Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Self Portrait - Work in Progress


Is this it? I'm tired of messing with it, so yeah, probably.


I think this one is done. It is signed, but that won't stop me from correcting anything that needs to be. ;) Learned so much from this one. It will definitely carry over to my paintings that follow.


Adding color and fine tuning shapes, values, etc. Looks like I've got a fat lip, have to take care of that.


Here's another update after about 2 more hours work. You'll notice the color seems a bit different, but is much more accurate as to what the sketch really looks like than the last, much warmer looking, post. The whole idea is to get the drawing correct, while not worrying about the color, which will be added soon. Total of around 11 hours so far.

Any thoughts, comments, or suggestions are appreciated.



The above is after the second evening of work. About 8 1/2 to 9 hours into it so far. Will look for glaring measuring and shape problems. If none are found I'll continue with color at the next session.

After measuring yet again this morning I can see where I still need to go wider on my left side (viewers right). I used photoshop, overlaid my sketch onto the ref pic, drew some lines on a transparent layer over the ref, then hid it to see where it matches up on the sketch. As you can see, the nose needs to come up, and a shift to the viewers right on almost everything else. The height of most is correct though.

Interesting to use this method to see where things line up.

By the way, this is oil on 16" x 12" canvas (for a change).




This is a work in progress that I hope will turn out well. I'm gonna slow down for this one, and try to take the necessary steps to end up with a painting I like. My ref photo was taken tonight. Also you'll find the initial block-in that's taken about 4 1/2 hours so far. I thought I had a relatively good one until I re-measured and had to move my eyes down and widen the head. I'm going to try and work on this initial stage another 4 to 6 hours to see if I can get the drawing right before moving to the next step. I know it looks rough now, but hopefully something will emerge with the next session.

6 comments:

rob ijbema said...

very skill full bill
the eyes are strong and the beard looks good

are you getting tighter?

Anonymous said...

A great accomplishment Bill, doing a self portrait. You'd think the face we know the best would be so familiar.
But your Photoshop demonstration was a very interesting way to see how to see better.

I think you've done a great job on this one.
Where will you keep it?

Billy Guffey said...

Thanks Rob. I did get much tighter with this one. An experiment of sorts.

Billy Guffey said...

Hi Bonnie. If I had a corn crop I'd probably keep it there...Crows and all, you know.

FCP said...

Wow, this is an excellent demo, Bill. It is fascinating to see the stages evolve. And the information about photoshop is nothing short of amazing (for those of us who are computer illiterate, it is down right magic!) Keep up the grand work,
Faye
P.S. the Wyeth and model painting is wonderful. I love paintings that tell a story.

Billy Guffey said...

Hello Faye. I learned a lot from this one. Photoshop can come in handy when trying to figure out measurements and composition.

Thanks on the Wyeth comments. I like that one a lot. Just got word from the Smithsonian that is was okay to sell it. Was concerned about copyright, but they cleared that up for me.