Red Boat
 

Hi,

This is my first attempt at a pencil portrait. It is graphite and colored pencil on Strathmore Artagin paper, light gray with a slight pebble surface. I worked from a photograph which I took. It was a bit of a challenge because the photo was not very good. I lived to regret the use of a paper that was other than white, because I believe it compressed the values more than I would have liked. The boat is rendered in prismacolor pencils. This is a photo of a giclee print. I was not very happy with the way the red sail boat reproduced. There is no temperature variation on the boat in the prints as in the original (which hangs in a dentist office in Baltimore). Live and learn.

Lon, I agree that a photorealistic style has to be 100% accurate, and alas, I don't think I quite made it there.

Ooops!
 

Sorry, that didn't take---as I said, I'm new at this. Let's try that again...

Detail
 

Here's Detail:

Another:

Hi Valerie,

I like the piece a lot, especially your use of a bold primary color next to all those grey tones. I wish I could see it up close to see the textures. The red boat seems smoother than the rest, but that might just be my imagination.

I can't find flaws with your drawing skills and think that as a figurative piece the composition is interesting. As a traditional portrait though there are some elements that you should have considered.

1. The focus should be on your subject, rather than on his toy.

2. The stance of the young man and especially the bold red always bring the viewer's eye back to the red boat and away from the boy's face.

3. Althoug the cropping is a clever tool to draw attention to the boat, it does not work well for a portrait.

Welcome to the forum, I will look forward to seeing more of your work.

Thanks Enzie,

You know, I fretted about this piece alot. I worried about that bright red element within an otherwise gray composition. unlike a traditional portrait, I wanted this to be a "mood piece", making it less about the child himself, and more about childhood. The bright red boat was to work as symbolism. Sometimes I think it works, other times not. I agree with your concern about the boat distracting the eyes away from the subject of the drawing. I was hoping that the eyes would go from the face of the boy, to his boat and back. I guess it didn't work. {*sigh*}

You are right in ascertaining that the boat is smooth in texture compared to the rest of the drawing.

Valerie,

First, welcome to the Forum, and thanks for posting your drawing. In addition to Enzie's thoughtful observations, here are some of mine:

Anytime you introduce a saturated note of color into a desaturated context, you create an eye-grabber that becomes your center of interest, whether you want it to or not. There is no stronger example than what you have here in place: a red (so very strong) against grays. Notwithstanding the red, any color note you introduce, even a subtle one, will stand out.

You have in place a lot of excellent directional cues (the glance, the sail, the fingers, boat and returning arm, in a counterclockwise fashion), but they are not enough to stand up to the red.

Given the tone of your paper, you have a wonderful opportunity to wrest control by using highlights in a judicious manner. For your interest, try placing this drawing in a grayscale (Photoshop or other), getting rid of the red, and see what happens when you introduce some lights into the skin tones (not the sail).

Best wishes,

Valerie,

Per your request, a few comments on your drawing, which I find engaging and generally well executed. I realize you no longer have access to the piece and that this is somewhat academic.

I actually do like the red-colored sailboat. (I printed out the image in black and white and felt that it

Dear Chris,

Thank you for giving critical consideration to my work. You and Enzi both have confirmed that which I suspected concerning that bright red accent. Would it have worked, had the accent been closer to his face -- a red bandanna tied around the neck, for instance? I was really intrigued by the concept of a unexpected shot of bold color in an otherwise monochrome setting and wanted to give it a try. But I believe I have learned a valuable lesson from this failure.

I have been toying with the idea of doing this same composition in watercolor. I tend to paint watercolors in multiple glazes with careful blending, allowing the paper to completely dry between glazes. I planned to include a background of softly blurred foliage next time, thinking the red/green color complements might work well. The child's skin tone is a warm cinnamon brown and the light on the subject is that of late afternoon. But of course, now I'm not so certain. If I paint the boat a less saturated red, might I avoid the mistake evident in the above drawing?

I do not have Photoshop (or to my knowledge, anything like it), so I can't as yet try the exercise you have suggested, Chris. However, judging from the many threads mentioning such imaging software, I think that I had better acquire it soon. It sounds like an extremely helpful tool.

Chris, two weeks ago I purchased your book,Painting Beautiful Skin Tones, and have since been studying it with keen interest. One of my greatest challenges to date has been ascertaining the relative warmth or coolness of the light source to the shadow areas on the model. But your book offers the clearest explanation of the prinicple that I have read to date. Thank you! Sometime in the future, I would love to take one of your workshops.

Dear Steven,

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your quick response to my request for a critique. All I can say is, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! It is exactly what I was looking for. Your atelier trained eye was able to hone in on this drawing's deficits, which are as numerous as I suspected.

Everything you pointed out are things that had been nudging at the edge of my consciousness; barely audible, but unfortunately not distinguishable voices, saying, "Something's not right here." You are spot on in every instance. The overmodeled shadow running from left armpit to collarbone, and that effect in various other places on the figure, definitely detracts from the the drawing. I believe I fell right into the "over-reliance upon your photographic reference" trap, having not understood that photos often exaggerate values at both ends, shadows in particular. But the effect was further aided by the attempt to compensate for the grey paper's lack of white value. Strangely enough, it did not occur to me to use white conte' or pastel pencil to punch up the high end of the value scale. Duh!

When you pointed out that the overmodeled veinous ridge on the right arm was an eye-catcher, it made so much sense. Indeed, most of my non-artist friends and relatives pointed out that very thing, admiring that I was able to render such detail. :o Yet another trap laid by ignorant reliance upon my reference. The child, who was eight at the time, definitely did not display such an adult's anatomical trait.

One thing for sure is that faces are impossible to fake. They are either right or they are not. As I suspected in this case, not. That left eye had been bugging me for a long time. I knew something was wrong with it. Everytime I held the image up to the mirror, I could clearly see that it was "off", but I couldn't identify exactly how to fix it. Now, it's as clear as day that the left eye is sunk too deep in the skull, and that the respective disparities in width between the eyes and sides of the head contribute to the sense of "askew". I'd been so busy fretting about the face that I ignored the problem presented by the left ear. Once again, I leaned on the crutch of my photo, which lied to me. Had I known more about anatomy and perspective, I might have avoided this error.

All the modeling and anatomical problems of the hands and fingers which you pointed out, are clear now also. Thank you.

Alas however, there are some sailing terms you mentioned of which I am completely unfamiliar. I haven't a clue as to the meanings of, "leach" and "luff", nor their placement upon the sail's edges. Compounding matters is the fact that I don't know what the "trapezius muscle" is, nor where it is to be found on my model.:bewildere Suffice it to say, a good anatomy book for artists will be my next art reference purchase. More than likely, his muscles as not as pronounced as they appear in the drawing.

As to the little boat itself, unfortunately it has no rudder. Of that I am sure because, besides the terms, sail and deck, rudder is the only other sailing definition of which I have confident knowledge. The end of that limited knowledge butts right up to the term, transom. :o What's a transom?

Steven, your critique has done me an invaluable favour. As I read it at about 3:00 this morning, I kept thinking, "Yes, so that's what I've been doing wrong!" It's like a list of things to avoid repeating in the future, broadening my understanding of sound artistic principles. Now, I'm more determined than ever to banish these weaknesses.

I only wish I had access to an atelier style art academy. It must be something akin to "boot camp" for artists, so exacting are the standards for excellence. But that's exactly what I desire. Having dedicated years studying at the Bougie School, you must have realized tremendous growth in every aspect of your art. I envy you, but more so, I admire your generosity. No one offers a more carefully considered and accurate critique than you do, passing on insights and understanding which you yourself received. Your assessment of my drawing energized and inspired me to aim for greater artistic proficiency. I believe I have the sensibilites of an artist. Now I need to hone my skills in order to best express them.

Sorry about the jargon. I'm attaching an image of your drawing, on which I've marked the parallels I was referring to.

The transom is the flat part of the back of a boat where, for example, you'd install an outboard motor or, as I've done for your little boat here, a rudder.

I'm not sure the type on the image will be readable. Everything I know about Photoshop was learned at Etch-a-Sketch School, and I'm due for a refresher course.

You'll be more comfortable and gain confidence more quickly if you think in terms of what's working and what's not quite working, rather than in terms of "deficits" or how you've failed. This is a nice piece as is, people like it, and it really wouldn't have occurred to me to make any particular critical suggestions about it, save in response to your specific questions.

Despite my writing at length, I wouldn't characterize my suggestions as an overhaul -- more like a tune-up. Most of the adjustments would be very slight and easily executed.

If you've learned only not to trust the darks in the typical reference photograph, you'll have learned a lot from this project.

Steven,

Thanks to you, I've learned a lot more than not to trust the values in my photo reference! And thanks to your encouragement, I believe that I will indeed attempt to render this composition in watercolor. I love a challenge.

By the way, this little boy's trapezius muscles (now that I know what and where they are) are indeed as pronounced as they appear in the drawing.

Nice work, Valerie, and I commend you for your dedicaton. I am not an expert on this type of drawing, nor can I do it. I find the greatest school is the one of experience. "Just do it" is the term someone used.

Composition
 

I hate to disagree with some of the very thoughtful comments that have been made on this piece.

I find this to be a very beautiful piece.

A: the composition is very original and well executed. Squint and you will see how the triangular shape of the sail brings the attention to the face. You will see how the patterns of her shadows reinforce the overall design.

B: The question of the red boat, it works because of the strong directionals of the composition, which serve to keep the eye moving toward the head.

C: When you are doing spots of color, there seems to be an unwritten law, like bouquets of flowers, one, three, five.

Valerie, you have a very natural and original sense of design. You also know how to design a figure in the pictorial sense. A little more refinement in the drawing would be good, but that comes with time and practice.

Sincerely,

Editing
 

Valerie,

I am not an atelier trained artist either, when I went to art school I was unaware such things existed. My school was unfortunately dedicated to abstract expressionism.

What, and I can only assume, was the purpose of drawing from the casts, is besides a knowledge of form is the fine art of editing. The arists who made the original sculptures for these casts had learned form but had also learned the more subtle arts of refinement. In other words they distilled what they saw, simplifying and embellishing the raw material in front of them. Perhaps there were too many neck creases etc., the face needed to have its forms simplified and so on. They were designing what was in front of them according to their eyes was aesthetic or mirrored their point of view, not just slavishly rendering every wart and pore.

This is the same principle that needs to be addressed in photo-realism. Photo-realism does not mean copying every minutiae, it means adding your own spin on things.

I would check out Ingres drawings to study.

In your picture in particular, as other have pointed out it means simplfying forms, emphasizing some and eliminating anything that distracts or is not necessary to your statement.

Sincerely,

Sharon,

Thank you so much for your kind appraisal of "Red Boat". When designing the composition of the piece, I had indeed hoped that the triangular lines of the sails would lead the eyes to the child's head. Perhaps when I paint it in watercolor this design feature will work more emphatically. As I said earlier, I wanted the piece to be more about childhood, and less about the child himself (despite the fact that the child is my son). I suspect that the use of full color will more unify the boat with the rest of the composition.

Unfortunately, I never attended art school of any type, so everything I've learned thus far has been from books and a scattered personal curriculum. It makes me feel very insecure as an artist. I would give just about anything to be enrolled in an atelier. At mid-life, I don't feel that I have the luxury of fiddling around. If I am to become accomplished as quickly as possible, I need a time tested and exacting course of study.

The good news is that I have access to the wisdom and talent of fine artists such as yourself. I think I had a "light-bulb moment" when Steven spoke of the editorial possibilites of this drawing. Real art is all about editing -- editing to strengthen! Now I'll focus my attention in that direction more diligently.

I think that drawing from casts is an excellent way to train the eye to see shapes, forms and values. I've been thinking about buying some inexpensive garden statuary from a nursery center for the express purpose of "cast drawing".

Copying from a photo is always harder than from reality...if we want to progress in the understanding of the basic notions of how to reproduce reality.

It seems to me (may be I am wrong) that to get the illusion of volume from our model it is not sufficient to reproduce the light/shadow contrast in a mechanical way, but also to underline which light is lighter, which shadow is darker. For instance: the lights towards the source of light is always lighter and so on. There are laws in painting which must be respected

-When we draw after reality we unconsciously are trying to understand or notice these laws.

-After a photo, it is like to heat up a ready "Pizza."

In my personal experiences each time I draw after a photo it became a disaster from the point of view of taste. When I draw after photo plus the model was next to me, in the best case it became "photorealism."

When I draw after a life model, a portrait I mean, and the person took the courage sit for weeks. What came out besides a satisfying picture is also an extraordinary human contact.

I will not enter into the technical problems of that drawing because the positive effect from it is quite evident.

Sergio,

You are, of course, quite right about the perils of drawing from a photograph. I wish I could convince even just a few people to sit long enough for me to draw a complete portrait from life. I had to bribe my son to pose for this photo (he only allowed me to fire off three shots---good thing one of them was fairly usable) before he bolted for the house! :o

At this stage in my development, I am not a "quick draw". I would need for my model to endure several protracted sittings in order to achieve a satisfactory drawing from life. Every time I attempt to draw a portrait from a live sitter, I'm intensely aware of how bored and uncomfortable they seem to be getting (after only a few minutes, even!), and it makes me feel quite anxious. I also worry about their reaction to my efforts after they have endured sitting still for so long. "A model! A model! My kingdom for a model!" ;)

I like your analogy of the reference photo as, "ready to heat pizza". It is quite true for all but the most accomplished artists.