I'd forgotten that when I drew a portrait during high school it would take a couple weeks to finish. I carried a tablet around with me from class to class and worked it every class I could. So that would be maybe thirty to forty minutes at a time, and not every class was conducive.
Ah. So, the shoulder cape is called a pellegrina. The cassock sleeves are silk, that's good to know. I can look at my drawing and see that what I've done looks right for silk. That makes me feel better about it. Funny, as I'd have never guessed it was silk from the photo.
Here's a delicate trick. In the photo I'm working from, his eyes are clearly looking right into the camera. No question about it. The drawing above? Not so much. I've just tweaked the drawing, and I think it's better. The difference is barely measurable. It meant adjusting how much sclera (the white of the eye) is visible either side of the pupil. Just the one, his left eye. No, his left. Right side of the image. No, your right side. I'd swear that pupil looks a little bigger than the other now but I measured and it's not so.
This the first time in a very long tome I've been able to sustain work on a drawing for this many days in a row. I know it seems as if I don't get much in each day but these three or four hours each day are spread out across it. I'm also not set up lighting-wise for good work in late afternoon and evening. I need my art table and at least one standing lamp that I can move around. Even so, I'm enjoying being able to get back into it. When I don't feel it, not in the zone, I'm not that far removed that I cannot find it again. Currently I'm just kinda sketching in the shading to get the shapes, find the fields. I may do the hand this way too before the final shading begins on the face, so as to pair them tonally.
Jesseca has had an idea for a larger piece, with a large central image of Pope Francis flanked by smaller images of Mary and Jesus. I already had the perfect shot of Francis for a collage of this sort but I'm pretty sure I'll have to look for one a little more appropriate, a little more solemn. See, Mary is universally depicted as sorrowful (understandably). Jesus probably smiled a lot in his day - I hope he did, I like to think of him as more upbeat than beat up - but he also is usually seen as downcast even with his eyes lifted. He had an unimaginable burden. So imagine the finished drawing: the murdered man and his mother, both of them with the weight of mankind on their shoulders, and between them is Francis with this look of overjoyed surprise on his face like "This is the best thing ever!"
Actually I'd prefer Mary and Jesus both look a bit happier. You know, filled with the warmth of God and such. Mary looking towards her son, maybe, Jesus gazing upward. I mean, it's a shitty way to die but the redemption of mankind has gotta be some kinda silver lining?
(Oh no. No no no no. Bad mental image just came to mind. Old TV ad. "Jesus, you and the Holy Father have just saved the whole human race! What are you going to do do next?" "I'm going to Disneyland!")
(Do check out Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ. I love that movie. "It is accomplished", powerful stuff. In Scorsese's and Dafoe's hands you really do get a feel of it being earned. Pity so many Christians hate the movie, you'd think they'd embrace something that makes their faith look sympathetic to non-believers.)
I'll also have to tailor the image for commerce. If it were purely for the sake of art or for myself I'd choose a darker-skinned Middle Eastern man to model Jesus, with close-cropped fuzzy hair and no beard. That would be honest. Yeah, that'd go over well with potential customers... Isn't there something about lying being a sin? Oh well, I guess it's not like a Commandment or anything. : /
To thine own self be- no, wait, that's Hamlet. Ne'mind.
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'Kay, I'm'a post this 'cuz by the time I get a substantial bit more done the light will have changed too much to get a decent shot to show you. Been working the hand, just blocking it in lightly, and filling in the inside of the sleeve. I will definitely have to do a balancing act to get the tones of the hand and face to match and still stand apart from the clothing. The liberties I took from the photo ensures a difficult time for that.
Oh, I should mention the pencils and leads I'm using. For those who don't know, I'm using mechanical pencils of .3mm and .5mm. I'm using a variety of hardnesses, necessary for a range of tones. The very softest I have used only in the upper eyelids, pupils, and irises so far. The softer the lead, the darker it goes on...but is also prone to smearing and smudging which will stain the paper. Pretty much impossible to erase, it will leave your page darkened. Anyway, mechanical pencils are all tip and no sides, which is why it takes me so long. I could use regular pencils but I haven't in so long that I'll have to learn what textures I can get with them. It's a different look, which doesn't go well with the mechanicals I use. I have two sets of regular pencils to use though, both given me as gifts. One was from mom.
: ( : ( : ( Mother's Day is coming up. I've been bombarded with ads for it. Having to clamp down hard on my emotions. I never imagined that Mother's Day could ever be a source of grief and mourning, it took me by vicious surprise. The loss is still felt as keenly, maybe more so now because it has sunk in as real.
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15 hours and nearly didn't have to edit in a graphics program! Have to push to do more hours in a day. How was yesterday only roughly an hour's work?? I'd swear I was averaging three total each day, was I not paying attention? Huh. Well, I am working off a screen, and that's relatively new to me. If I had this printed in front of me it it would be easier to go longer each day. Hmm, that's a consideration I'd not taken into account. I don't have a printer but I can send a ref pic to email then have it printed at the library. If enough money is left over from the sale of the house it might be worth it to get a cheap printer Money is so short right now even a fifty dollar printer seems an unjustifiable expense. It might still be if I can't start making money from this. I need to build up a supply of portraits I can show off at the artists' co-op. Jesseca said a few minutes ago the same thing I had been thinking earlier: my process is too slow. So, get printed refs and see what I can do with regular pencils.
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