Eensy Forward Motion

As I struggle along on this pencil drawing commission of faces that are too small for me to capture a likeness, you get to see the progress.

This is the original photo.

This is my first attempt at capturing M’s Dad accurately.

This is a scanned and enlarged version of the faces.

Here is the second version of my drawing.

And finally, so you will understand what I am working with, here is the drawing with a ruler.

Phooey. The inch marks don’t show.  M’s dad’s face is 1-3/4″ high. That’s all.

That’s all I can stand of this today. I will go pull some weeds, because that doesn’t require perfection.

Never Learn, or Never Give Up?

For years I thought that I was hopeless at capturing a likeness in a portrait. After taking a workshop from a premier colored pencil portrait artist (Ann Kullberg), I learned the all important principle, “Never draw a face smaller than an egg”. (not talking quail egg or hummingbird egg, preferably a goose egg)

This information helped, but I have never gotten comfortable or confident about capturing a likeness. I can spend hours making tiny adjustments, and in the end, I still have just drawn the guy’s cousin. 

When I asked a friend/blog reader/customer, let’s call her M, if she would like a print of the Sisters in the Orchard (2 girls drawn from the back, no faces involved), she declined, but then sent me a photo of a photo that she would like me to draw.

The original photo is about 3×3″. This version is blurry. I said that it was too hard because it was too small and too blurry.

She sent me the original so I could scan it, sharpen things, lighten and brighten and enlarge and SEE!

I really really like this person and never want to disappoint a friend. So, rather than sticking to my conviction that this is really too hard for me, I went with the principle of It Never Hurts To Try.

I scanned the photo and worked it over on the computer. Then I employed every tool that I have (not going to bore you with technicalities or give away any secrets—I save those for my drawing students).

The plan was to do Dad’s face first, because if I couldn’t make him look right, there would be no reason to continue.

I am more of a “precrastinator” than a procrastinator; in other words, do the hard thing before there is time to fret, backpedal, renege, or chicken out. 

I sent this to M, and now we will see if the drawing passes the recognition test.

I am incapable of perfection, but I can see right now a few adjustments that need to be made. When the face is only the size of an average chicken egg, every adjustment is the barest little pencil stroke, a gentle tap-tap with an eraser, a teensy blur and a smudge, all done under a huge lit magnifying lens.

Will I ever learn to say no to these types of jobs?

Prolly not. . . eternally optimistic in the growth of my skills, the continual triumph of hope over experience.

A Cat Called Chaos

A Chat Called Chaos? A Cat Called Caos? Never mind. Here is the story.
 
In 2004 I drew a cat for some folks who actually brought him to my studio. This was in the days of film cameras (Nope, not an Early Adopter of anything), so I didn’t save a photo of the drawing. Snowcat’s people recently asked me to draw their current cat, Chaos, and although I remembered Snowcat, I couldn’t remember the drawing. They sent me a photo.That was one alert cat!! When I was taking his photos, I reached out to touch him. He pulled away in a very subtle but arrogant manner. Made me laugh.
 
Their current cat spent the first 2 years of his life in a dog grooming shop and used to create chaos there. He is getting up in age, so they asked me to draw him, sending a handful of digital photos.
Chaos looks more alert in the lower photo, but the man appears to be strangling the cat. I asked for a few more photos with a different hand position.
This is less worrisome for the cat’s survivability, but the hand appears larger than the cat’s head. That won’t do.
 
I decided to just start drawing and figure it out as I go.
The weird orangish tint is due to the smoky light coming through the window over my drawing table.
This time to photograph it, I carried it outside for better light.
To be continued. . .
 
 

Still Smoky, Still Drawing

This sort of smoky light means it is hard to see to paint, but if I open the doors for better light, then it is hard to breathe. So, I get to spend another day in the studio with my pencils. (I love to draw – did you know that?)

This is a large collage drawing, a commissioned piece 14×18″, that will incorporate 3 different scenes. In designing, I tried something new – I used photoshop instead of doing sketches. I sent the customer 2 versions and she chose this one.

Here you can see the faint outline where things will go. I started at the top on the left, because as a right-hander, this helps to cut down on excessive smearing.

Setting it up took as long as getting it to this stage.

I had enough time to begin the next segment.

Next, I heard from the customers on the lengthy logo design project. Calling it “lengthy” is not an insult; this is a very challenging job, because the customers have been without a logo since 1980, logo design isn’t my strongest skill so I am slow, and together we are carefully working out the best design possible. This is the next piece in the puzzle.

I used an old (1997) drawing as a place holder, drew a new picture for them, and then we discovered that the old drawing was a better match. Alas, it wasn’t very well done. Well, it was fine for back then, but I was barely out of my Primitive Era in the last century. So I drew it again, and this time I added lemons, along with other improvements that probably only my drawing students will be able to appreciate. But I want this to be The Very Best Possible for my customers and not an embarrassment to my artistic reputation.

Hey look! It is clearing up! I could tell that something was taking place outside because there were some helicopters overhead, and they made the drawing table vibrate.

See? Clear as a bell! 

Not. But clear enough for air support as the fires continue to rage through Sequoia National Park and fill Three Rivers with worry, smoke, ash, fire equipment, and fire personnel.

If you are someone who talks to God, please keep praying for good slow soaking rain without any lightning.

 

A Little Bit Too Hard

Portraiture is the most difficult type of art. The only thing more difficult would be multiple portraits in the same piece. Sometimes when people ask me to draw or paint a portrait, I just say no. I have painted a few people, always with no faces visible.(one more here) I have done many pencil portraits, and each one feels as if it will NEVER look right. 

I drew a pair of Basset Hounds for someone. She showed it to a friend, who sent me a photo of a little girl holding a baby and asked me to draw it. After studying it, thinking about the oblique angle of the girl’s face plus the fact that squinchy-eyed sleeping babies all look alike, realizing that I have many tools with which to “cheat”, I agreed.

Here is the progression of the drawing, which I expected to be a little bit too hard but turned out to be a pleasure to draw. Seeing the photo on the laptop allows me to convert it to black and white or back to color, enhance the contrast, and enlarge anything that I am not quite sure about.

Faces first, because if that part doesn’t turn out, I can quit without too many hours wasted. There were many shapes and textures in the background, and I chose to eliminate them in order to put the focus solely on the little humans. The customer was very pleased and said, “That picture brought tears to my eyes! It’s wonderful!”

That sentiment could have brought tears to my eyes, tears of relief. But I soldiered on to the next project, taking comfort in the fact that it was mountains and citrus groves. (I told a fellow artist that if I was a smoker, I would have lit one up at the completion of this commission.)

Here is a link to the last portrait I drew, hoping it would be the last portrait I drew. Reluctant Portrait

 

 

Large Important Oil Commission

This will be a long story, told in multiple chapters. 

Because I have been an artist for a long time in the same county, often people think of me when they need an artist. This is a good thing, because even if I am not the right person for the job, I often know who might be.

Someone from the county library emailed me, looking for a portrait artist. Nope, not me. The library received a donation in memory of a patron and wanted to hire someone to paint or draw a portrait of the woman. Nope, not me. I could tell that the poor librarian did not even know the right questions to ask, so I called her and gave her a rather detailed set of instructions about how commissions work, what questions to ask, what to expect, and a couple of names of artists who might be available. Nope, not me.

I followed up the phone call with a summary, and included samples of my work, both pencil and oil, and of course I sign all business emails with my website address. I made it abundantly clear that I don’t accept commissions for portraits, but should they change their minds, I would be very happy to work with them on this project.

A few weeks later, they decided, yeppers, me, because scenery instead of a portrait would be just fine with everyone concerned. The instructions were vague, so I pushed for more information. They provided a few photos of the ranch owned by the family, and requested that the painting include books. Say what?

WAIT A MINUTE!  I recognize that barn!

Remember this pencil drawing? Probably not. I did it in March of 2013. 

I took this photo back when I was looking for the right way to show off this area:

it is an odd-looking barn, which makes it memorable.

Okay, where were we? To be continued. . .

 

Anniversary Dogs

A thoughtful mom commissioned me to draw a pair of dogs for her daughter and son-in-law’s anniversary. She videotaped them opening the gift, and while I cannot put that on my blog, I can show you the dogs.

The daughter sent me this message: “Jana!!!!! I love love love the portraits of Charlie and Maggie!!!!! Thank you so much!!!! You captured their expressions brilliantly!” (I might have gotten the number of exclamation points wrong in the quote).

You are so welcome, K & F!! It was a pleasure, especially because we are friends AND because you stopped by the studio when it was on the table. It was in a folder, so I knew you wouldn’t notice it, but your mom was as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

In case it has slipped your mind:

I use pencils, oil paint, and murals to make art you can understand of places and things (and sometimes pets) that you love at prices for won’t scare you.

Pencil Drawing of a Cabin

“Cabin Art” or “Cabinart”* began with pencil drawings of cabins. It it a treat to be able to draw cabins when those jobs come in. 

Someone saw a copy of my book The Cabins of Wilsonia and asked if I could draw her parents’ cabin, working from emailed photographs. 

You betcha!

I showed it to you a bit earlier while in progress. I gave it my best effort to work from the customer’s photos and a sketch, and then sent her a scan of the almost finished drawing to her. She asked if I could add something that didn’t really show in the photos, a procedure that is almost always dicey. Since she communicated clearly throughout the project, I was willing to try. 

Got it!

We talked about possibly having cards made in the future, so she paid the fee to do the digitization. Now you get to see what it looks like before and after getting digitally prepared. Something about scanning a drawing picks up every little anything that appears in and on the paper. Can you see the difference?

*It puzzles me that as a Typo-psycho, I never figured out how the name of my business should be spelled.

Custom Art From Old Blurry Photos

Custom art, also known as commissioned art, is a communication challenge.If someone asks me in advance of taking photos, I instruct him to take many photos of the place from different angles, and then up close for all detail that might be hidden in shade or behind trees.Often there are giant obstacles, such as old blurry photos of places that are no longer in existence, places that are far far away (Montana, South Africa, Cape Cod all come to mind from past experiences), or places that are only accessible in one season or not visible due to weird angles of land or too many trees. .

Times have changed, and most people have lots of photos on their phones, so I get what I get and I don’t get upset. Basically, people do the best they can, so I’ve learned to work with whatever comes. The key is clear communication – someone who is responsive and can explain things that aren’t visible in the photos can make up for weak reference photos.

Today’s  drawings are examples of having worked from blurry or old photos that could not be supplemented with more details. The customer had to fill in with memories, supplied to me in words rather than pictures.

Tomorrow I’ll show you drawings from places that are far away. Maybe we can discuss why it is that customers won’t fly me to Montana to take my own photos. . .