I used cray-pas for this piece. I don’t think this was as successful as my other self portraits in the sense of whether it looks like me or not. I tried to utilize the background more as you said to and I think it was more successful in the addition the background made to the figure in the foreground. I used the colors in the background a little bit in the face to help everything meld together.
Lovely portrait, my computer crashed as I was writing this so forgive me if I’ve said it twice. Good use of color and nice attention to the ground. You have made the figure sit in a believable space without detracting too much from the subject. Perhaps in another portrait push the values a little more, arrange the lighting so that the face has one side in shadow, and push the hair back from the shoulders so you can see the sides of the face. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with your hair down before.) Nice drawing, keep up the good work.
I am guessing this is your submission for the figure in an interior?
Both of your self portraits are great, you did a really good job with melding the face and the background. This definitely makes me want to work with cray-pas this summer