Friday, March 19, 2010

Han and Leia 01


So this is really a face test for me, I need to figure this out, at a bigger scale, and without hat and masks like the Cap face test a few weeks back. I just picked some more Star Wars subjects, because I want to.

It's always a good idea to do some practice sketches to get some of the details figured out. These are simply lightbox* tracings over a quick composition I slammed together. I still need to do a few more before I get the transfer set up for the painting.

*I think this is a great example of the bias of lightbox/projection work, you can see how easily you can go off the tracks, as I did with the first Leia. Yes, I had the photo (lowres, but still) underneath, it only takes a few errant lines to destroy the likeness. So I did a second one to lock it down more, but it still needs some more practices, along with one or two more with the Han.

When your subjects are as recognizable as these, you really need to make choices outside of what you're seeing in the photo, to make it work better in the image, and maintain the likeness. This is where it's not simply 'tracing'; the artist needs to bring all of his training into it, still life and figure drawing, sketching skills, and freehand/thought sketching, along with the planning of the future steps in how the pencil work will function underneath the paint and color pencils...

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