STUDIES FOR LIGHTING THE HEAD

The morning was spent roaming around on the internet. I am getting so many ideas for paintings and techniques. One guy had a 8 x 11 sheet of paper with 77 very detailed images on it! He did about five of these with different series of creatures on each one. Each image was smaller than 1" square!!!!! Boggles the mind. I liked how he drew. A cross between Zentangle and hyper realism. It gave me ideas how to combine styles and techniques, etc. I have included the website for sketchbooks that I was exploring. Just click on my blog title for this post and it will take you there. I don't always have a link with my title, but I will inform everyone when I do.

This afternoon I spent framing my drawings. I finally figured out a way to float a painting or drawing in a secure and easy manner. I am always afraid everything is going to fall apart later in the frame. I like the formatting of the Bainbridge mats but my drawings were just a touch too big to fit in the pre-cut opening. I got the same look by floating on top of mat board. I marked strips of paper the depth of the mat sides (e.g. 4") and placed them on the top and sides. Then I held the mounted image over the mat board, lining it up with the marker strips. Then I was able to position it perfectly without making marks on the board. I set it down in place and weighted it until the glue dried. Voila! I also learned that I needed to use thinner foamcore for the backing of the drawings. That way the spacers kept the plexi from resting on the drawing and it all still fit into the metal frames. It was a lot of work, but I like the results.

I only did about fifteen minutes of drawing today, all of it crappy but I plug along. A bad drawing in the sketchbook is like the first scratch on a new car. Now you don't have to worry, the book will just be for practice. By the time I get it filled, I should be better and the new book will have all good work in it! So instead of showing you bad drawings, I decided to post some studies I did for lighting the face. When you understand the concept, you can change the lighting on any face you have with confidence. This is one of the lessons I cover in my Advanced Portrait workshops.