Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Handsome Dani Portrait



Here it is! Or at least I think it is. I do not want to remove it from the drawing board until I have had a few days to reflect on it. The final background decision was to stick to my original photograph. I kept to a very dark more out-of-focus background and ran highlights in with the kneaded eraser. The only minor change was the shirt behind the hamster might be about two clicks lighter than the photo. I think that makes a better back drop to Dani. Overall, I am very pleased with how this portrait turned out. I had been given the suggestion to not have a background. This was an idea I actually had played around with in the planning stage, but I thought two hands that were floating free holding a hamster might give a more memoriam feeling to the piece. This was combined with the mistake of transferring my initial graph to the whole drawing surface and it would not have been easy erasing all the remnants! Live and Learn.

5 comments:

Grahame Butler said...

This is a beautiful piece Brenda, from the background the the hands to the hamster, all are perfectly drawn, I look forward to seeing more of your work...

Brenda said...

Thank you so much Grahame. You don't know how much those comments mean to me coming from you! I admire your work so much!

Laure Ferlita said...

I am loving all the texture in this - from the denim to the hair on the arms to the fur of the hamster! Very well done!!

Brenda said...

Thanks Laure! I am glad the background is finished. Thanks for noticing the hair on the arms, that really gave me a run for my money! Glad it comes across as hair. Sometimes what I see, may not be what others do!!

Christine Perry | Graphite Art said...

How cute! Excellent work!