Doing a realistic leopard face.

After doing the Leopard face on the weekend for my daughter, I want to do a better job of it. So I have been looking at leopard photos and had another go last night. Had to paint on myself, as my daughter says I can only paint her on stay home days.

I painted using 5 colours (white, yellow, orange, brown & black) and a small shaving mirror. Looking at myself in mirror I thought I did a good job, but then was very disappointed when I saw the photograph. If the face is seen from a distance or when it is shrunk to an icon it look ok, but it does not hold up to close examination. But this tells me I got the composition right and I just need to work on the details, right?

My method was this:
1. Sponge white on eyes, upper lip, and entire lower jaw.
2. Sponge yellow on everything else, and lightly speckle lower jaw with yellow (so it is a bit more creamy).
3. Speckle face with orange then brown.
4. Colour nose brown.
5. Do all black detail except dots.
6. Using a cotton bud dab brown dots, smaller in centre, getting large to outside.
7. Using a cotton bud dab black dots inside brown dots, so that the brown is just a shadowy outline.
8. Do whisker in white.
Things I know I did poorly:
• The nose, not sure how to get a good broad nose effect.
• I was rushed by family commitments when finishing off black dot, I meant them to be more defined.

I would like to try this again on weekend and do a better job, what and how can I improve this?
I have attached the source photos, if anyone would like to have a go as well.

You really need to make the amount of black at the mouth minimal--a thin line from the nose down to where your lips part, ending in a small triangle shape on the top lip.....then just fill the bottom lip in black. Also, your spots should actually get larger and more of a rosette shape to them the farther they get from the center of the face.
This sketch may help you.....

For the nose, I just take my brush and do a line striaght across to get the cat's nose part, and fill in from that line down. As far as making the "human" bridge of the nose look flatter like a cat's, it would just be a trick with color placement. In your pic, instead of just putting the brown color on your nose, I'd have it going straight up from where you wanted the cat nose to be, so it would also be on your cheeks a little too... so hard to describe without showing.

I went and found some videos for ya... I learn by watching others do it
These are tigers... but it helps getting some of the big cat basics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vecPkc7uf_E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugsJ9UyAJNE

Suzy.....nice job....kind of a cross between a leopard, a cheetah, and a saber toothed tiger.
Just remember that Leopards don't have the "Tear Marks" and Cheetahs don't have rosettes.
Also, if you apply the white in more of an hourglass shape on the center of the face and blend into your yellow, then blend out into an orange or brown, etc.....you will get a more dimensional base that draws the focus to the center.
For cat faces to really be effective, you should draw the focus in to the "cat" features, like the eyes, nose, and muzzle.
This photo is not a "realistic" cat, but more of a fantasy cat in more natural colors, but it demonstrates what i mean about drawing the focus in. I used angular lines to bring the focus in to the center......to me, it catches the attention and draws it in to the whole design better if you do this.....kinda like having a "flow" with a swirls and curls design or with a henna design.

I always get real photos which helps lots. Arkive.com has some really good quality ones...

Good start from both of you.

I'd suggest making your spots more irregular, and with some biiger size differences as is some tiny and a range up to massive - they are just slightly too even and dotty.

Funny how most cat species look great on human faces but monkeys/ apes, our closest resemblance, look horrible generally!

cat x

Guess it is because we are to similar. Like it is easier making a dragon look great, than a human, because we know how it should look.

Hi

When I did my avatar, I looked off of a Wolfe Bros book. I thought bringing the nose below the human nose and mouth below the human mouth was effective to get the longer cat face affect.

You also may want to add in some leopard eyebrows

Nice lion. Had another go at my leopard.
A bit better bit not there yet. Should not have tried it on a three year old. Again it force me to rush it. It also only lasted two minutes before the boy fell into the lake.
Think I am going to buy a practice head. I all most only get to practice on 3 to5 year olds, and they have limited patience. So why am I doing a complicated face? To challenge myself and I believe that once I have the details and techique right, I can speed it up and simlify it.
Thanks for all the suggestion I will put up my next attempt. Sometime during the next week when I have another night free and a willing model.

You don't need it to be complicated to get the techniques right. You can just practice that on your arm or leg. Like sponging, blending, tear drops, swirls and so. When you have that, you can combine it to everything. Both simple and complicated =)

Lone- some arms and legs are hairier than others!

True, even meduim hair makes brush strokes messy. LOL