The Perfect Model

[Nathan Cremer]

This is a recently finished portrait of myself. I'd like to get some feedback before I start my next color portrait from life. The next one will be more difficult considering I was able to take my time with this one. (The model was extremely patient, and willing to pose whenever I felt like drawing.)

It was done on an orange-colored Canson Mi-teintes with Yarka pastels and is approx. 10"x13". I spent about 3 nights doing this one. Hours unkown.

[Sharon Knettell]

Nathan,

I applaud your decision to work from life. From my point of view, seeing how close you can get to photographic reference, stunts artistic growth.

The best styles are done by those who push their artistic limit and are not artificially imposed.

This head is quite lovely and strong. A quantum leap from what I have seen you do before. I saw your lovely charcoal drawings as well, but have not had the time to comment on them. Let me say briefly, this work looks like it is done by an entirely different artist.

Some things to watch for, following the examples of my first efforts in painting portraits from life. Squint, squint and squint somemore. This helps place the tones more accurately in relation to each other. I don't kow what your lighting is, but I know from my own experience, the first attempts can be a bit pasty. I found Daniel Greenes tapes very helpfull in this regard.

The forehead, watch the temple area, the transitions seem artficially bumpy.

The best instructor is repeated experience.

Sincerely,

[Sergio Ostroverhy]

Hello Nathan,

I love the general impression from the portrait, the expression of the face, especially find successful the lighting, a little bit like in the pictures of Rembrandt.

Still some technical points may be

• the ear seems to me a little bit too big, or at least not in perspective comparing the size of the nose.
• the left eye... some problems... It seems to me that sometimes people overdraw their mouth, eyes and so on...
• maybe more poetic treatment of the lines... a pastel after all gives that possibility.
• The treatment of the right cheeks in the shadow part seems to me as if drawn from a photo... even in the shadows we can structuralize things... or may be the passage is too brutal.
• Some tonality problems with the use of the white... we can not have the same white at the eyebrows and in the hair...
• The texture of the surface (apparently you are using the grained part of canson) sometimes gives not a very pleasant effect... are you using pastel pencil or something else? Try the smooth part of the paper.

Best regards, Hope not too be too harsh...

[Elizabeth Schott]

Very nice Nathan!

You might add a little more light to those eyes to make them as bright as your dear self! Remember when you see a reflective spot on the pupil, since the eye is transparent it will come out on the other side with a not-as-light spot on the iris or whites!