# "AS good as it gets" (self-portrait)
**URL:** https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909
**Category:** Share Your Art
**Created:** [June 22, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909 "2020-06-22T18:44:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tgp](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/tgp)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 6:44pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/1 "2020-06-22T18:44:03Z")
yeah, kind of agonized whether to share or not, as I’m far from happy with the results. this is my self-portrait; done carefully from a reference using the grid method.
but you know . this just MIGHT be one of my most intense drawings and I did in fact really try very hard to do it! by that measure alone I suppose it must be considered a success.
also it “taught” a lot of little lessons about drawings
Getting beyond resemblance means a LOT of accuracy! even a grid (which I obviously used) didn’t make it accurate enough.
the Glasses particularly was a place where there was insufficient accuracy. clearly I needed to scrutinize much more closely what its exact shape was. as Matt often says in his demo’s; you get very Exact shapes by sketching Loose; and then finding the most exact line at every place
Shading problems still plague me. In fact i could still me making small amounts of improvement in various places by scrutinizig shading. every time you darken an area of a drawing; you are lightening other places of contrast; so there’s a immense amount of shading to be done.
the demands of accuracy in the key facial features are HUGE; the eyes, nose and mouth get a huge amount of focus in a portrait.
lastly; its probably universally true that one could spend many many years working on portraits and still routinely miss the strict demands of drawing a portrait. So I probably ought to try to be happier about this n00b effort than I am.
Truthfully though, I don’t think I’m passionate enough about portraits to work through all the tough issues of perfecting portrait drawings.
the point was to tackle something truly hard; get some kind of resemblance and prove to myself that I’m willing to tackle nearly all kind of subject matter.
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### Author:  [@Becky](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/Becky)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2020, 11:56pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/2 "2020-06-22T23:56:46Z")
I think this is fun to look at. Sure, it may not be 100% accurate but I like the slightly distorted angle. I just think you’re not done yet: maybe go back and refine your shading/values with more layers of graphite. Then really stand back from it and evaluate where you need to add more dark values and/or highlights.
I really do enjoy this as it is, though!
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### Author:  [@Rambolini](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/Rambolini)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/3 "2020-06-23T20:03:33Z")
I really like it - some of the detail, particularly around the neck and collar of the shirt is great, though I agree the values in the face need a little refining.
I did a portrait of a friend lately and I totally agree that it’s super difficult, and I also agree that it teaches you a lot of things all in one exercise.
For that reason, I’m going to try more portraits, and I think you’ve inspired me to make the next one a self portrait!
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### Author:  [@Denise](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/Denise)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/4 "2020-06-23T21:25:03Z")
I think this is great. Don’t be so hard on yoursef.
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### Author:  [@tomee43](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/tomee43)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2020, 12:26pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/5 "2020-06-24T12:26:18Z")
i think you did a nice job here. Maybe as stated a little more value and pull up the grid lines with a kneaded eraser. Ive tried a few portraits too and the results are always mixed. Ive done a few self portraits sometimes
exaggerating the features for fun. tom
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### Author:  [@tgp](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/tgp)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/6 "2020-06-24T13:59:03Z")
**Wow!**
**that’s a lot of positive feedback actually.**
portraits are quite the challenge aren’t they? I meant to tell you guys that I had the **opportunity to layer it on top of the reference image** using the website; [http://pxlr.com/](http://pxlr.com/)
i was very, very interested to learn that many things aren’t that badly distorted. probably the biggest difference though was the placement of the eyes; just a little too far away from the mouth and nose.
**I think mouth, nose and eyes have to be pretty much in the perfect place for an exact resemblance**. the next time I do a portrait- I think I will try harder to obsess on getting the placement perfect; and the depiction as close as possible.
another quick thing to say is that **I’ve skimmed through Matt’s very good training materials regarding portrait drawing**. its excellent! and very comprehensive. Matt goes slowly through the process; culminating in two seperate portraits.
I’m goofy (in a way ) to have skimmed through this material, and I’m sure my portrait skills would have been So much better if I have slowly participated in the portrait pencil drawing course… but
its not really my thing.
I can imagine doing it again in a little while; because its a fantastic challenge- but I have little passion in becoming a photo-realistic portrait sketcher.
ty for all the great feedback.
I see hints that **“shading” is a universal challenge in most of my graphite sketches;** so your all correct in pointing out that there was work to be done in getting it right
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### Author:  [@Cojax73](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/Cojax73)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/7 "2020-06-26T20:50:53Z")
Very good with graphite. You captured some good light and shadows to make it realistic.
Jack
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### Author:  [@Dale](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/Dale)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2020, 12:27am UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/8 "2020-06-28T00:27:28Z")
Maybe could use a little more contrast…I don’t know. Something about the way it is drawn says something to me. I like it the way it is, I think you did good.
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### Author:  [@Genie](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/u/Genie)
#### Post date: [July 3, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://community.thevirtualinstructor.com/t/as-good-as-it-gets-self-portrait/909/9 "2020-07-03T02:30:58Z")
There are many things I like about this picture. Don’t be hard on yourself and it is successful.