Study for Dean in charcoal and conte

Jean Kelly · 01-16-2003, 12:32 PM

This is the almost completed study that I'm doing of Dean in conjunction with the painting of him and Bear. It's 15" x 18" on Canson classic cream paper. The paper was toned first with pastel, but all drawing is done with charcoal and conte crayon. The reference photo is a digital photo of the actual 5" x 7" snapshot, so probably won't look great. Santa blew all his money on toys this year (grandchildren) so still no scanner!

Jean

Jean Kelly · 01-16-2003, 01:34 PM

This photo was taken of Dean last summer. Since then he's lost 45 lbs. My dilemma in the painting is to create a potrait that portrays him pre weight loss. This should be simple, the bone structure is the same. (haha)

Jean

Steven Sweeney · 01-16-2003, 07:19 PM

Jean,

Just briefly, I think you're overmodeling in the face, and it's giving his flesh a looser look than I see in the photo. In particular, the dark shadows and accents need some relief -- right under the chin line, on the lips, the tear duct in the eye to our right, most of the creases in the flesh of the face and neck, throughout the ear. Raising the value of those darks a bit may take care of things, but you may also have to additionally do some combination of lightening some of the midtones and darkening a few lights here and there. To the latter, I'm looking at that white patch of value on our far left on the forehead, above the glasses. The form should be receding in that area (and is, in the photo), rather than advancing to catch the light. Same with the edge of the chin, on our left, and the edge of the cheekbone, same side (inside the lens frame).

The one area that is most affecting likeness is the quite marked difference in the mouth, between photo and drawing. Put the two images side by side and quickly look back and forth at that feature in each. The differences are quite apparent. I mentioned already that the edges of the lips are probably too dark and hard. But the whole mouth (lips, teeth, all of it) is also at some oblique angle to the vertical axis of the face, whereas in the photo it's essentially perpendicular in form. With that tilt of the head, the mouth simply has to be rising faster as it rolls around to the far side.

A last thing I noticed in the same area -- the light shape below and adjacent to the nostril is too light.

Bring some midtones into the "shadow" side(s) of the form of the hair, to round it out, shape it. On the very distance "part" in the hair (on the back of the head), let the "part" show, rather than filling it in with thick hair. That "fill" is tending to reshape the back of the skull, pulling it out, making it seem larger than it is and contributing to a slightly oblong look to the head overall, chin to crown. (In fact, to the same effect, there's just a little too much hair "volume" below the part, on our right side of the head.)

Picky, picky, but there you go.

Jean Kelly · 01-16-2003, 09:41 PM

Hi Steven, thank you for taking the time to critique this. I've printed out your comments and will make the adjustments. I plan to give my client the study too, so I would like it to be as good as possible. (I thought he looked a little "fleshy" but wasn't sure why) I'll post the results.

Jean

Lon Haverly · 01-21-2003, 11:30 PM

This photo has poor light source for black and white, thus the overmodeling, as said above. I would have elected to do it in pastel or something and take advantage of the plentiful color to offset the lack of shadow. Tough project from this reference photo.

Jean Kelly · 01-22-2003, 12:28 AM

Hi. I used q-tips to gently remove much of deep shadows, lightened the midtones and decreased highlights. Also fixed his (I think) his mouth and did more work on the hair per your suggestions Steven. I believe I got all of them. Better now? As I said before, picky is good. You were right, this seems much more like Dean, thank you again Steven.

Lon, yes, this was a difficult source photo, but better than what I was working from for his painting. If I had my druthers I'd have photographed him myself, but didn't have that option in this case. All in all, it was still an extremely rewarding project, good for my soul.

Jean

Lon Haverly · 01-22-2003, 04:10 AM

Great job finishing up this drawing! You learned a good lesson on this one about perseverence. This really looks nice!!

Mike McCarty · 01-22-2003, 10:06 AM

Huge difference Jean, very nice.

Steven Sweeney · 01-22-2003, 10:17 AM

Agreed, with but one last entry on this thread for me. On his far right side of the face (our left), you're keeping the light value right out to the very edge. Let there be some darkening of value along that edge as the form rounds away from us. Do it rather selectively (not as an even "stripe"), as you would let a line appear and disappear as appropriate to define form. In a couple of places, your value might even approach that of the background -- that is, the edge will disappear. Right now, the edge is a little hard, the value contrast just a bit too much, all of which is attracting our attention away from the expressive facial features in the center.

Work this all the way down around to the centerline of the chin. (I have a sense that the chin is skewed over to our left just a tad, and I think this edge-value work will bring it back.) Think "round", rather than cut-out. (I just returned from a Matisse exhibition here in Taipei, so I'm thinking in terms of colored paper cut-outs.)

Put your feet up for a few hours, and get started on the next thing.

Jean Kelly · 01-22-2003, 03:04 PM

Kind words are always appreciated after hard work! Thank you Mike, Lon, and again my gratitude to you Steven.

When I began this study I was concentrating on every line and wrinkle and bump on his face. I wanted to "know" his face as well as I know my own husband's, simply to help with the oil portrait I'm doing. I believe this caused me to accentuate every feature and use a very heavy hand. Later I decided to try to turn it into a good drawing and realized it needed help. You came through again Steven, your concise, picky, critique helped me turn it into a charcoal portrait worthy of framing. Thank you.

My client has seen this and will be framing and placing it in Dean's den. It will be placed by his writing table. His oil portrait will go in their family room next to the fireplace. This is important to me because the client has chosen "places of honor" for both works.

Respectfully,
Jean