Best use of live sittings?

[Sharon Knettell]

Originally Posted by Chuck Yokota

If you are able to have the subject of a portrait pose for one or two live sittings in addition to having photo references, what times during the process would make the best use of these opportunities, and why?

This all depends on the pose and whether or not it includes the figure. I have found that seated poses, even shot with a good Nikon portrait lens have a tendency to be distorted. This can be a function of the level of the lens, the pose, or optic distortion. The camera simply does not see the same way as the eye. Simply stated the eye scans, the camera sees from a fixed position. This is not so obvious with drawing as you can design the rest of the figure in a more linear fashion. However when you add color, it become more solid and the distortions are much more obvious.

That said, I would first check all my proportions at the beginning, making sure that they and my drawing are accurate. I would use the model for this. A beautiful head on a poorly drawn figure is always a beautiful head on a poorly drawn figure. You can then use your reference photos to design the light and dark areas, clothing folds, hands, details, etc.

Use the model of course as much as possible for color. One way to erase some of the fear from painting from life is to find the cheapest model available to practice on. I have found that model to be myself. David Leffel has made a cottage industry out of that. He does one self portrait a year. He has a rotating list of galleries waiting for the honor of selling that annual oeuvre.

My personal effort, however is resting happily in the local landfill.