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Not Leonard Cohen
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Message
Posted
But it should be!
I have tried to copy a black and white photograph of Lenny, but failed badly. Dont get me wrong, I am very happy with what I have got here, but very unhappy that it does not resemble the old songster himself. I have done the initial drawing in pencil, then put in the pen, then added paint: the only reason I did this is because I really like the pen and paint style. I know that sooner or later (sooner I think) I will have to commit to all paint!
Lenny's chin is too long and he is not jowely enough: but how do I make him jowely?
Also, background...what colour?
David
David
Posted
I think you've done pretty damn fine there.
I confess - it looks more like a caricature than a portrait - but it;s good!
Background? Leave it white or cream; or maybe some faint grey musical notes flying about.
Critique? he has an unusual face that defies the "rules of face shape" (you know, x distance from nose to chin, eyes are y height, etc). - he has a very large nose-to-upper-lip gap. -- drop the mouth down a bit, smoth out the sharp chin lines, add some wrinkles... BUT that would spoil it.. really!
Posted
Dippy's right about leaving this one as it is - considering how long you've been painting, it's good! Would I have recognized him - not sure; it's a bit difficult to know that, when the identification has been made already..... But if in doubt, do it again - that's a very good photograph above which you can work from. And there's no reason why you should feel you HAVE to go "all paint", either: use whatever you feel like using.
Getting a likeness isn't easy - this is why tutors will steer you gently away from portraiture as you're starting out: but if you want to do it, you won't be satisfied with alternatives - so get stuck in, is my advice. This is a good start.
Posted
I suggest you do some more portraits of the singer, but using just pencil on paper.
Using a better photo might help. Could you find other photos, preferably three quarter views with strong contrasts of light and shade?
Have you measured the main proportions of the face and transfered them to the paper? I use scale dividers to do this, and the important dimensions are : top of head to under chin, top of head to eyes, eyes to nose, eyes to mouth, and head width. You could go further and trace the main features onto the paper.
Pen and wash is a demanding technique and it might not be suitable for your portrait.
A more sympathetic medium is to use oil paint with a simplified palette of yellow ochre or raw sienna, cadmiun red or cadmium red hue, black and white. This is called a Zorn palette and it's a lot easier to get accurate skin tones
.http://www.timgagnon.com/making-the-color-palette-for-skin-tones-a-bit-easier/
Edited
by keora
Posted
"Pop"!!!!!!
Lenny isnt pop! He is magnificent and his live shows are sublime. He's been a great musical favourite of mine ever since university and I think he is very good looking, as well as having a face which grows more interesting with age, so to try to paint him is a pleasure.
Thanks for all the feed back...useful stuff.
D
ps my indignation is faux!
Edited
by DavidG4YVM
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