100 Heads: Head #64

Here is a copy of the Mona Lisa, made in charcoal. I had two purposes in making this copy:

1. To improve my observation skills, and
2. To study the planes of the face.

The copy is not perfect, but I am getting tired of making copies so I am going to call it quits for a while. Does making copies improve observation skills? I don't know. It improves skills for copying a two dimensional image. I cannot say if it improves observation skills for real life, though. Copying a flattened image is easier than drawing from life. And of course, copying, whether from a 2D reference or life, is not art. It is a technical skill.

For a change of pace, I am going to switch to more imaginative work in June. I plan to create art inspired by moody movie stills, study and invent costumes, and work on some sequences. I also plan to do a lot of sketching from life. Not drawing from life, as I am inclined to do, but quick & dirty sketching. I am also working on an oil painting in an oil painting class.

Here is my copy side-by-side with the real thing. OK, not the real thing, but a black & white photo of the real thing.

100 Heads: Head #61

This is my copy of a self-portrait by Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945), a German artist who specialized in print making and whose work highlighted the plight of the poor and oppressed. I used medium vine charcoal to outline the face and then used compressed charcoal for tone, on Strathmore charcoal paper.

In my last post, I mentioned I copy master portraits in order to improve my observation skills. Here, I was also trying to expand my toolkit of techniques. This portrait is an example of modeled drawing. Darker tone is used to push the form away from the viewer, and lighter tone is used to bring the form towards the viewer. The range of values do not represent the range of lights and darks that result from a light source shining on the subject. I like the exaggerated angular features and the way the texture of the paper is incorporated into the portrait. The resulting portrait is very expressive.

I think Kollwitz outlined the face in charcoal and then used a piece of charcoal on its side to quickly model the head. This technique is quick to execute, but requires great skill to do well. It must take years of drawing practice to get to the point where the tones are laid down correctly on the first try. My copy is 9" x 12", which I found to be a little small. I think a larger size paper would make it easier to vary the pressure and resulting charcoal tone in one sweeping arm movement.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of my drawing and Kollwitz's. I am going to try a self-portrait using this technique.

100 Heads: Head #60

This is a copy of one of Rembrandt's self-portraits. The original is in oil; my copy is in charcoal and pastel. I used Winsor & Newton medium vine charcoal, Conte H, HB, B, and 2B charcoal pencils, and a Pitt white pastel pencil on Strathmore charcoal paper. Why copy a portrait? I am trying to improve my observation skills. If I copy portraits and consistently get a likeness, I know my observation skills are improving. I am also practicing my approach to portraits: Start with the general and work down to the specific.

I check my work by putting my drawing and the original side-by-side in Photoshop Elements. I learned how to do this here.

The likeness is not terrific. This portrait was not as easy as I thought it would be. First, older, flabby faces are tougher than young, lean faces. Muscles and bone structure help. Second, I discovered there are a large variation of values in the dark areas. At first, I tried to render the dark areas with a uniform value. It did not work. Third, the texture of the older face was a challenge. Rembrandt effectively used oil point to render the roughness of his skin.

I have a new appreciation for Rembrandt's work. His portrait is beautiful and so sensitively rendered. It is something to aspire to.

100 Heads: Head #57

This is a copy of the painting Portrait of Gabrielle Cot by William Bouguereau (1825-1905). You can see a reproduction of the original here. I do not think I have quite captured the likeness, but I have worked on it long enough and am ready to move on. I am trying to train myself to be more observant; one way I judge my observation skills is by how close I can get to a likeness. In portraiture, precision counts. I used a HB mechanical pencil in a Canson sketch book.

Learning From the Masters with Cynthia Padilla

I am taking a two day Mastering Portrait Drawing Workshop with Cynthia Padilla. It was last Sunday and again this Sunday. I signed up for it quite a long time ago; I decided to go to it even though my mother is in the hospital. In the workshop, we copy high quality copies of master works using Conte crayon, pastel, and other mediums. This drawing is my first attempt at Conte crayon.

This is head #50. I believe this is a copy of Head of a Girl by Francois Boucher. Sadly, I failed to write down the name of the artist. Bad me.

Good news about my mother: Yesterday she moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation center. She went into the hospital because of a slow heartbeat. The doctors corrected that, only to discover she had internal bleeding due to blood thinner medication. The doctors corrected that, and then she broke her hip in the hospital, which resulted in hip surgery. I think she is finally on the mend.

100 Heads: Head #47

This is a copy of Michelangelo's drawing Portrait of Andrea Quarates (1528). I have really struggled with this drawing and have decided it is time to call it quits. I found the nose particularly difficult.

I have not been posting due to a family medical emergency. My mother has been in the hospital for almost two weeks now. I work during the day and spend evenings in the hospital, so I do not have much time for art or the computer. To my portrait group: I am sorry about my lack of participation. I have been working on the portrait off and on. I will pop in this weekend to see your progress.

100 Heads: Head #41

This is a copy of a drawing by Michelangleo Buonarroti (1475-1564). The drawing is called Head of a Young Woman.

100 Heads: Head #34

This is a copy of the Leonardo da Vinci drawing Head and Bust of a Woman. I used a mechanical pencil and a kneaded eraser, but no tortillion or blending tool. As I draw the heads, I am experimenting with alternate drawing techniques.

100 Heads: Head #32

These drawings are copies of a Leonardo da Vinci study for Leda. The original is pen and ink over black chalk. The first drawing uses a variety of sizes of Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph pens and an Ebony pencil. The second drawing uses a .01 Micron pen and an Ebony pencil.

100 Heads: Head #24

Here is an attempt at copying the Mona Lisa. I didn't particularly like the painting when I started (too dark and dreary), but it grew on me as I copied it. I guess to know a painting is to like it. The model's face is fleshy, which makes it interesting to render. I think I am starting to approach achieving likeness in portraits, but am not quite there yet. Achieving a likeness requires precision, precision, precision, which requires excellent drawing skills.

100 Heads: Head #21

This is a copy of Leonardo da Vinci's well known self-portrait. This drawing proved an opportunity to practice bags under the eyes.

100 Heads: Head #19

This a copy of the drawing Giovanna Bellelli by Edgar Degas (1834-1917). I love how the features on the left side of the face are suggested by masses of tone. This is a very painterly drawing.

I just returned from a business trip to Kansas City. I stayed up late Tuesday evening watching the election returns, and then got up early on Wednesday and did this drawing. Tuesday night was too exciting to do any artwork! Both McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech were moving, and it was wonderful to see excited masses of people celebrating across the United States. I am so proud of my country.

100 Heads: Head #17

This is a copy of the drawing Study for St. Bartholomew in the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519). 4B pencil in my Strathmore 400 Series Sketchbook.

100 Heads: Head #16

This is a copy of the drawing Portrait of a Young Lady of the Court of the Infanta Isabella at Brussels by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). When I copy, I do not mindlessly copy using a grid. Rather, I construct the head using one or more of the methods described in books on portraiture and figure drawing. For this drawing, I put the head in a cube in an attempt to get the correct perspective on the features. I think about the underlying structure of the skull and muscles and study how the artist renders this structure. I also am studying the facial features (i.e., eye, nose, mouth, ear) and seeing how the artist renders each one.

I plan to re-do these master copies periodically to help gauge my progress.

4B pencil in my Strathmore 400 Series Sketchbook.

100 Heads: Head #15

This is a copy of the drawing Portrait of Lute Player Mascheroni by Annibale Carracci (1560-1609). 4B pencil in my Strathmore 400 Series Sketchbook.

100 Heads: Head #14

This is a copy of the drawing Head of a Woman by Correggio. 4B pencil in my Strathmore 400 Series Sketchbook.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day, to my mom in New York and to all moms everywhere.

This is a copy of the Mary Cassatt painting Sleepy Baby (1910), shown below. The original painting is in pastel; my copy is in watercolor. I thoroughly enjoyed painting this and learned a lot also.

• I love Cassatt's use of color. Look at the bright yellow in the baby's neck and hair, and the bright orange in the baby's hair and bottom. Where mother and child touch (cheek-to-cheek and hand-to-bottom), the colors are warm red-oranges, suggesting the love of a mother for her child. These colors probably were not present in reality. Rather, Cassatt added color to convey her interpretation of reality.
• Even though the colors in the mother and child are all light, there are still distinct value changes. For example, to clearly separate the child's arms from the mother's skin, the values of the child's arms need to be different from the values of the mother's chest and arm.
• Many of the cooler shadows are blue, which gave me a little trouble. I was using Yellow Ochre and Blue Cerulean, which mix to green (e.g., the baby' chest). A moldy baby is not good! I need to research how to use blue and yellow in watercolor without getting green.

I am going to do more master copies ... it is fun and educational.

Peter Max

I just completed a study of Peter Max. Peter Max is a commercially successful American artist whose artwork appears on posters, clothing, dishes, watches, clocks, pillows, postage stamps, cars, and airplanes, as well as on canvases. I used the book The Art of Peter Max by Charles A. Riley II, which has excellent reproductions of Peter Max's work. In addition, there is a Wikipedia entry on Peter Max , and the web site lines and colors has an article on Peter Max. The official Peter Max website is here.

Peter Max was born in 1937 in Berlin. During his childhood, his family moved around, first to Shanghai (where his family lived next to a Buddhist temple and a Sikh monastery), then to Israel (via India, South Africa, and Italy), and finally to the United States (via Paris). Peter Max's cosmopolitan upbringing influenced his later art.

Peter Max received extensive training in art. At first, he did realistic art (e.g., portraits), but quickly moved to graphic design and the pop/psychedelic art style for which he is famous. Love and Different Drummer (below), both created in 1968, are examples of his pop art style.

I personally find the pop art style very appealing, and I want to understand why the images work. The images make use of only three design elements: color, shape, and line. The colors are bright and tend to be primary. I can't discern a color scheme per se, but do notice that Peter Max makes use of analogous colors and complementary or near complimentary colors, all in the same piece. For example, in Love, the colors inside the Love letters are analogous blues and purples. The purple part of the 'L' is next to yellow background, and the blue part of the 'L' is next to an orange solid circle and a lighter orange background.

Pop art is a style that looks easy but it is very hard to do well. I tried to do the Illustration Friday prompt "Pet Peeves" in a pop art style; the results are here. While my Pet Peeves piece is not one of my better efforts, I do like the bright colors and was surprised to see how far the design element color can carry a piece of art.

Starting in the late 1970's, Peter Max started to move towards a Neo-Expressionism style. He did a number of Americana pieces; here is one example. I love the bright, loose, primary colors and the minimal black contour drawing that defines the face.

Here are more examples of Peter Max's Neo-Expressionism style (most of which are in acrylics). Until I embarked on this study, I had no idea that Peter Max did this type of work. I only knew his pop style.

Finally, Peter Max has some pieces that interpret masterpieces in a fun and original way. Mona Lisa, below, is an example.

I tried this approach for the Illustration Friday prompt "Heavy". The result is an interpretation of Rubin's Venus in Front of the Mirror . I find this approach to the masters to be more creative and enjoyable than blindly copying their work.

N.C. Wyeth

I studied the illustrator N.C. Wyeth in February. Wyeth (1882-1945) is considered to be one of America's greatest illustrators. In addition, he is the father and grandfather, respectively, of artists Andrew Wyeth and James Wyeth.

I particularly liked the reproductions in the books Wondrous Strange: The Wyeth Tradition and An American Vision: Three Generations of Wyeth Art. You can also find many N.C. Wyeth paintings here.

I also studied design in February. I read Design Basics (2nd Edition) by David A. Lauer. N.C. Wyeth excelled at design and composition, so I studied Wyeth's paintings in the context of design principles. Here is an example of how I approached this project.

The following painting is an illustration for the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. A black spot is a piece of paper with a black spot on it. If a pirate receives a black spot, it means he is to be executed.

The Black Spot They Were Collected in a Group (1911)

Here is an analysis of the painting in the context of design principles.

Unity

• Proximity: All the figures are very close to one another.
• Repetition: The pirates in the background have similar dress.
• Continuation: The barely visible pirate in the right background is connected to the back wall, the back wall is connected to the left shoulder of the back standing pirate and to the left-most crouching pirate's neck, and the left-most crouching pirate's leg is connected to the kneeling pirate with the knife. The pirate in black in the foreground is not connected to the other picture elements, but his right-hand heel almost merges into his shadow and the floor. The left side of the wall runs into the floor.
• Unity with Variety: There is some variation in the pirates' clothing.

Emphasis/Focal Point

I see the focal point as being the book and knife: the making of the black spot.

• Emphasis by Contrast: The focal point is one of the most lighted area of the painting (although the back right wall and white pirate shirts are also very lighted).
• Emphasis by Isolation: I don't think this technique is used here.
• Emphasis by Placement: This is the primary technique used here: All the pirates are looking at the book and knife.

Balance

I struggle with balance. This is the principle I understand least. This painting uses Asymmetrical Balance, as opposed to Symmetrical Balance.

• The dark left-hand wall and the mass of the three left-hand pirates seem to balance the mass of the single standing pirate dressed in black.

Scale/Proportion

• The pirate in black in the foreground appears much larger than the other pirates. I have never read Treasure Island, so I can't say if the foreground pirate is more significant than the rest. Did Wyeth deliberately make this pirate dominate the others in the painting?

Illusion of Space

There is a sense of depth in the painting.

• Size: The foreground pirate is larger than the background pirates.
• Overlapping: The foreground pirate hides parts of the background pirates.
• Vertical Location: The upper pirates are farther back than the lower pirate.
• Aerial Perspective: I don't think this is used here.
• Linear Perspective: Is this one-point perspective?
• Amplified Perspective: I think the pirate in black may be an example of amplified perspective.
• There are a number of other techniques--Multiple Perspective, Oriental Space, Open Form/Closed Form, Recession, and Spatial Puzzles. I don't think any of these are used.

It is nice to know that the two simplest techniques, size and overlapping, are also very effective.

Maxfield Parrish: Wrap Up

This is my last post on Maxfield Parrish.

Although Parrish is well known for his color work, his early illustrations were in black and white and used lithographic crayon. The following illustration was for Washington Irving's History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1899). You can see all of Parrish's illustrations for History of New York in the wonderful Children's Book Illustrators Gallery at http://www.nocloo.com/. I love the beautiful, delicate range of values and shading in these illustrations. Although Parrish used lithographic crayon, I think similar results could be achieved using charcoal.



I also really like Parrish's monochromatic work. Here are two examples. The first is called Winter, and the second is called Harvest. I love the moods that Parrish creates.

In February, I plan to study N.C. Wyeth.