Charcoal drawing on A3 board. ~16rs drawing time spread over around 1 week
Work In Progress video, each image is ~ 1hr apart:
Archive for the ‘Portrait’ Category
Statue
Monday, March 8th, 2010Figure Study
Sunday, February 28th, 2010I’ve decided to start putting my drawings up as well as photos, partially because I’m not taking many photos and the blog is looking a bit starved of attention. I may end up back-dating some drawings, so expect some to pop into the middle of all the photos.
This is a quite large figure study, a mix of charcoal and graphite on board. My first real experiment with charcoal. I like it much better for the dark colours and doesn’t have the shine of graphite. It suits my drawing style much better and I hink there will be many more charcoal drawings to come.
Work in Progress video starting after ~4hrs and each image is ~1hr apart:
Sulk
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010Graphite drawing on Bristol board (29 x 35 cm)
Graphite pencils 4B – H.
The last graphite drawing before I moved to Charcoal. The attempts to try and get a good dark black convinced me that Charcoal is at least worth trying (the black in the glasses took a surprisingly long time which I couldn’t bring myself to repeat across the other shadows and it has the annoying side effect, present in almost all graphite drawings, of being a shiny layer, so if you look at it from the wrong angle, it looks white!)
Hugh
Sunday, January 10th, 2010Graphite drawing on Bristol board (29 x 35 cm)
Graphite pencils 4B – H.
Trying a slightly different technique, making more definitive pencil strokes where you can see every mark I’ve made. Interestingly can still create a relatively clean and smooth finish (when viewed from a distance) but as you look closer individual strokes are much more visible than in other works.
One of the last pieces before I moved to working with Charcoal.
Down Some Dark Alley
Monday, January 4th, 2010The wonderful Cassie, hiding down a darkened alley, just waiting to strike those who drift unwilling into her path.
No, not really. Actually standing infront of a beautiful wall in an Orchard just outside Cambridge (and taking the opportunity to show off some of the fantastic finds in your local Oxfam)
Winter Walker
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009John walking through the glorious colours of an Edinburgh park.
Bridesmaid
Sunday, November 15th, 2009Random snapshot in the garden while Cassie was collecting leaves.
Glancing
Sunday, August 30th, 2009Another shot from the archive – Cassie back in 2005
Back to Front
Sunday, August 30th, 2009The wonderful Cassie showing off her tattoo back in 2007
Hypo-Eyes
Saturday, August 29th, 2009The hypnotic Becca in another shot from the recent shoot which is still providing lots of wonderful images.
Beauty
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009Another shot of the wonderful Becca.
A fairly run-of-the-mill headshot, but with such a wonderful subject each shot becomes extra-special.
This is quite a small section of a much wider shot, but hopefully the resolution doesn’t detract from it too much.
Cheeky
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009Another shot from the great fun shoot with Becca and Catherine with a very mischievous looking Becca.
This was a bit of late night PhotoShopping after a few beers and even in the cold light of day, I’m not sure whether this is an example of drunken PhotoShopping to horrible extremes or an example of what results can come once inhibitions are lessened!
Hopefully the edits are not too blatantly obvious or horrible — although they might be more obvious in the full length crop (right).
It’s a shame that the square crop is so under-rated, too many images are kept to 4×3 (monitor) or 3×2 (35mm film) crops.
Headshot
Friday, August 21st, 2009The wonderful Catherine in a photographer’s mainstay b&w portrait. 
I quite like the b&w version (compared to the colour version on the right), I find it a strange mix of high key of the face an low(ish) key of the top. Not sure if the skin-tones really work (could be a bit too high) and I’m not convinced of the crop which has a more powerful feeling to it than the original (in my opinion) but the more plain, obvious crop has a more classic look to it.
Star gazing
Monday, August 10th, 2009
Catherine in a spot of pondering.
Alternative coloured version to the right. Yet again not sure which one I prefer, they have the same tonal quality and only differ in colour, but still I can’t decide!
Edits
Monday, August 10th, 2009
The wonderful Catherine & Becca (l-to-r)
As usual with my fiddling with photoshop, I’ve ended up with various versions of the same image. For some reason I’m quite drawn to the high contrast, punchy, version above despite it’s potentially not-so-flattering look. Perhaps a more traditional, flatter image is better with such beautiful subjects — decide for yourselves:
Modesty
Sunday, August 9th, 2009Another shot of the fantastic Becca, hiding herself
Holiday shot
Sunday, August 9th, 2009When in Paris … dress up and pose with the Eiffel Tower.
Feathers
Saturday, August 8th, 2009Contemplation
Saturday, August 8th, 2009yapp
Thursday, August 6th, 2009Next shot from the fantastic shoot with Becca. Unfortunately Becca looks stunning in so many of the photos, it’s difficult to chose ones to focus on.
P.S. Yet Another Purple Photo
Purple pick me up
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009The beautiful Becca showing why neckwear is an essential accessory.
This scarf provided lots of fun (some would say too much) :
And these aren’t even the most embarrassing of the photos!
The Look
Monday, August 3rd, 2009A very old shot of the always stunning Cassie.
If I remember correctly, the lighting was cobbled together using an outdoor floodlight and some sheets of white paper …. ah good ol’ student days
Orange
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009The full size version of Feather-Lashings.
Despite trying to move on from orange, I still somehow manage to end up with orange.
Feather Queen
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009Another photo of the wonderful Catherine sporting an almost insane number of feathers.
B+W conversion from the original colour (see below) — not sure which I prefer
Closeness
Sunday, August 2nd, 2009The wonderful Becca and Catherine once again demonstrating that given the right subject material anyone can take great photos.