untamedartists

Hi guys

Normally I'm (artistically speaking) in Africa or Asia, but for a change, I'm going caucasian here in the land down under.

Here in Australia, there's this guy who communicates science to the masses on tv and in schools. He ran a tv show called 'The Curiosity Show' and was also on a variety show called 'Hey Hey it's Saturday'. Most of the Aussies among us will know of him. He also happens to be a good friend of mine through church. His name is Deane Hutton and he's a great bloke, so I begged him to allow me to do his portrait. He's got a great looking face so I hope I do him justice. Putting myself on the line here

So here's my WIP of him in soft pastels on Terra Cotta coloured Colourfix paper, 10" x 16".

Now that is just awesome Patrick! You've definitely captured him well. I just love the blue shadows!

Many thanks Leigh

An update. Just colour, no modelling done on the left yet.

Just brilliant mate. Coming along very nicely indeed

I'm at the 'turn it around and check later' stage. Do you do that Leigh, or do you just finish and call it done?

I flipped the image horizontally and thought it was wonky, but then I flipped my references and they indeed were ALL wonky, so I breathed again. Isn't it interesting how peoples faces are like that?



and a couple of details to show how simple I try to keep thing lol

I needed to move an eye a little and also toned down the teeth and a couple of the highlights. Not sure how much it shows up here.

Also, there's plenty of blue in the shadows but it shows up a bit too stong in this digital but you get the idea. I think I'm calling this one done

I teach the flip method but very rarely use it to be honest Patrick. This piece is just brilliant. Perhaps next year you should take a run at the Archibald and a few other portrait prizes

You don't flamin' well need the flip method. You seem to nail it on the first hit

Thanks for the great compliment Leigh.

Anyway - there were a few things bugging me. It's hard to see on the small image (linked from wetcanvas) but the highlights were too cool. You are better at warms and cools than me and I now realise I need to pay more attention to them. I've warmed up the highlights, the background and the hair too.

I also thought the teeth were too strongly coloured (or 'whited') and created a sort of buck tooth appearance, so I've toned them down a bit. I'm happier now. The last portrait commission I did was in 1989 when I had no expectation of myself LOL. Now I have a person who's going to see himself and think.................I have to get it right!

This is just superb mate! I love the way you've done the shirt too. The warmer highlights are showing up now, but the previous shot also had a colour cast that was affecting the overall look.

The warm/cool thing will come mate. I'm lucky because it just comes intuitively for me but my old signwriter's eyes can take credit for that.

How so? I'm not familiar with the technique of signwriting. I assume that you juxtapose warms and cools to get more impact since your trying to grab attention. Am I correct?

I learned a lot of my tricks back in my trade days, playing with colour combos to find what worked. The old saying was "If it looks right it is right". Generally the rules meant using varied tones to build your impact. The warm/cool thing is just something I learned from doing a huge amount of pictorial work.