Hmm...what can I say? The picture isn't bad, but, like most pictures from photo refs, it's extremely obvious. There is no emotion. I mean, you can tell "oh this person is upset and crying" but at the same time he seems stiff and bland and somewhat emotionless. Because it's from a photo...it's like you got caught up so much in the details that you couldn't even try to put any emotion into the piece.

Anyway, as for the picture, it's not bad but something seems off about it to me. Partially, i think, because his shirt is so white and shadowless. There are no wrinkles or movement of any kind across it?
Also, some of the wrinkles in his forehead seem more like...cracks on a dried up ground than wrinkles on a human face.

I agree with ForgottenDreams almost entirely. But pencil is very difficult to add emotion with. Details are the concern of the pencil, and they are generally left at that.

ForgottenDreams: all i gotta say is that it really sicken me when i spend so much time on my work then people come and so easily make it look like trash because i used a photo ref. and when i do original work they don't even get it because it's not a fairy,elf or a dragon..lol
but thnx for the critique anyways..if u think it's emotionless and boring then i respect that..it's your opinion
as for the white shirt and cracks on his head they were actually like that in the photo but i agree may be some more shadows on his right side of the white shirt could've made it better

well, apart from the other comments, i think it's quite good! the linework is great, especially how you drew the beard! i think you even captured the man's suffering very, very well! your pencil skills re at a very high level! keep it up!

SCORPWOLF!!!

DON'T BE UPSET BECAUSE OF THE CRITIQUE BY FORGOTTEN DREAMS!

She always writes critiques like that and meanwhile I'm very interested to see some of her works cause usually I think that those who are better then you shall have the right to give you such a hard critiquie cause WETHER you used a reference or NOT your SKILLS in handling a PENCIl are AWESOME!

I looked at your pic very carefully and damn who can draw with such a great techniwue as you do? I don'z know many and because of that I give you 7 points!

Don't let people demotivate you!

MFG
Rei

Well I'm sorry if I seemed harsh. I admit I usually focus more on the errors than the good parts (the way I see it, it won't help anyone if I just tell them it's good and leave it at that).
But I don't think your work is trash at all (although I prefer some of your other work to this )I was really just making a general statement about most photo-referanced pictures - not just yours.

As for reilanchan -- um...yeah, she's just mad because I don't like a lot of her work and she doesn't seem to make any effort to improve the things I point out (as a matter of fact, she becomes extremely defensive sometimes and tries to discount critiques). (um...yeah and I guess her attitude towards that makes me dislike her and therefore somewhat rude in return)
Anyway, I'm sorry, this is stupid.

Don't be discouraged by my comments though. It really doesn't reflect your ability to draw nice pictures WITH emotion - as dregus said, pencil is difficult to add emotion with.

thanks dirtybug and reilanchan for your comments..glad u liked it

forgottendreams:it's ok, everyone have a different opinion...u didn't say it's trash but you're just making it sounds like it because i used a ref. photo and u're starting all that don't use photo ref. people which i think is really lame and it surprise me how some people on this forum are so concerned about
using photo ref. for portraits is almost a genre..place like www.artpapa.com where people use photo ref. all the time and a lot of them are extremly talented

my point is u have to realize that commenting and genrelzing by saying things like art from photo. ref is boring is nothing but a personal opinion about a type of art..it's like me saying how much i hate fantasy and dragons..but i don't go and comment on people's work that i don't like in the first place because that's defenitly less helpfull than saying something good.
when u see a 'type' or artwork that interest you that's when people should critique then there's no problem in pointing out mistakes in the art..that is critique but not starting by saying oh another photo copied work bla bla bla

as for you and reilanchan,i would like to stay out of it but hope everyone gets along..

Very nice!!

this is awesome; there's nothing wrong with photo references; and you've really demonstrated the power of a simple pencil meeting some serious artistic skill. +9/10

sorp..just think of ForgottenDreams as a critter from lower regions of earth. It does not matter what those critters say, it will be from you know what kind of place. What goes around comes around, and it is obviously so, by all her contribution on here - demoralizing artists with LIES. She should be monitored by the staff I think. She seems to have an agenda.

There is ceratinly emotion, in this peace, and lots of it. That is what made me open this work to begin with.
Do not listen to voices that stink up places. Forgotten Dreams' is certainly one of them! Maybe it is because she forgot her dreams and only have nightmares now and that's how she comes up with all this garbage that demotivates artists.

Wow... I was just reading the comments here... wow. Nice to see, that poeple care about motivating others, even if the skills of an artist might not be professionally developed. (Don't get me wrong..I'm just talking of the case that, not refering on you scorpwolf. ^^)
What I wanted to say: I can't see the Pic big red cross. But I saw the thumbnail and I would like to see it. I'm curious, cos it's hard to do facial expressions with a pencil photorealistic.
And to the topic of photoreference: I think, when one is drawing people, everyone of us needs photos(which are only a picture of reality) or something else (models, nature) somehow to look at the anatomy or clothes or Dynamics of motions or just colouring ... to see in general how to treat the figures and motivs in one's own work. And I don't mean copying- I mean e.g. flying through a sports illustrated...getting impressions, ideas , inspiration. I don't agree about the general comment, that you can most of the times tell, that a pic is photoreferenced. But that is my opinion and maybe Forgottendreams has other experiences or an eye for telling. Dunno. It's hard enough to get some ideas in one's head on the paper- and hard to transfer them succesfully from the image made by the mechanical eye to another medium, too. Therefore its art. Anyway. Bad critics are critics, too, and even if they are sometimes in a form rather demotivating, they are pointers and hints, too. Just take care that if you are critzising you do not only concentrate on the "badly" done parts. Not everyone in this gallery is a professional and people easily get demotivated. Its about doing, learning and developing skills, by the help of other artist, I think. Or did I get the idea of this gallery wrong?
Scorpwolf: You are doing this to express yourself, to develop your skills and for your own fun (and for sharing it with us) Fun fun fun.
Enough bla bla...I'm gonna go and paint an egg now to cheer up...its eastern hihiihih

whoa..thanks guys for your comments and encouragment..i thought this drawing will be forgotten..lol
Lumi: lol i think she was just saying her opinion..didn't really demotivate that much,i draw whatever i want..but i can see that this kind of comments can demotivate some people
oh well,thanks again for looking
Schufterle:have fun painting the egg and happy easter..

I actually think it's really good and he truely looks very sad. The only thing I think looks a bit strange is the eye.