Figure Painting

Joseph Brzycki · 03-12-2002, 10:59 PM

I realize this is a portrait forum and this is a figure painting, but I thought I'd ask for your comments anyway. I have one more session with this model on Friday and still have to go over the hair. I look foward to your comments.

Raffaele Di Fiore · 03-13-2002, 09:41 AM

Joseph,

Firstly, allow me to say you have done very well. I love the paintings of nudes. The first thing that caught my eye when looking at this piece was the turning of the form, particularly in the area of the back. I found it to be rather flat. To give the illusion that it turns, you must further soften and grey it along the edges. This is extremely important if it is to be convincing. Use your fingers to soften the edge. There is no better tool to use. What I mean by greying it, is to do two things. You first want to detach the form from the background. To do so one can grey the outer edge of the form with the colour of your flesh mixed with a grey (of equal value of course). This will help the form to turn while pushing the background away. Secondly, where the background meets the flesh of the figure you can again use some grey mixed in with the background colour to help the background recede. I am not talking of massive amounts of grey here, just enough to have you achieve the illusion.

The arm appears rather limp. This is the second thing that immediately caught my eye. When looking at it, ask yourself if you can see the underlying bone structure. Perhaps if the elbow was more defined, the

Joseph Brzycki · 03-13-2002, 11:27 AM

Raffaele,

I want to thank you very much for that post. It is extremely helpful and will use your tips this Friday. Also, after the underpainting dried I had noticed that the arm was overstretched and couldn't think of anything to fix the problem at the time. I will certainly try out your advice and see if defining the elbow will work.
People have asked me if I have ever thought about traveling to Europe to study and copy from the Old Masters. How tempting it sounds, but in a world where technology is moving so quickly I think it is necessary to try to learn some of the new art forms as well. Perhaps someday when I'm a little older and wiser. This wasn't how I thought at first. I was planning on going to the Florence Academy of Art right after high school, but was tempted with technology and decided to stay.

Lon Haverly · 03-13-2002, 01:14 PM

Nicely done, however, it is a bit monochromatic, as your last piece. Is this your preference? Flesh tones can have some lovely colors which you have perhaps overlooked or elected to exclude or that did not show up in the photo of this painting. Perhaps a few touches of color would take away the clammy mood to this painting.