I've continued to work on figurative works using charcoal and pastel over the past few weeks. My spousal unit wanted a portrait done in that style. That was a surprise to me. She has refused to sit for me for quite a few years now because she says I make her look "old", and she gets bored after sitting still for more than 33 seconds. So I had her come to the studio and we spent an hour shooting a bunch of photographs that I could then use for a portrait.
Doing the first portrait took quite a while. There was a little pressure there ... okay, a LOT of pressure, knowing that if anything didn't quite measure up to her satisfaction, I'd hear about it for as long as the artwork existed. And I wanted to get it right, anyway. I started one, got pretty far along, and wiped it all out. Then I started another on the same paper, got pretty far along, and wiped it out, too. Then a third time. Finally, on the fourth try, things started coming together. Oddly enough, it owed a lot of its success to the three failures that had left their mark on the paper. Here's how it turned out:
This one is definitely Janis. I think I got her strength along with a really good likeness. Yeah, I'm happy with it.
The three failures contributed to this by leaving something of their marks on the paper. You can see that on the left and right sides, where there are dark areas with lighter streaks. They hinted that I should leave those areas soft and roughly done. I focused the color on her face and hair, with the highest value contrasts and sharpest edges right around her eyes and nose. That kept the viewer's attention, while further away, the blacks transitioned to grays, sharp lines went soft, and those areas played a supporting role to the face.
Most importantly, she likes it and it's at the frame shop as I write.
I did another portrait of her after that. This time, I based it on a very different photo, one of her laughing. It was also difficult, but for different reasons. than the first Laughing is something that is very hard to capture in an artwork. Faces deform: the eyes scrunch up, mouths stretch, folds appear where normally there are no folds, muscles in the neck pop out, and the whole face basically goes out of whack. It's hard enough to get a good likeness when they're normal - getting a good likeness when it's a dynamic situation and everything has changed is harder, and then making the figure look alive on top of that is really tough. But I think it came out well. I really like this portrait of her.
Doing the first portrait took quite a while. There was a little pressure there ... okay, a LOT of pressure, knowing that if anything didn't quite measure up to her satisfaction, I'd hear about it for as long as the artwork existed. And I wanted to get it right, anyway. I started one, got pretty far along, and wiped it all out. Then I started another on the same paper, got pretty far along, and wiped it out, too. Then a third time. Finally, on the fourth try, things started coming together. Oddly enough, it owed a lot of its success to the three failures that had left their mark on the paper. Here's how it turned out:
This one is definitely Janis. I think I got her strength along with a really good likeness. Yeah, I'm happy with it.
The three failures contributed to this by leaving something of their marks on the paper. You can see that on the left and right sides, where there are dark areas with lighter streaks. They hinted that I should leave those areas soft and roughly done. I focused the color on her face and hair, with the highest value contrasts and sharpest edges right around her eyes and nose. That kept the viewer's attention, while further away, the blacks transitioned to grays, sharp lines went soft, and those areas played a supporting role to the face.
Most importantly, she likes it and it's at the frame shop as I write.
I did another portrait of her after that. This time, I based it on a very different photo, one of her laughing. It was also difficult, but for different reasons. than the first Laughing is something that is very hard to capture in an artwork. Faces deform: the eyes scrunch up, mouths stretch, folds appear where normally there are no folds, muscles in the neck pop out, and the whole face basically goes out of whack. It's hard enough to get a good likeness when they're normal - getting a good likeness when it's a dynamic situation and everything has changed is harder, and then making the figure look alive on top of that is really tough. But I think it came out well. I really like this portrait of her.
She hates it.
Oh, well. One out of two isn't bad at all. But for the sake of harmony at home, that image will not be shown. Sorry!
Love love love this!
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