Ink Bottle Attempt

Critique Corner
1

Greetings everyone,
after getting bored with copying Ventrone, i decided to try to create my own high resolution painting from a live reference. Now it is obvious that I have clearly appropriated Anthony’s style and to an extend his subject matter as well, so…sorry about that in advance. (Quick disclaimer: these paintings of mine are not meant to be sold and will most definitely not be of any commercial advantage to myself.) I did so because I thought I might get the most out of some possible feedback since the works’ objective would be comparable: in the end I want to elicit a trompe l’oeil effect in the viewer.
I think I am far from hitting this target which is why I turn to you guys for advice and critique.
Which steps would you take to improve the overall illusion? What should I take into consideration and where do I need to improve?
I have attached two pictures of the painting and one picture of the live reference, to give an idea of what the reference looks like. My photos are lacking in quality, which in turn might make it hard to give feedback. Sorry again, i am a terrible photographer. (As an estimate, i would say that the truth is somewhere in between those two photos of my painting lol) Its size is 23cm x 18cm, oil on wood.
Here are the painting photos:

IMG_0114
IMG_01141403×1895 418 KB

IMG_0115
IMG_01151354×1789 284 KB

Here’s the reference:

IMG_0117
IMG_01171920×2560 448 KB

Thank you all for taking the time! It really is very very much appreciated!!!

1 Like
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Well you’ve definitely appropriated Anthony’s canon which could be avoided with a different context if you wanted to create this as a work with a voice of your own. As a learning exercise though this can be a good way of pushing your present skillset. Since you’ve said the photo isn’t 100% what it looks like in life it’s hard to give feedback but the main issue I see technically is that your value scale is off. Your darks need to be darker and your white reflection needs to be the whitest white. Glass tends to have sharper edges between values unless it’s really worn like sea glass. Your reds should be richer. But this is a solid start and I’m impressed with the detail on the label.

1 Like
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Thank you so much for the feedback! I am actually applying a third layer of paint right now and using the full value range really adds to the illusion.
Do you happen to have experience with painting tiny details as for example those ridges on the broken bottle cap? I can’t seem to get the paint application right…