Creating a recognisable portrait: a hundred different babies - "Caitlin" WIP5-8
Have you ever struggled to make your human portraits resemble whom they're supposed to? Do your portraits go through numerous renditions on the way to being finished? Perhaps moreso than with any other subject, the human face poses difficulties for the artist because the slightest change in proportion, shadow, highlight, colouration or form causes the portrait to become less-recognisable as the individual under scrutiny. Upon first glance a portrait may seem to resemble the i
The complexity of proportion - "Lazy Days" WIP3-7
Ever realized part-way through a painting that the proportions are all wrong? The eyes are too small, the face is too long, the angle is off? How do you go about fixing it? I was happily mulling along, part-way through my pastel painting of a semi-napping spotted quoll for the painting "Lazy Days" when I stepped back and took a good look at the quoll's head (after all, it is the focal point). When I did, I realized it was completely out of proportion! Instead of looking like
