zen's gallery

Such an interesting technique. Some details under nose should have been fixed for sure but overall your result is really cool and has its magic!

Wow, this is amazing zen, i like your "mid tone gray paint" rendering, excellent technique

@Knacki, @Lemi and @GBo
Thank you guys for lovely comments!
Yes, likeness is most challenging to get it right! It's amazing how just few pixels can make a difference, especially in eyes!
Worked last night on her face for some time and will post soon my update....
btw. at first pass I was concentrated more on getting whole image painted, but yeah, I would have loved that I got her face right at first hehehe

High&mono chromatic!

That's a big improovement!
She looks fabulous. For my personal taste, her nose is a bit long, but I am married anyway
Before more details on her, I would think about the story telling.
If I wouldn't know the picture, I hardly could recognize that she looks out of a train.
But story wise it is a very big difference as the train story says much more than a normal climpse out of a window.
Is it a farewell for lifetime, a curious view on a new location, on a new life? Is she looking for someone not seen for a long time as she was far away???
I would focus in that now. Maybe you have to extend your canvas to show a meta sign for a train? Some kind of symbol. Maybe it's just enough to make the window frame more clear and curtain too?

Maybe you just call it finished, as it is a good portrait already?

Yes, heheh I love you comments!
You're completely right about her nose . I like it shorter too! I think I need to make eye 20% bigger and make nose shorter. Also, that eye in shadow doesn't read good.
As for your other suggestions, they are perfectly valid too! I didn't thought of them very much as I was copycat-ing this image. That music video was still fresh in my head. I should definitely give it a broader context in any of directions you indicated!
Thanks for your time and great suggestions!

[Taron]

I think you could make the eyes about 80% bigger, actually!
But, really, just lean back, relax and study slowly and carefully what she really looks like. All artists have the curious tendency to impose their own DNA onto what ever subject they paint. It's oddly inevitable, unless they pull themselves together real hard and try to get analytical first and then develop emotional connections. If you skip the analytical portion, you end up developing "bad" habits. Good news, though, you can always introduce that approach again and rid yourself of them habits!

Overlay test....
Did I said 20% for the eyes?
I made a bit longer nose, followed by lower mouth and lower chin and lower neck lol!
I'm pretty happy how I drew it just by observing, without measuring (I leave that to my visual cortex).
I like it emotional without too much analyzing...really!
But yeah, I'm with you, if you want exact then it's ok to use tools!
Btw. I never liked that thumb/pencil measuring. I was in art section in my elementary school and we were given a still life to shade (just pot and apple or something sitting on a chair). We were instructed to use that method with pencil in front of us and to measure everything before drawing. I was disappointed and somehow done it. I never returned to that art section while my sister continued for some time and was quite successful. Today I draw/paint better than she!

Nice comparison and points. For some reason my taste rolls back to the first one and it's shades of grey. Either way you are very close

Yes, 1st was fresher, less overworked. Thanks Tartan!