Would you paint this?

Mara Schasteen · 12-05-2008, 11:03 AM

Never turn away a paying customer.... I have a client who wanted me to paint a memory. She emailed me some poor quality photos, which I combined for this portrait. I am not sure whether to call it a portrait or a landscape. There are no highlights, no shadows. The photos were taken on a cloudy day. I worked very hard to make the figures warm and appear as if they are really there. My question is, would you have painted this?

I haven't varnished this one yet and the paint is still wet, so my photograph is not the best. The colors aren't quite right since I photographed this painting in artifiial light last night.

size 20" x 24"
Faces are about 1" tall

Alexandra Tyng · 12-05-2008, 02:28 PM

Mara, In order to answer your question I would have to see the other photograph(s). Can you post it (them) here?

Mara Schasteen · 12-05-2008, 02:56 PM

Here it is, photo taken in Vail, CO.

Alexandra Tyng · 12-05-2008, 03:27 PM

Well, Mara, to tell you the truth I don't think I would have agreed to paint this unless my arm were twisted by a VERY good friend or perhaps a high sum of money and a lot of begging. I can see it is a problematic situation. There are some artists who love painting this kind of flat light. (You could study Jeremy Lipking's figures in landscapes.) The trick is not to vary the values or exaggerate the contrast too much. You are right to keep the colors warm.

The question of whether this is a portrait or a landscape is purely academic. It's more a question of where the focal point lies. Without the figures, your eye would follow the water into the distance, but the figures introduce a conflict. There is also the problem of scale. The figures, as small as they are, look too big for where they are standing. You might be able to get away with it, though.

Are you aiming for a likeness? This is important, even in small scale figures. The shapes have to be correct. I would pay more attention especially to the man's face, around his mouth area.

I've tweaked the photo in Photoshop because it looks too washed out and purple to me. The level of detail in the distance could be lowered a lot. There are a lot of hard edges in the rocks and distant tree trunks that need to be toned down. I suggest reworking the landscape in terms of color, value, and edges. Working with a larger brush makes a big difference.

Mara Schasteen · 12-05-2008, 05:07 PM

Alexandra,

Yes! You are right on with every point you made. I went out a took a better photo of the painting today, which I am attaching to this post for a more accurate representation. I knew this commission was going to break all the rules, but I am stubborn, and I always think I can get away with stuff. Oh! Everyday is an opportunity for learning.

Claudemir Bonfim · 12-06-2008, 07:24 AM

I would only accept the challenge if I could paint from life and not from photos.

I'd suggest you to add more cool values to the background and more warm ones to the first plane.

Check the horizon line, vanishing points and balance. This way you'll be able to reduce this "cut and paste" impression.

Claudemir Bonfim · 12-06-2008, 07:36 AM

Ps. You've done a good job so far, but based on your other work I know you can do even better.

Best wishes.

David Clemons · 12-09-2008, 10:30 AM

Often the distinction between what would make a composition great or just mediocre is lost on some people. Try as you might to try and explain to them how you can improve the design, it can fall on deaf ears. For a setting such as this, having the characters interact more with their environment would make a more interesting painting, not just in terms of composition but content. I'm sure you're aware of that, but sometimes it's a take it or leave project with clients. I've certainly done my share of jobs that I wasn't enthralled with. Depends on the timing. A project suffers when the people supplying you with the source material don't know what they're doing, or allow you to make corrections.

By the way, scenes such as this are often referred to as environmental portraits, which is very common in photography.

Mara Schasteen · 12-11-2008, 07:23 PM

Thank you, everyone for your comments. This posting, as well as the few others I have submitted, have all shown me the same basic flaw in my work so far - not thinking things through well enough BEFORE I get started on a project; thus, my first posting in the Reference Photo Critique section this week. I'm turning over a new leaf.

Mischa Milosevic · 12-12-2008, 08:07 AM

Mara, for what its worth. I think you need to re-check the drawing of the faces. For example the mans moth is not as it should be. Another thing even though you see the shadows on a face real dark, thanks to the photo, in real life it is not that dark. When painting faces the basic thing one decides is the local color and then how big the separations will be between the shadow and light. As you well know dark shadows under the eyes do not look so good.

First the drawing then the rest.

I hope this helps