thank you it was strong back lighting so i had trouble figuring out how much to put in their.I could see a little more shading in the hair! Good job!
thank you for all that insight that's a lot. my background is i started life at gunsmithing school but also come from a long line of railroaders so that is where i spent 48 years making line A meet line B at the exact spot it needed to be. Some where in there i became interested in photograph and that filled many years. i was even blessed to attend one of Ansel Adams last work shops. for me it was still a rather controlled medium. Then nine years ago some one told me about GRS and my first classes were with Sam and Rex and i knew this was what i wanted to do. i soon found out i could handle the tools at an adequate level but my designs were greatly lacking. so i went back to school. working on an art degree. so everything you pointed out is why i went back to study and learn. i had a watercolor instructor who saw my work and made me work the whole quarter on nothing smaller than an 18 x 24 canvas. The funny thing is in Class i can do what you are saying, but in the quiet of my studio i slip back into making line A meet line B. I know i cant move on until that freedom you are talking about comes without thought. once again thank you.RRUP this is where artistic license kicks in. You make aesthetic decisions to improve the flow, communication with the viewer, etc., trust your intuitive judgment! Photorealism isn't always good! Don't be limited by your reference photo, etc. What looks good to you? This is where it becomes art when you prioritize, filter out the weeds, and emphasize those features you choose to emphasize in the language of artistic expression, showing your subject in a new light. This is the exciting part of art when you diverge from reality and reinvent in the medium you choose, by putting your signature efforts on the piece. There would be no purpose in doing art if you didn't put your artistic sense into the equation. I'm sure a lot of this is obvious to you and you already know that, but as an artist it is quite liberating to know you can break the rules, with the goal in mind to create something unique, and raise your intended outcome to a higher level! This philosophical approach leaves you many options, the sky is the limit, only contained within your personal vision and imagination! This is something I have to constantly learn and relearn with each new artwork I engage in! Letting go of what you thought you wanted something to be and allowing it to be what it is based on in it's own merits. In other words the original idea or reference is what it is, and the art inspired by it, is what it is, based on some different sets of criteria. Also, this (the reference) is, and the art is that, the two shall never completely intersect or meet. Can not, should not do not, just do, is, and be! The profound valuable lesson here is, art doesn't have to completely parallel life or the direct manifestations of what we see on earth and in the universe!