better, but overall I like my piece.
For me aside from sketching, the most difficult part was doing the eyes and eyebrow. I found it hard to make the tiny lines without it blending into the skin or standing out too much. I initially had difficulty with the hair too, but it was easier since it was a bigger area to work on. One mistake I made was not erasing my pencil lines before painting, because it showed through my paint and I had to do multiple coats to cover it which was hard.
I still don't think it looks exactly like me, but I like the way the skin color and hair came out, and it definitely reminds me of my self. If I were to do it again, I would put my paint down thicker, and use a larger range of values to bring more contrast to my face. I would also try to improve the eyes and the lips, which I had some difficulty with. Since this is the first portrait I've done and I don't have much experience with oil paint, I think if I continue practicing it will turn out better, but overall I like my piece.