Self Portrait

We were to create self portraits based around new and old varieties and styles of art, ranging all the way from the Baroque Era, to post modern, etc. So as to challenge myself, I chose arguably the most difficult I haven't explored very often in my artistic endeavors so far; Realism.

We used photo references, and set them up next to our easels, so as to have more than a mental palette to work from. I first set down a base outline with a light coating of black-ish paint. Next, I simply spent the next few classes filling in the spaces with corresponding colours. The simplest, and most satisfying part came next. Utilizing the power of space between lights and darks. Though not very prominent in the reference photo I used, I was able to dry brush darks under my neck, eyelids, lips, and clothing. As for lighting, I dry-brushed a simple white in some areas, and an off-yellow in others. Most notably, on my bottom lip, nose, partially the eyelids, and cheeks.

With this, I was able to effectively create the illusion of depth, and an aspect of realism. The most challenging part was separating my dark hair and clothing from my dark background. I did however, have a plan to accentuate the highlights in my face against the background. Also, towards the right of my painting, I decided to use a lighter shade of reddish-brown in order to add the illusion of lighting coming in from that angle, as I had noticed in the original photo.

In my opinion, I was quite successful i utilizing this tactic, and creating an overall realistic appearance to the finished product. For a first attempt, I was quite pleased by the outcome. Although, given the chance, I wouldn't mind being able to lighten the base tone of the flesh, as it had darkened considerably during the drying process.