Sunday, June 6, 2010

New Pastel Portrait from a Photo. Drawing my son!

I've been wanting to do some pastel portraits of my two children for a while now.  (Just in case you think the drawing part is hard...you should try to get a decent picture of a 5 year old who likes to growl every time the camera shows up :)  

After (seriously) hundreds of photos, I finally captured a great moment - outside, in the late day sun, so colors were not too washed out.  He was holding an umbrella, which also diffused the light.  He had on a great color shirt, and he had some terrific rosy cheeks from running around with his little sister.  He also gave me a great picture smile.  No teeth, a gentle smile that didn't squint his eyes.

So I printed out the photo and got started yesterday!  It's not finished yet, but I like showing work in progress.  You can see I haven't even been able to escape to my studio lately...with hubby out of town, Jack and I were working together at the kitchen table!

This is a half sheet of the large aubergine colorfix paper and Nupastel. 

I'm trying to take good photos as I work (in consistent lighting) so I can put another "how I built this pastel portrait" video toghether!   I'll let you know when it's all done.

8 comments:

pegi said...

I love it!!! Even not finished it captures Jack!! I love the viseo idea!!! Almost like being there.
Sometimes the kitchen table is the nicest place in the house, don't you think?

Sharon Tomlinson said...

Just beautiful and I do enjoy seeing the progression.

AmyC ~ said...

again, I say to you WOW!

Liz C. said...

I am soooo jealous of your eye! I couldn't even get a photo that good, let alone be able to put it on canvas.

srputtur said...

Nice work

Krystyna81 said...

Liz...all I can say about the photo is thank goodness for digital! For every one that turns out well, there are about 300 that didn't :)

Tati said...

I love when you post pics of your kids, they're so cute. And as a frequent blog reader, I can see that your boy is growing so fast! :D

Well, you said it's not finished yet, but may I comment about this drawing? Well, he's looking a bit older than he actually is.

Hugs!
Tati

Krystyna81 said...

Tati...I think that happens a lot with portraits - especially of children. In "real life" their angles are very soft, and when going for more interest and color in a portrait, it tends to age them a bit. I am almost finished...I'll post the final drawing soon :)