For this assignment I had to research a portrait artist and chose one of the works that I admired. I chose a portrait by Kees van Dongen. It is a portrait of a woman who it sitting. I loved the palette van Dongen used--the contrasting warm and cool tones on her face--contrasting yet harmonized. I also liked how the portrait focused on the individual without much extra--a simple hued background. It was her direct gaze which captured my imagination--what preoccupied her thoughts? I liked how the artist captured a character with such broad and simple brush strokes.
So, I had found my image to emulate. Now I had to take a photograph of myself seated in the same posture as this woman. Ange helped out a lot with the picture--(we used her amazing camera and her photography skills!) I found a hat in the studio and wrapped a ribbon around my neck like a necklace. I wanted to mimic van Dongen's woman but modernize her a bit. So the photo tried to copy the position of the woman and the lighting so that similar effects would be present for me to be able to work with. It was a success!
Than, I uploaded the photo onto photoshop. Now I had to use the tools available to make the image look painterly, just the way that van Dongen had painted. Recreating the image in a similar style was the best part of the assignment! I set up both images beside one another in order to extract my palette from the original portrait. I segmented the photograph of myself into layers so that I could build up my image slowly and make corrections easily. I applied colour with my paint brush; being sure to pay attention to tonal values, lighting, and shadow which aid in molding the features (especially in the face). After the proper colours were applied in the proper areas I used the smudging tool to smooth out and blend colours that didn't need to have an edge. Overall, I found that painting with computer tools is just like painting with my own hands!
So here are the results: Painting with a computer is a lot of fun!
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