newest portrait- advice needed! EDIT: possible backgrounds on p. 3 (pic heavy)

[thriftjunkie]

this is of my gorgeous, talented sister (plus blonde wig!!!). she doesn't know i drew her- she would probably be mad. ohhh well...
i know the jacket's wonky (i took some artistic liberty to try to make it less distracting from her loverly face), i'm going to fix it when i get some time.
i need advice- what color should i make the background? originally i was thinking neon pink, but i don't know...

time 1:



time 2:



time 3:



originals:



note: holy crap! how did i not realize that the color ref was not the same as the black and white ref? i thought the former was just a crop.

[gina-marie]

it looks really good! I think a neon pink background would take away from your drawing.   A more neutral color would look nice.

[Ahoy Sailor!]

i have to say that the neon pink would look good. having such a bright contrasting color would make the actual drawing seem to stand out and "pop" more against such a bright backdrop. i have to disagree with gina-marie ( sorry no hard feelings just my opinion). i think a neutral color would blend in more with the actual drawing making it seem more together....i dont know how to describe it...but being all neutral and subtle colors would not really draw your eyes to the drawing.

[thriftjunkie]

it doesn't have to be neon pink- is there something else you can think of that would set off the portrait without detracting from it? maybe a blue or red?

[spurtiic]

anything bright against a neutral will stand out more than the neutral (your drawing).  to be honest, the drawing itself is freakin' amazing.  i'd just leave it at that i am in awe of your talent! i hope to be that phenomenal someday!! 

[thriftjunkie]

what if it was a more neutral color, like a baby blue? i used a new pencil to make the grid and i'm annoyed because it's SO hard to erase. i thought briefly of cutting the image out with an exacto and affixing it to another piece of art paper, but i'm scared i'll mess it up. either way, the grid has to go, so SOMETHING has to be in the background.

[gina-marie]

I think blue would look really nice.  I like having a color that isn't too contrasting so that the eye doesn't focus on he negative space the drawing makes

[nat_attack]

That is really good. Is it only white pencil?

I would go for a baby blue, as wel... anything neon would overwhelm it.

[thriftjunkie]

That is really good. Is it only white pencil?

I would go for a baby blue, as wel... anything neon would overwhelm it.

i used a white and a black pencil- kind of my m.o.

i used a light blue/green for the background here- do you think a similar color would be too bright for this piece?
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=216921.0

[Aki-Majo]

Awesome job!