Mark Twain - A Work in Progress (drawing)

kipin · #1 03-08-2007, 03:23 PM

Hey all,

As some of you may know I have recently been getting back into artwork and I thought it could be a cool idea to create a thread and provide updates on one piece of work I am currently creating.

Hopefully this thread provides some motivation for myself to finish this quickly, but I make no promises.

When this is finished, this will probably be the longest I have spent on any one piece drawing. I estimate that it will probably end up taking me somewhere in the neighborhood of 15-20 hours.

Anyway, this is the picture I am attempting to recreate.

And here is part one of my drawing. This is after about one hour of work so far.

Hopefully I am able to finish this in an appropriate time frame, as well as be able to proud to call this something I have created.

Any questions/comments/criticisms/critiques are more than welcome.

keikiwai · #2 03-08-2007, 03:28 PM

how are you doing this?

in art class in HS we had to make an oil painting enlargement from a photo

we drew a grid on the photo and a larger but same proportioned grid on the canvas, then we did it square by square

are you using any such technique?

SamIAm · #3 03-08-2007, 03:34 PM

This is a great thread idea. I assume you saw Gorie's painting thread in the ?lounge. It turned out to be a great read.

kipin · #4 03-08-2007, 11:33 PM

[ QUOTE ]
how are you doing this?

in art class in HS we had to make an oil painting enlargement from a photo

we drew a grid on the photo and a larger but same proportioned grid on the canvas, then we did it square by square

are you using any such technique?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've heard of the frame method. I'm doing this all freehand however.

I have no formal training, but I guess I have a pretty decent eye for eyeballing proportion and appropriate lines.

I'm pretty curious how it will turn out as I am going to have to use techniques I've never used before. For example, negative drawing for all the white hair.

wet work · #5 03-09-2007, 11:04 AM

I remember a while back when you said you were going to focus on drawing and showed some work. It looks like you're really improving to me. Keep at it.

kipin · #6 03-09-2007, 08:53 PM

Worked on this for about 1.5 hours today bringing my total drawing time to around 2.5 hours.

I'm not really completely satisfied with the right eye right now, I'm going to have to make some modifications to it, but I don't feel like doing that right now so hopefully next update the eye placement (and pupil alignment) will be fixed.

Sorry for the yellow tint, not sure why my camera did that.

ohgeetee · #7 03-09-2007, 11:56 PM

I think you would be better off learning some basics before doing it the way you are. basically, you're taking a super long time on it most likely because the reality of the inconsistencies doesn't become apparent until after a large amount of work has been done, at which point it needs to be redone.

Right now, you're simply mimicking, rather than creating a work based on a source. Usually what ends up happening is the artist continues and stops fixing the scale and positioning issues, and claims it to be an abstract, or they give up after the Nth redo.

If you sketch in the general shape and 'sculpt' it into a work, the end result will be much more satisfying, both to you and to us, and it will actually improve your overall skill.

prohornblower · #8 03-10-2007, 12:03 AM

Kipin,
I wouldn't attack it inward-out like you are, but outward-in...start out with all your guidelines and stuff, really soft. Then sort of mold it into the image.

Also, don't focus on "drawing Mark Twain", think of it as simply replicating the light and shade. When you study the mustache, don't look at the hairs, but study how the light hits it.

Also, work on balancing out the values of shade. For instance, it looks like his forehead and part of his hair is lighter than his undershirt. Make sure everything is consistent. Good luck

NT! · #9 03-10-2007, 04:55 AM

this is pretty badass kipin, it looks like one of those pictures of nietzsche from around the time he got syphillis and went crazy

onthebutton · #10 03-10-2007, 07:35 PM

kipin, I like this. I don't know if the previous drawings I've seen from you were just more hurried, or if your skill has improved, but this is awesome and seems to be a drastic improvement. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.