Mirror problem

Nathan Cremer · 12-19-2002, 05:46 PM

The original is the first one. The only test was to see if other people view it as I do. This has been a good exercise for me.

I am right handed. And, another thing I heard is that people have a "strong" eye. The same as you have a "strong" hand or foot. So, this means you're seeing more with one eye than the other. There is a way to test it, so it is true. My "strong" eye is my right, just like my hand.

I want to be able to train my eye to see these problems. And for now, I'm gonna do this exercise of flipping it on my computer, or a mirror, to see any flaws I might have missed.

Another thing that concerned me was that when you do a portrait of yourself from a mirror, the image is flipped. That is how you see yourself, but that is not how other people see you. For example, I have a "cowlick?" on my right side. In the portrait, it's on my left. I don't know how big of an issue that is, though.

The specific flaws I seen when flipping it were one of my eyes is off kilter, my nose is off-center, and my mouth could use a slight adjustment. Maybe, my lack of noticing was from staring at it too long from the same viewpoint.

ReNae Stueve · 03-19-2004, 08:45 AM

I picked the first one, but it doesn't count now!!! Anyway, I find that after 20 hours of gazing at a piece, my eyes fill in that which I think should be there, also. To remedy this, I've placed a large mirror on the wall not quite opposite of my easel. I can easily turn and check were I'm at while I'm blocking. This also helps a good deal with still life work I do. You may think your perspective is OK but when you look in the mirror you can pick up those slight errors that throw things off.

I liked this exercise........ I picked #1 because, I would have chosen that pose myself. the flow of the painting reads left to right and circles back over your head nicely.

Tom Edgerton · 03-19-2004, 02:14 PM

Nathan--

Jean and ReNae have it right.

The mirror is a great tool for alerting you to problems of composition, design, "flow," value, and sometimes problems with drawing, which will scream out at you when reversed if they're really serious.

But don't whip yourself overly if the face doesn't look exactly the same both ways. As Jean stated, no face is symmetrical, except maybe a supermodel's, who get hired for having perfect math in their visages. Your draftmanship in this drawing is better than most already, so don't worry so much. If it's off, you're good enough to catch it.

Best--TE