Greetings from Philadelphia

[SB Wang]

Garth,

A graduate of Tyler School of Art at Temple University (BFA, Magna Cum Laude, MFA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Simmie Knox, is in D.C. now.

[Garth Herrick]

Thanks Marvin, Josef, Mary, Ngaire, and SB: It is wonderful to be so instantly welcomed. I am not used to such comradery (I've never used this word before so I had to look up the spelling). A studio can be a very solitary place without this forum.

Marvin: I am so impressed with your work! I hope you take it as a compliment that I think your portraits are on par with Ingres. Your sense of design is great; the precision of your eye and hand are razor sharp; and as a technician, you seem unparalleled. These are all areas I need to improve; so your praise feels very high to me. Thankyou.

I checked out the Canon website and the Powershot Pro 1 is very impressive indeed at ISO 50. There are no sample pictures at ISO 400, but I bet they begin to show some noise there. ISO 400 on a D70 will be very negligable if it has the same chracteristics as a D100. This is because of the pixel pitch (or distance between each pixel). The pixel pitch is three times greater on a D70 than on a Powershot Pro 1.

What I would do Marvin, is purchase a Compact Flash storage media card (any capacity will do), since both cameras use the same card. Go to a camera store and take each camera for a comparative test drive in the store with your personal card, then go download the test pictures and see which camera offers the best balance of picture quality for your needs. I tried this myself a few years back.

Josef: Thanks for your welcome. I love your interactive layered portrait on your website. You are also an incredible draftsman. I don't consider myself to be particularly good at draftsmanship. My finished paintings are the result of thousands of drawing corrections. I don't know if I could pull off a before and after overlay as successfully as you have.

Mary: Thanks! This was my first portrait sculpture, and I had to learn everything on the fly, in front of the client. Just get some clay and start playing with it. You will find your way. It is a whole new way of thinking. In 3D, you can't get away with any distortions as easily as you can in paint. This is very challenging and frustrating at first, and it makes you really appreciate that you are an accomplished 2D painter.

Ngaire: Thats why I am here too. There is just so much collective experience to draw upon. There is benefit for everyone. As far as typing goes, I'm about as slow as it gets as I hunt and peck.

SB: Thanks, I need to explore the SOG galleries some more.

Garth

[Terri Ficenec]

Wow, Garth - that's some beautiful work!

Welcome!

[Heidi Maiers]

Hi Garth and WELCOME!
Thank you for the comments you left in my guestbook and I must say that this little boy's portrait is fabulous. You even captured the little pout he has on his face and such nice fleshy curves. It must have been a very low fire clay to keep the surface so subtle and rounded without much shrinkage. Your proportions are perfect. If this is your first, I certainly hope that you don't stop there - you obviously have a knack for it. Bravo.

[Garth Herrick]

Terri and Heidi, Thankyou so much.

Heidi, here is the truth about the little boy sculpture photo: I shot the picture before it was fired! It changed a little in the firing. There were a couple of troublesome cracks which I filled in and retouched. I really enjoyed playing with the lighting of the sculpture, and I may have shot over 400 photos until I had 6 or 7 shots I really liked.

All these pictures were for just in case the sculpture was lost in the firing. I think it nearly was lost. The clay body shrank 18% and the base cylinder was partly vitrified into glass. While horrified, I did my best to retouch it with acrylics. Fortunately the client accepted it and gave me the final payment. Next time I will fire at cone 06 instead of 6, which will leave this brown clay body in a light pink color with no risk of loss.

Garth

Here is a shot of it after being fired:

[Heidi Maiers]

Ah, no wonder it looked so full and wonderful. Well, it still looks great after firing while there is a noticeable hardness now. The only way to retain that fullness is to cast a water based clay piece and take the mold while the clay is still wet (leather hard).

Children are the most difficult - their features are all hidden beneath layers of baby fat with only a few indications of bony structure. You have nailed it though no doubt due to years of keen observation in your painting practices.

About clays - just because it is a cone 6 or 10 clay doesn't mean you have to fire it to that temperature. I use cone 5 or 10 clays and rarely ever go over cone 02. I usually fire them nearly solid to cone 06 so you are right on. That is plenty hot for vitrification and the piece will only shrink about 5%. Also, any patina that you apply to a piece that has not been fired to maturity will adhere much better.

I love the lighting of your original photograph. What are you using for a backdrop? I know I need to find a good photography background as I have been using sheets and then smudging out any wrinkles in Photoshop that are noticeable in the final photos (can you say big waste of time there?) The grayscale is also very effective in showing off the forms.

You'll have to let me know how you like the Nikon D70. I've been wanting to buy a nice digital camera for quite some time now to upgrade from my old 2 megapixel. I was thinking about the new Nikon Coolpix 8700 would probably be plenty of camera for my needs. I can see where a painter would need to be more concerned about color quality.

Anyway, you came to the right place for boat loads of good information and you obviously have a lot to contribute yourself. Hope to see lots of your work here.

[Garth Herrick]

Thanks, Heidi:

Looking at clay samples fired at various cones, I asked for cone 4 and got cone 6+++++. The kiln was computer controlled, like just set it and forget it. I think the computer was wrong. The piece came out way more golden yellow than any of the pinkish-beige samples, and as I posted earlier, the square base actually became partly glass at the bottom. Ouch!

I think making a mold and casting is the right approach. At least there's the opportunity to do it again, not to mention perhaps a small edition.

As for lighting the photo, for the background, I used a *2-ply archival matteboard off of a roll, which is really the equivalent of a very heavy sheet of drawing paper, about 40" square. For the light, I have a Lowel Tota-Lite on top an 8 foot light stand, with a 30" white photo umbrella attached in front of the Tota-Lite. This made for extremely soft lighting that complimented the the softly rendered features of the sculpture modelling.

I don't have the new Nikon D70, but rather the Nikon D100, it's pricier predecessor. It has been an all round worthwhile camera. I think the D70 should be a good candidate for a new digital camera. Especially for those who like using a conventional SLR.

Heidi, do what I suggested for Marvin on page 2 of this thread, to compare cameras on display in a store. Good luck!

Garth