Wip

Susan Soto · 11-10-2002, 07:54 PM

Scroll down to see the completed WIP. It is at the bottom of the page. Took a bit of everyone's advice, so I hope it is much better now

Okay, here is a work in progress that I could use some feedback on.

I am not quite sure what to do with the background, if anything, and I would like some feedback about the overall portrait.

The digital image lost some of its quality between home and here, so even though it looks like there is a background, there is none. Also there is quite a bit more detail on the clothing than the portrait shows. I will try to get a better image. But for now please help with background and overall portrait.

Josef Sy · 11-10-2002, 11:02 PM

Hello, Susan,

Nice execution! What medium are you using?

Couple of things that caught my attention. It might be from the photo, but these are what I notice. The left girl's lips on the right side corner are a bit too dark. I think the light is coming from the right side so it should make the right side of the lips a bit lighter.

For likeness, you have captured both of them very well, but the left girl's face is a bit rounder than on the picture. I usually use this trick to see if the proportions are right on the money or not: By looking back and forth between your drawing and the picture, you will be able to see the differences between the two.

I hope this helps. Great work!

Susan Soto · 11-10-2002, 11:17 PM

Thanks for your feedback. I am using powdered graphite and powdered charcoal, applied with mostly brushes and blended with a chamois or felt.

I was really hoping for a background idea. I usually either overwork them or underwork them. So if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Steven Sweeney · 11-10-2002, 11:34 PM

Susan,

In my view, you don't need a background. I think the compositional weight is now balanced between the background and the light shirt area. Fill up that background and you're going to have to do something with the shirts, or they'll look like an "unfinished" part.

I don't know how difficult it is to make alterations in the particular medium you're using, but I'll mention two or three areas that I think would profit from attention.

If, as Josef recommended, you look back and forth repeatedly between photo and drawing, you should discover that in the drawing, the head of the girl on our left isn't as "tall". It's difficult in a small reference to see where the space was lost. I think the chin is small. It could be enlarged and "squared up" slightly. On the top of the head, I'd lighten up the headband across the top and then as it moves to the right, let it darken in value and get "lost" in her hair. I think that would add a bit of height on that end.

I had thought the curve of that same girl's jawline was too rounded, and I think that enlarging the chin size and then "aiming" the jawline at the new, lower base will take care of that.

I'd have a look at shadow and halftone areas in that same girl's neck. Don't let anything get too light. The whole area is in shadow. Also, try to carve out and define that interesting dark on the right side of the neck, which drops down from the jaw, down the center of the windpipe to the pit of the neck, and then to the right.) Don't make it too dark, though.

Lastly, where the girls' heads meet, darken the halftone on the left side of the forehead on the girl to the right. This is needed to round out the form. A similar darkening on the left side of the other girl would help in the same way.

Linda Brandon · 11-11-2002, 09:28 PM

Hi Susan,

I'm very interested in how you are combining powdered graphite and powdered charcoal. Can you explain your technique?

What comes to mind when I see this fine drawing is the dark shape between the necks. Is it hair? This is one of the problems with photo references -- dark values clump together. If you hold your photo up to the light, it'll be easier to tell what's going on in there.

I love the eyes in this drawing.

Linda

Susan Soto · 11-11-2002, 10:47 PM

Hi, Linda,

First of all, I agree with the clumped up dark values. This photo is from 1963 and was made in one of those old photo booths. It is 1" x 1". Holding it up to the light and even using my light table did not tell me what the dark value was. So I assumed it was hair. I even blew it up but that did not help. I was told by the owner that their hair (the girls') was brown. The older girl had very dark brown hair.

Now how I apply these powders is another story. I use all sorts of things, and sometimes with many layers with a workable fixative in between. Some of my tools are a little unorthodox in the artist world but I use what works. I will list a few here.

Applicators:
1. Tortillions
2. Stumps
3. Artist brushes
4. Eye make-up applicators (work wonderfully)
5. A new tool I found in an art store (new to me) called color shapers, made by Royal Sovereign Ltd. UK. They can be used to take off color and blend and come in a variety of shapes.

Blenders:
1. Shammy (chamois is the correct name, I think. It is used to buff cars.)
2. Felt
3. Kleenex (the thick ones without lotions)
4. All kinds of papers
5. And anything else that will give me the texture I am looking for
6. Make-up sponges

Most of the stuff I came about accidentally, but all for the better. Oh, did I say I let a pencil touch my portrait every now and then?

Thanks for your comments and if you have any suggestions for the black hole, let me know. I left it there because I thought this portrait needed a dark value with all the lightness going on.