Vaguely Recognisable Faces

Thank you, Kaz.
It's always a relief when someone else recognises something.
When I start to get frustrated with an image I just get sick of looking at it and everything about it appears to be wrong.

Must try to be more patient.

The Michael Phelps and Julia Roberts are both recognisable.

I think the main issue with Phelps jawline is that it should taper more than it does. With Julia Roberts, I feel her eyes could perhaps stand to be closer together (looking at photos, she appears to have less than the standard eye width between her eyes) and being higher on the outside edge than the inner.

Some fantastic works, Valence. I also really like the Bertrand Russell image!

Thank you, both.

Yes, em... that was exactly the fight that I was having with the Phelps pic. Part of me wanted the jaw to narrow to the chin while another part wanted it wide to emphasize the perspective and his height. Didn't quite get the balance right.

A Batch of Benedicts. A Cumber Batch, you might say.

:silently waits for tumbleweed to blow past:






Ok, I admit the second one was just a quick sketch to fill a bit of time after finishing the first one early but it's still recognisable and as such just about fits the criteria of this thread.

Very nice. I really like the second one, especially the eyes.

I prefer the second one.

I think the expression, which isn't typically him, is what's throwing me off about the first.

Thank you, both.

I think the second one works better because of everything I learned from the first one.
I do enjoy doing those asymmetric expressions but it kind of demanded big eyes and he seems to be more recognisable with smaller wider-set eyes.

I kind of like the first one - I think you did capture the look in his eyes - but like em said the expression isn't typical for him so he's not immediatly recogniseable. I also feel that maybe you gave a bit much "weight" to the lower half of his face, so I did a dirty paintover and shrunk his mouth a bit. Not sure if it worked any better, though (and I messed up all the surrounding features in the process).

Thanks, Charlotte. That looks much, much better.

And it's an accurate observation too. I think recently I have been falling into the trap of adding weight to the bottom of faces to try and exaggerate the perspective of the head (made the same mistake with the Phelps pic.)
This version is much more recognisable.