Bought this pack of style-stuff for use with AD on the advice of my pal, Vince. Never tried this stuff before. While it's fun to play with and does add a certain modernity to my stuff, part of me wonders if it's just surface-level flash. Does it actually ADD anything to the portrait in question? Is it valid? It certainly makes the image more eye-grabbing, I think. Something to think about.
My sister, Val. She's been a big supporter of my recent stuff and stuff in general over on FB so I thought I'd see if she'd like me to do her. This one was more of a struggle but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. Smiling and teeth are harder and I don't generally depict women, so there's that, too. The lyrics are hers. I think it has a sort of rock poster feel to it, which wasn't intended but is fine.
This is actually one of many tries at Peter Falk today. None of the rest were really worth anything and this one is borderline caricature, too far in my opinion. I think it still works, but it's not as arty as I'd like. This is sometimes what happens when I use really crappy photos as reference. Not trying to use that as an excuse because some days, I just can't art. So, there's this at least. I think it's worth remembering failures as there's still something to be learned here.
Wanted to do a portrait of David Hockney on his birthday but I didn't like the one I did that day. Had some more time today, so did one today. While I don't always like his work, I love his inventiveness and his keen mind when it comes to art. He's written some books that I would highly recommend if not make required reading for artists.
Ki-Mar, King of Martians from "Santa Clause Conquers the Martians." I had to do this three times and I'm still not sure about it. Part of me is worried about it not being seen as 'serious' enough. Then again, look who I chose to use as a subject. I actually tried to capture a little of the sadness that actually wasn't in the photo, expecting the goofiness of the costume to balance it out. While the first two were totally done on the iPad, it ran out of juice and I took to the drawing pad where I whipped out my favorite drawing of the three in about 20 minutes. That's the way it goes.
Still working with this 'pose' in my quest for style. One of the things I envy about other artists is that they tend to work in one style, have been doing so most of their careers and as such, are more or less comfortable with that set of filters. I have too many interests and as such, change how I approach things all the time. I've been told that this is a strength. I don't think that's true. So I will continue to attack this selfie with various approaches until I feel comfortable with an approach that, to me, feels like a 'modern' approach to doing portraits. I like this one though I worry that it leans a little too far into caricature. This was something I saw worrying the judges in "Portrait Artist of the Year." And yet there is occasional hints of street art influence, something I think is important. Likely, I'm too old to be any kind of leader in this so I'll just have to keep making these for me. The last few I did, the Mel Coolie, the Anton Karidian and the slightly elongated one of me I had printed out and are coming in the mail. This will be the final test to see if this is something I could do more or less professionally.
More portrait practice. This time, a character from an old Star Trek episode. I collect little snapshots of people and actors that I mean to paint later. This was one of those. Had some trouble and had to approach this a couple of times, finally using a grid, which I don't often do. That's fine, it worked. Also, wasn't using the inked lines until it became obvious that I needed to. So. Each one has to be approached differently.
