Portrait Sub-Classes
Emotions, moods, and fleeting moments are so difficult to capture on canvas that many artists avoid doing portraits. For one self made artist, portraits are everything, and he displays his works in his Marion home, where he lives with his wife. The faces of an American tap dancer, an actor a scientist, the composite between three famous comedians, the traditional cast members of a long running science fiction TV series, a former TV reporter, various rock stars, athletes and entertainers, and his friends are shown in his biggest montage, which he calls “Faces”. The process starts by capturing a frame from a video, from which he gets all sorts of expressions. The montage is a tribute to the people who influenced him as he worked on it for a year and a half. To read other paintings articles make sure to visit portrait artist website.
Aside from the montage, he has individual portraits of the lead singer from Babes in Toyland, a Russian gymnast, and a songwriter. He has had the most experience with pencil, graphite, and charcoal. He tried conte crayon and then colored pencils. His wife originally comes from Kobe, Japan, and their wedding photo is what he used for his first colored pencil drawing. He mixed and matched American and Japanese wood block print styles. Adding personal and Japanese symbols, he began the drawing with his wedding photograph, taken at City Hall in December 1996, as the foundation.
One such enhancement was the addition of their three cats, who were not there at the real wedding. One mask from Japanese opera is said to ward off evil spirits, and he uses this as the face of the first cat. There is a position of good luck, in which he draws the second cat.
He dressed himself and his wife in kimonos in the drawing. With her matriarchal symbol, a flower called the kikyo, he decorated his wife. The third cat sits behind the vertical blinds outside the room, where he placed a gingko tree. The University of Iowa has a tree that inspired the gingko, a sing of longevity. Further your knowledge on paintings at portrait painting in oil.
This 1997 drawing marks the first time the couple worked together. His wife was in charge of idea generation and evaluation. She said it means a lot to them. Landscapes are his next stage of evolution as an artist, onto which he will draw people, his favorite things to draw.
Four of his pieces have been published in a book, one of which serves as the cover, but he has not had his own exhibit. It was a staff member who helped him show his art to the editor. The editor was so moved she sent an email saying she admired his technique, blend of portraiture and architecture, and portrayal of depth amidst humor. His childhood drawings of action heroes and rock stars are a far cry from his present day work. Now he is able to capture a composition of how exactly he would like to see it. Anything he sees, he enhances with his own changes.