Daughter pencil portrait
 

A father commissioned this 11×14 pencil portrait of his daughter. I used a Blackwing pencil which is 4B on Canson pure-white paper.


larger version here


.

Very nice, Mike! Those Blackwing pencils are very nice, aren't they?

Mike,

Do you ever turn down photos produced by prospective clients, either for poor lighting or pose? If so, would you then try and create a photo reference yourself? If so, would you charge more for the photography effort?

Thanks

Mike . . . How do you photograph, or other wise copy your work for presentation here? To my mind/eye, they all seem quite well done. I ask because photographing art for this kind of presentation is usually difficult, and often makes me think driving my car off of a bridge a delightful thing to do. Your work is great.

Thanks everyone!

Julie, I dig Blackwing pencils!

Mike, I rarely turn a photo down. Instead I offer to draw/paint a photo to look differently. I might draw/paint brighter than the photo for example with a customer's permission. I might join subjects together from separate photos or move around subjects within a photo even remove subjects. I don't charge extra. I only charge extra if I have to fabricate a subject, like a police sketch-artist might do by using imagination, descriptions, and incomplete photo references.

Richard, I don't photograph! (Except for large works like the 4'x2' watercolor painting below which I felt compelled to insert as a change up from always posting human faces!) Instead, I use a Canon LiDE flatbed scanner from which I removed the lid hinges. I scan my work as large as 3' across section by section. Then I stitch the sections together using PhotoStudio (like PhotoShop).

Mike . . . YIKES and WOW. Thanks. Richard . . .