Self-portrait ill
 

Hi, this is the final drawing from the original posts in the 'works in progress' section. I did more erasing in this one than usual, and very little white pastel highlights.

Really Nice drawing!

Beautiful!
 

Beautiful drawing. I especially love the drawing of the hand.

Great work!

Mai

That's really terrific!

I don't know if you were experiencing a migraine when the photo was taken but, believe it or not, there is an art competition going on right now for art that depicts migraine headaches. (Strange but true.)

I saw a poster for the competition at the Scottsdale Artists School a month ago, so maybe it's not too late for you to enter this drawing, if you're so inclined. Contact the school and ask if they still have the poster and entry forms up in their student kitchen, if you want to enter.

I bet you'd win.

Thanks
 

Thank you very much for the compliments! I've always enjoyed the challenge of doing hands, I feel capturing their expression is just as important as the facial.
Michele, that is wierd. I'll try getting in touch with them to see if I have time. Thanks!

Jimmie,

Awesome drawing. I agree with Mai on your execution of the hand. Excellent. Were you watching the Nets in the Finals when this pic was snapped? Kidding....

Just good ole stress
 

Richard,

Thank you and no, not a Net fan! Long hours, little sleep, and air conditioning(killer combo) always give me headaches. That's ok because the NJ mega-million lotto jackpot is now $175 million.

No more long hours, get more sleep and buy an extremely expensive central air system that won't give me headaches. Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Emotionally charged
 

Jimmy,

I really like your drawing style, and ability to catch the emotion. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with color.

Jean

Held back
 

Jean,

Thank you. I'll be the first to admit that I've never had a great feel for color. I'm very intimidated by the process, due to lack of experience with pastel, or simply being a cement-head (my daughter's alternative name for knuckle-head). Although I hadn't made a pencil drawing since high school, it's all I did before that since I was four. Never used color until I started airbrushing when I was fifteen, and did that for about fifteen years but never had confidence using color. My old airbrush illustrations are on my website under the gallery area. A bit of warning, they're a bit on the spooky side. The bottom row piece called "Twins" is the only pastel I've done without feeling any restrictions. I've posted my pastel portraits in the "pastel critique section", but I've never really felt freedom doing them. I worry about the color constantly, which I hope goes away once I work more with pastels.

Maybe if SVA had given me some scholarship money, I would have attended Mr. Mattleson's class, and my fear of color would have disappeared. By the way Mr. Mattleson, if you are reading this, I've always had incredible respect for your work both as an illustrator and portrait artist. If memory serves me correct, I went to one of your talks at the Society of Illustrators about 10 years ago during their Wednesday night gatherings. If that wasn't you then I blame it on my lack of sleep?
Wow, I'm sorry for babbling! Bye.

I stand corrected
 

Hi Jimmie,

After checking out your pastels here and the airbrush work on your site I find it hard to believe that you are that uncomfortable with color. Please accept my apologies for making an assumption. Your pencil work shows that you love line, which is probably why I like it. I found that by thinking in blocks of color, I've been able to decrease my dependence on perfect line (and lots of them). Chris Saper's book "Painting beautiful Skin Tones with Color and Light" was an invaluable investment for me. I highly recommend it. Absolute control is very good in tatooing, but may not be as beneficial in artwork. It's just paper, let er rip, it'll be good for your headaches.

Jean

No apology necessary
 

Jean,
My biggest problem is the process. I'm usually ok when I'm finished, but getting there kills me. I've studied color and make blocked sketches before I start, but right as I'm getting into it, I have a small panic attack and think I'm gonna ruin the piece. This has happened with EVERY color piece I've done. Every medium that I'ved tried has a completely different method of laying down color. For example, tattooing should usually be done from dark to light. With airbrushing I used a lot of glazing with little use of opaque colors, erasing pigment to achieve highlights. I still don't know what I'm doing with pastel!!!! The Daniel Greene tapes have helped greatly. One of my biggest concerns also with pastels is that I'll lose the tooth, although it's never happened(paranoia, I guess). I'm sure I'll get over it, hopefully very soon because I'm about to start a commission of three siblings done separately. Wish me luck.

To get practice in color you might want to try oils, since it's so easy to rework problem areas (no danger of losing the tooth of the paper, as in pastels, etc).

There are really no hard and fast rules about whether you must work from light to dark or dark to light and the rich, lush range of colors is so wonderful. With a dozen tubes of paint you can get just about any color you want and don't have to buy a 500 plus tray of colors, as you do in pastel.

Oils are not hard to learn. I had never worked in oil paint until two years ago and will probably never go back to any other medium. Give it a try.

Oils? Hmmmm
 

Michele,
It's a medium I've always wanted to learn, took it for a semester at Parsons but never got the hang of it. Don't know if it was me, the teacher, or the low quality of paints. Could'nt afford better ones, and this was the period that I was starting to get better at airbrushing.
I'd like to get my drawings off the ground, perhaps in a local show, and get more comfortable with the pastels before I begin a new medium. I also think taking a class would help greatly, rather than learning on my own and becoming immediately discouraged.

Facing fears
 

Hi Jimmie,

First, I agree with Michele about oil, it's very forgiving. Currently I'm painting a beautiful young woman from the Phillipines. It's taken me a week of playing to come up with the deep bronze, gold, rose color of her skin. But it's just paint...

Second, for the pastels, try working on a sanded paper. It's tougher and can be brushed off (or even washed). Wallis or Colourfix or ask Chris Saper.

Third, use my mantra. Fear becomes anticipation, anticipation becomes excitment. Repeat daily or whenever you feel the start of panic. As a former sufferer of panic attacks, I've had to learn that unwarrented fear robs my energy, I don't sweat the small stuff anymore. It's just paper, and color is exciting!

Jean

To be continued...
 

If no one minds, I'm going to place my response under Cafe Guerbois, where it seems better fitted. My apologies.