Micheal

Vianna Szabo · 09-13-2003, 03:30 PM

This is a drawing that the mother was not happy with. I did a pencil drawing of his brother about 11 years ago when I was first starting out. His brother was about 2 years old at the time and sat in my rocking chair in front of a large window. The mother wanted me to do a portrait of her second son who is currently 9 years old. She wanted him in the same pose, same chair in front of the same window. Well to make a long story short, three sittings later we settled on a chair outdoors and the pose you see here.

One problem that occurred was that the mother was very unhappy about his bushy eyebrows. It turns out she is very sensitve about this feature herself. Personally I like them. She also did not like the dark background. I made some minor changes but did not want to send out a drawing that I was not comfortable with. Any thoughts on how I could improve this drawing? Are the eyebrows too much? Sorry I no longer have the reference photos for this. Any input is appreciated.

09-13-2003, 04:15 PM

You don't have a photo of the first drawing you did, do you? Maybe her issue is not really eyebrows.

Some people are unhappy no matter what. I think the eyebrows look good. You could maybe stump them out a bit, but if she's eyebrow-focused then there won't be anything you can do. I think you're right to hold yourself to a standard.

Michele Rushworth · 09-13-2003, 06:52 PM

Did the mother approve the reference photos before you began the work? If the shot that was used for the painting emphasized the eyebrows too much, or if there was something else she didn't like, it should have become apparent at that point. Did the mother completely reject the drawing or will you be reworking it to her satisfaction?

Vianna Szabo · 09-13-2003, 08:36 PM

Thanks for replying, Lisa and Michele, I don't have a photo of the brother done 11 years ago. It was a much flatter drawing because even though it was correct proportion wise I did not know squat about value.

The mother did approve the reference photo and was very excited about the pose. She did accept the painting after I made some slight changes. I refused to change it any more because I felt it would ruin the depth. I suppose that is the crux of the issue. If you did a portrait for a client years ago and your work has changed dramatically how do you match your work of today to your work of the past?

By the way she gave me the original portrait to work on and make any corrections. She told me that it was her most prized possesion. I only made some slight value changes in order to match it to the current one. I'm not so sure she was happy there either. My only saving grace is that I think she is done having children. Has anyone else run into this problem?

Lon Haverly · 10-02-2003, 01:42 AM

You cannot please everyone, Vianna. You really have to please yourself. If you have done that, you cannot help what people do. I have disappointed people before, but this is not an exact science, and sometimes people want perfection rather than a drawing. Drawings are your impressions. Hopefully they reflect those of others, but not necessarily.

It is a lovely drawing, and I think she will grow to love it just as much as the first one. It is hard to compete with a "most prized possession."

Vianna Szabo · 10-04-2003, 04:13 PM

Thank you, Lon, for the reply. I am normally aware of warning signs from a client that tells me not to take the job, for example, "Can you make me 20 pounds thinner and shorten my nose?" But this one caught me by surprise. I have not heard from her since so hopefully she is learning to love it. Guess that is the excitement of the portrait biz, eh? I posted this in the critique section because I really respect the people who write in and share their thoughts. Often it is difficult to view your own work and I wanted to make sure I had not sent a dud out. Thanks again for your reply.

Stanka Kordic · 10-04-2003, 05:36 PM

THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL DRAWING VIANA!

Portraiture is a tough business because there is a very fine line to cross in regards to people's vanity about themselves, in this case, their child. It's easy to see he is at the age when his face is changing, perhaps accentuating a feature or features that are not the parent's favorite. Much different than age 2.

Yes, I had a situation with a "chubby" lets say, child...long story...Anyway, have them sit with you with the drawing and point to what's wrong. Concrete, not esoteric feedback. It's the only thing that will help you make corrections they will be happy with. They owe you that.

Bravo for marking your boundaries. You have every reason to be proud of this.