Work In Progress, Savannah, Update 1

Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 1

            It’s a bit hard getting too much done at this time of the year, what with two new grandchildren on top of an already busy holiday season. And probably most of you are too busy right now to even read a Work in Progress Update.

            But, I have gotten some work done on this portrait and I’d like to discuss the steps I’ve taken to get to this point. Doing a portrait requires attention to detail and a methodical approach. My method of choice until this portrait has been a very mechanical one, using the grid method to copy the portrait from a photo to gridded tracing paper, and then transferring that to the drawing paper. I wanted to do a portrait using a method involving more eye – brain – hand coordination, observation and knowledge of and feel for anatomical features. To me it’s a more satisfying way of creating a likeness. It sharpens the senses and develops an appreciation of anatomy. I also don’t have to worry about drawing the portrait twice and being able to transfer accurately.This way of creating a likeness is used by all artists who undertake portrait and figure drawing using sitting models. Their skill and the confidence it creates is to be admired.

            My method, then, is not new, but incorporates many of the same techniques used by artists using live models. It involves measuring angles and triangulation, making use of dividers and a triangle as well as freehand measurements. The portrait likeness is developed like any landscape, by proceeding from the general to the specific. The figure is first roughly blocked in using simple straight lines to get the general shape of the head. All curves are eliminated. Once the figure is blocked in, the rough shape is refined by adding more reference points and corners. Next, the placement of the features are roughly indicated, again through triangulation and measurement. The shading can also be roughly mapped out at this point and filled in lightly.

            After double checking angles and measurements of as many features as possible, and making adjustments, work begins on refining the features – the eyes, moth, nose and ears. After all the features are drawn in accurately, tonal work begins, modeling the figure and making it look three dimensional.

            I made a couple of copies of the original photo of Savannah, one showing the pose I plan to create, another with the size of the head I will re- create (that can be used to take measurements off) and third with the head larger so details can be seen. I chose Strathmore 300 series Bristol Vellum for the portrait and will do all the blocking in with a light touch and an HB pencil so I can erase easily when necessary.

            The first task was to lightly draw in the major axis from chin to the highest point on the head. From there, by using triangulation, I marked the furthest extents of the Savannah’s head both right and left. Again, using triangulation and the dividers, I built the shape of the head, adding more and more corners until I had the shape roughly drawn in.

            Next I drew a light centerline from the center of the chin to the top center of the forehead, dividing the face into right and left halves. Using triangulation and dividers I roughly blocked in the inner and outer extent of the eyes, the nose, the mouth and ears. I also lightly indicated shadow placement for further landmarks.

            Now that everything is roughed in and a fairly good likeness has been established, the next stage in developing Savannah’s portrait will be developing the features more accurately. The contrast on the drawing has been necessarily increased so you can see the image. The pencil sketch is really very light so construction lines, etc can be erased as the drawing progresses.

           

            I’d like to wish all a great holiday season and a healthy and prosperous new year, filled with all sorts of inspiration and creativity.

Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 1

There’s been a photo of my granddaughter in my files for more than a year now that I thought would make a great portrait study. Savannah is three now and wasn’t quite two at the time I took the photo. It was Easter and she and her sister and cousin were busy hunting for eggs that had been hidden about the yard. I was busy following them around, snapping pictures of them for posterity (and hoping to get a good shot that might turn into a nice painting). At one point I was trailing after Savannah as she walked around to the back of the house. She suddenly stood still and became quiet, seemingly in her own world. As she turned her head to look around, she saw me, her mouth curling ever so slightly into a barely perceptible smile. I snapped the picture. When I looked at it later I knew it make a nice portrait one day.

            Well, that day has arrived. I want to do the portrait while Savannah is still young, before her features change too much. I have thought about doing it in color, which looks great, and which is the way I normally do portraits, but I also have a soft spot for graphite renderings. They have a simplicity about them that is very appealing. Pure tones in gray. No distracting color to get in the way. So, I’m going to do the portrait in graphite.

            One of the drawbacks to graphite is the sheen nature of the medium when attempting to get darker tones. Lighter tones achieved with the harder pencils seem to turn out pretty good, but the darker B tones, when layered heavily to get really dark darks reflect light and, unless viewed from the side, become distracting – and annoying. Some artists avoid graphite altogether, instead choosing charcoal or carbon pencils. Using a combination of graphite and carbon pencils seems to be the best of both worlds. The harder pencils, 2H through 6H are capable of producing a wide range of soft skin tones, while the carbon pencils help achieve very dark tones such as shadows, dark hair and eyes. Highlights, especially on off white and toned paper, are produced with white charcoal and white pastel.

            I’ve seen some very remarkable graphite portraits done with a combination of pencils ranging from 4H to 4B with little or no sheen produced by Darrel Tank, who has an excellent website called fivepencilmethod.com. Darrel believes that the ugly sheen attendant to very dark graphite is mostly due to mashing down the tooth on textured paper with a heavy layer of graphite so it can no longer scatter light. He feels that building up layers of graphite with a light touch will preserve the tooth, scatter light and avoid sheen.

            Another fine graphite portrait artist who I admire is David Jamieson. He runs the Vitruvian Fine Art Studio (vitruvianstudio.com). David uses a range of hard pencils from 2H to 8H for fine skin tones and then 7B and 8B for darker tones such as hair and eyes and backgrounds. David avoids the graphite sheen by avoiding the darker graphite. The 7B and 8B pencils he uses are made by Staedtler and, most likely, are carbon pencils.

            Choice of paper is an important consideration also. We have a few choices in texture – rough, cold pressed, hot pressed, smooth.  And there are many good brands. The most important consideration is longevity. The paper, whatever texture, whatever brand, should be at least conservation grade, if not archival quality. But, what do these terms signify and why are they important? I never really gave it much thought, other than it is paper that will last a long time. But what does that really mean? I did a little research on the subject just to increase my knowledge and understanding. Maybe you already know all about this subject and this is old stuff for you. In that case, forgive me. But, if this is new and you’re learning something new here, we all benefit.

            Art paper is made from either wood pulp or cotton pulp. Wood pulp contains lignin, an organic chemical that forms part of the cell walls of plants. When lignin decays it releases acids which can slowly destroy the paper, causing it to yellow and become brittle. Acid free, pH neutral paper can be made from wood pulp or cotton pulp. Conservation grade paper is made from wood pulp which has had the lignin removed. It is, therefore, acid free and buffered to be neutral. Archival paper (or Museum grade paper) is made from cotton pulp and contains no lignin. It, too, is acid free and pH neutral. I’m not sure that there is a big difference in longevity between Conservation grade paper and Archival paper. Anyway, a short search online didn’t reveal a big difference. However, if you are really concerned about longevity, choose the archival papers made from cotton rather than the conservation papers made from lignin free wood pulp. Remember, though, that Archival paper is more expensive. If anyone can enlighten me on why archival paper would be better, please do.

            My next project is a pencil drawing of my granddaughter. I’ll be doing it on Strathmore 300 Bristol Vellum. I’ll be using a combination of pencils ranging from 4H to 4B, and possibly 7B or 8B carbon. There shouldn’t be too many installments to this project but it’s one I’d really like to do. I’ll post my first Update next week. Here’s the photo I’ll be doing the portrait from.

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 16

This painting is finished!

Most of you will see no changes to this from last week. The changes have been subtle, and that’s probably why I’ve decided that this painting is complete. I guess I could continue to tinker with it – for who knows how long. But, when I get to this stage, where any changes I make don’t really have an effect on the appearance, it’s done. I added a bit of color here and there, filled in some darks, sharpened up some edges.

I also added some more paynes grey to the sky, darkening it a bit here and there and defining the edges of some of the clouds. I didn’t go further because I didn’t want the sky to become more important and attract notice. It’s a supporting element.

So, the painting will have to stand as it is.

In addition to working through this painting I’ve been busy on other projects this holiday season. In addition to helping decorate the house I’ve completely re-finished a dresser for my daughter, who, by the way, is due to deliver twins tomorrow! It seems like last week when she announced she was going to become a mother once again. Now the time has arrived. The family will be quite busy over the next few days with the new arrivals.

I’ve got some ideas for my next project and am working through narrowing it down. I never lack ideas. There’s a snow scene in mind, a portrait and a landscape high on the list. Next week I’ll present my next project. 

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 15

            The birds and background are now nearly finished. I always leave room for additional touchups and changes. All objects in the painting relate to each other in tone, color and detail. Bringing one area of the painting to a certain stage of completion may change the relationship of another area. What I try to do is bring each object to what I think is about 90% - 95% completion, then look at all the objects in relation to one another to see if any objects need additional work. Some objects may need to be darkened or dulled, or need more color, or need more detail. I just look around and see what hits me. I walk away a lot of time and do something else. Then I’ll walk up on the painting and just look at it as a whole to see if any areas jump out as needing some additional work. Then I’ll sit down and attend to that area while the vision is still clear. When it fades I’ll walk away again and come back a few hours later and do the same thing. Little by little I hope to bring all areas into a unified, mutually supportive whole.

            In this update I’ve brought the foliage up to the same stage of completion. The foliage on the left side is in mist, so there is little definition and detail. I used a combination of Faber Castells (FC), olive green yellowish predominantly, as well as white, and cream, with some cadmium yellow and Prismacolor chartreuse for the highlights.

All the foliage on the right, under the nest was re-drawn. Rather than just draw in a jumble of foliage without any pattern, I lightly indicated branches, then added foliage to them. Here I used FC colors white, dark sepia, burnt umber, raw umber, olive green yellowish, and Prismacolor chartreuse and yellow ochre. I wanted the very bottom to fade into dark, while leaving the more detailed and more highlighted leaves up closer to the nest.

After completing the foliage I’ll be checking back often, getting an immediate impression of the whole, to see if the foliage needs more work – or if I need to alter the colors or definition or value. I don’t want the foliage to compete with the birds. So, I may dull the foliage more.

I also did some work on the fish. Here, dark sepia FC, olive green yellowish FC and some white FC to blend in the green, as it transitions to the underside, were added.

The painting is nearing completion now. I think the background needs a bit more work. I may add more definition to the clouds – and a little more drama. 

Work in Progress, Osprey: Lover's Key, Florida. Update 14

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 14

            I’m pleased that over the past week I found enough time to complete the birds in the nest. 

            The first task was to re-draw the birds. All the previous work on the nest had erased much of the details. The intricate pattern of the feathers on the female in the nest had to be reconstructed to make it realistic and so I had to take the time to draw the correct pattern.

            Once the birds were re-drawn I started in with the color on the head of the female. Using a very sharp point (and keeping it sharp) I penciled in the beak using dark sepia FC. I also used warm grey II and III, along with a bit of cloud blue on the upper part of the beak where light would cause some dull highlights. Throughout this coloring process I kept reference photos handy to get the anatomy right on the head, penciling in the details of the nostril and beak where it attaches to the head. I also used a sharp point on black FC to color in the black eye ring and pupil. The iris is pumpkin orange with cadmium yellow FC. The cadmium yellow in the iris highlights the interior of the eye, giving it a three dimensional, glowing appearance as the sun catches its edge. One thing I did wrong here was to color in the pupil first. I should have colored in the iris first. By coloring in the pupil first I had to be extra careful not to drag some black into the iris. Coloring in the lighter iris first would have made it easier to keep a sharp edge to the pupil. I was a bit over anxious to get the pupil in.

            After getting the eye in I worked the rest of the head and then the body. The wing and back feathers were colored in with raw umber FC, burnt umber FC, dark sepia FC, cream and black FC. The raw umber and cream were used to produce the highlighted areas on the feathers on the back and the parts of the wing caught by the light. Dark sepia FC, burnt umber FC and black FC, with some raw umber FC was used on the rest of the wing feathers, grading darker and darker as it wrapped around the body and away from the sunlight. I was careful to leave white here and there to show the edges of the feathers. The breast was a combination of warm grey I and II FC, French grey 30%, 50% and 70%. I also added some cloud blue to the shading mix.

            This didn’t go as smoothly as I suggest here because somewhere in the middle I realized that I had lost the pattern of the feathers on the wing. Although there is some variation in size and the pattern isn’t rigid, there is an order to the feathers. When coloring in the individual feathers I strayed from the correct pattern and had to go back over it and straighten it out. So, when coloring in wing feathers, don’t get so engrossed with the coloring that you lose sight of the pattern.

            After completing the female I used the same colors to finish up the two chicks.

            Now that the birds are pretty much completed, I’ll move on to the foliage at the bottom. 

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 13

The nest is complete. Except for some adjustments here and there later on, based on the rest of the composition. As always, I like to bring each element to a point I’m satisfied with, then continue on with other elements. As I work through each element, I look back at all the elements I’ve worked on and look at them again in relation to the whole. If I think some element needs more work or needs to be altered in some way, I will do that right then or make a mental note to go back to it at a future date. When I get to a point where I feel any touchups won’t add to the composition, I call it finished. At this point, I’m pretty happy with the nest and I’m going to move on to the birds in the nest.

            Elements that may still be in flux are the sky background, which could possibly do with a bit more detail in the clouds, and the lower left corner, which, in the drawing has some foliage and branches shrouded in mist. I haven’t decided whether to keep that in or forget it as unnecessary.

            Next week I’ll have a good bit of the birds in the nest completed. The painting is nearing completion.

Work In Progress: Osprey: Lover’s Key, Florida Update 12

            I’ve been fortunate this past week to have had enough time to make some progress on this painting. As promised, I began work on the nest. There’s a lot to it, a lot of inter-woven branches going this way and that. Some diving deep into the mass, others poking out and away. All of it tangled – but very well constructed and suited to the task of protecting eggs and eventually young chicks. Ospreys use their nests year after year, making repairs as necessary. They build nests on manmade structure such as telephone poles and special platforms constructed just for that purpose. These platforms have been instrumental in helping to re-establish Ospreys after steep declines in their populations due to DDT use in the early 1900’s. DDT was banned in the 1970’s and Osprey populations began to re-build.

            The nests are built out of stick, vines, bark and anything else the birds can find. Usually the male brings all the materials and the female builds the nest. The nests start out at about 2 and one half feet in diameter and six inches deep, but can increase in size to nearly 12 feet deep and up to 6 feet wide after years of use and additions.

            My first task was to fill in all the darkest areas, and in doing so, give some three dimensional form to the nest. I used dark sepia FC and burnt umber FC over all of the left side of the nest, the part in shade, as per the tonal drawing. Next, I filled in all the deepest recesses between the twigs and branches using the same two colors. The darks wrapped around the bottom of the nest also and in doing so, defined the masses of foliage in front. As I worked toward the right side I filled in only the deepest areas because the sunlight is impacting this side more. Using additional colors (warm greys I and II, raw umber, cream, white, raw ochre, black) I started to give form to the myriad branches that formed the nest.

I’ll continue with these colors, working each of the twigs and branches, giving them three dimensional form and adding cracks, splits, little worm holes and whatever to make them realistic looking. It seems to be subjective exercise, working on each branch, darkening here, sharpening there, adding highlights and deepening shadows until it feels right.