|
Teething!
I'm currently doing two commissions - one "with teeth" and one "without". In the situation of the "with teeth" portrait, showing the teeth was unavoidable. But for the the other, when the client expressed wanting a toothy smile, I used my usual explanation which works well.
I told the client that we get used to seeing toothy smiles from photography. They look natural. Subconciously, we know that a photo was taken in a fraction of a moment, and so smiling that long is normal to expect.
A painting, however is not done in a fraction of a moment. It takes hours of work to complete. So a big smile is "unnatural", as it would logically be impossible for the sitter to have sustained it. So the reason why they look goofy in painted portraits is that we're subconciously bothered by the logic. A demure closed lip smile is sustainable, and appropriate.
Hope that helps.
Linda
|
Threaded Mode
