Tiny Dancer

[MurrayG]

Hi folks, the experiment goes on. From a photo, Rembrandt's on 2.5x3.5 inches on sanded Sennelier card. This I found quite difficult, the size really messed with getting the important themes down. Yes I know, don't use pastel sticks, paint with a fine brush or, use pencils etc. But the point with these is forcing myself to get an image that is as representative as possible with pastels and without filing them for a point (can't afford that).
Not happy, proportions off and light passages on limbs iffy.
Here it is, thumbprint and all.

 

[Donna T]

I don't think you can be too critical of this, Murray. There is not a lot of room for fine tuning! To me, you caught the feeling of graceful motion very well! I'm glad you're leaving a little room around the edges of these so they can find their way into frames.

 

[Triduana]

Well I think this is beautiful. I love the light and that gorgeous background colour.

 

[JStarr]

Okay, so she has a lacy handkerchief in her right hand, and her left leg is a bit long- might be extra large feet.

For goodness sakes! Give yourself a TON of credit! The size of paper you are using is minuscule, really, and you're going at it hammer and tongs pretty much directly- AND you're putting yourself under time constraints; given ALL of that, this has MUCH to praise.

-Your value structure is perfect
-Your overall colour harmony is great
-It looks *exactly* like a ballerina en pointe
-The tutu is wonderfully depicted- ruffles and sheer parts, both
-Your value and hue use in the background is superb to the subject
-The piece is going to give you insight into how to do what you want to do when you do this one larger

Congratulations, Murray- good work!

 

[MurrayG]

Congratulations, Murray

JStar, thank you so much, high praise indeed from you. I really appreciate your thoughts on value and colour, this helps me heaps. I think I will try a larger work. It will really test me anatomically and light. Your thoughts made my evening. Thanks.

 

[MurrayG]

I don't think you can be too critical of this, Murray. There is not a lot of room for fine tuning! To me, you caught the feeling of graceful motion very well! I'm glad you're leaving a little room around the edges of these so they can find their way into frames.

Thanks Donna and Truduana, really appreciate you thoughts both.

 

[Artyczar]

Beautiful texture and movement in this. Wow! It has gorgeous blending as well. You hit it out of the ballpark on this one.

 

[MurrayG]

Thanks Ayin

 

[JStarr]

I think I will try a larger work. It will really test me anatomically and light.

You said you were using a photo ref- that's good, it will allow you to either graph it** and the larger-sized paper you use, *or*, measure every little bit and do the math needed to scale up from the photo size to the new larger paper size- so you have anatomical correctness going on.

There's no right or wrong way to do this- even if you projected it onto a piece of paper mounted to a wall and traced around the lines, NO ONE can legitimately say, "You did it wrong!" It's like reading with your finger under each word on each line- THAT doesn't matter. What matters is does the word get into your brain? In this case, does the figure go from photo to anatomically correct on a piece of paper?

So graph or measure for now. Do it enough times, and you'll learn to see proportions while you're sketching.

PS: Do NOT use graphite pencil to create the graph onto the pastel ground- pastel will not stick to graphite. Try a very slender piece of willow charcoal and a light touch, or a fairly pointy neutral hue hard pastel, or even- very lightly- a coloured pencil in a neutral hue. (Some CPs have waxy/oily stuff in them and pastel can be finicky about sticking to it).

** Say, one inch square on the photo = 2 inch square on the larger paper

 

[MurrayG]

In this case, does the figure go from photo to anatomically correct on a piece of paper?

Hi JStar. Thanks for all the tips. This is something similar to what I have tried in the past for "portraits". I usually grid out the reference. It does really help. With these small ones, I do try to grid for some, at least to get a sense of space and plan "composition" . With the small portrait yes. With dancer, kind of. With the ATC's I tried to focus my sketches but on this scale its very hard. I does make you work tho and plan every stroke. I will scale up dancer, I think it will be a nice work, hopefully. But honestly, your inputs are most welcome and very much appreciated
Thanks
Added- I did try a few of your corrective suggestions on dancer, much better. Thanks

 

[JStarr]

Hi JStar. Thanks for all the tips. This is something similar to what I have tried in the past for "portraits". I usually grid out the reference. It does really help. With these small ones, I do try to grid for some, at least to get a sense of space and plan "composition" . With the small portrait yes. With dancer, kind of. With the ATC's I tried to focus my sketches but on this scale its very hard. I does make you work tho and plan every stroke. I will scale up dancer, I think it will be a nice work, hopefully. But honestly, your inputs are most welcome and very much appreciated
Thanks
Added- I did try a few of your corrective suggestions on dancer, much better. Thanks

I look forward to seeing the larger one- don't lose that freshness of the ATCs. (No pressure, though, right?)

 

[Jo Castillo]

This is lovely. Very fluid.

 

[MurrayG]

I look forward to seeing the larger one- don't lose that freshness of the ATCs. (No pressure, though, right?)

No, no pressure..... Umm. Thanks for the support