LTC Tong, 20" x 16" Oil on canvas

[Marcus Lim]

Originally Posted by Alexandra Tyng

If this officer is living, you have a chance to photograph him at the very least.

Hi Alex, i appreciate your deep thoughts that you're contributing to critique my painting. Indeed it has many issues that has brought to my attention, and better my next paintings.

He is a living officer, and while the liaison officer (the guy from the base who is in charge of this project) could provide many references for me, he couldn't at least get me to allow a photo session with the subject, despite numerous times stressing to him how the lighting and quality of the photos didn't do justice to the project.

So i photographed myself in the lighting and time of day as i thought it would have appeared similarly in the painting's background. With two different reference photos, i won't be surprise if you tell me that it's difficult to try and piece these two different pictures together mentally!

Because as i read your thread here, I thought to myself and realise that i was paying too much attention to my own photo, to try and get the lighting right, than to focus on getting the likeness of the subject.

Phtalo blue? Nowadays i hardly use that because i found it to be really opaque, and kinda hard to work with - kinda how i felt about Rembrandt's Indian Red, yet another unforgivingly opaque color.
So i used W&N Cobalt Blue + Titanium White to get the blue sky.
But with your recommendation, i'd give it another try again.
Thanks Alex!

[Alexandra Tyng]

Marcus, that's really a tough situation if you cannot get at least one photo session with your subject. Did the liason officer give a reason why he would not permit it? If portraiture is not common in Singapore, he might not realize what is involved. Many people think that the artist can work magic!

I can see where you would be tempted to work from your own features. The photo of yourself has so much more pertinent information in it. However you could pair the head in reference #1 with the planes in reference #2. The building could be flipped horizontally and placed on the right side of the compoition if you need it.

You could photograph yourself wearing a white button-down shirt in the same lighting conditions (from above and our left) as on the officer in reference #1. You will have to use a soft ambient light on your face to mimic the apparent flash that is illuminating the officer's face from the front. Forget trying to duplicate the light on the building as it is now--it's too different from the light on the figure. If you get the light on you as close as you can to the photo you're working from, you won't find yourself using the one of yourself except as a secondary reference and for the shirt.

As for the pthalo blue, I know it's not a popular color these days, but I use it a lot in my landscapes.You have to mix it with a LOT of white! Down near the horizon I also mix it with a tiny bit of cad orange or orange-yellow. because these are, I think, the very best colors for painting light, and the sky is filled with light. Cobalt is a lovely color, best in my opinion for painting distant land, but not so good for indicating light. It goes a bit dead and opaque in skies.

Alex

[Marcus Lim]

Originally Posted by Alexandra Tyng

Marcus, that's really a tough situation if you cannot get at least one photo session with your subject. Did the liason officer give a reason why he would not permit it? If portraiture is not common in Singapore, he might not realize what is involved. Many people think that the artist can work magic!

You're spot-on about how people feel about artists - esp portrait artists. If i have a penny every time i hear "you can draw from just photographs right?"

Like in this case of the officer, the liaison was pretty uptight with the "security issues", and with another reason that "t's a surprise gift for him" thrown in his reasoning, he kept me away from photographing him personally.

So "my photographs only" rule seems to be the mainstay in Singapore, for what's left in the portraiture biz. I'm on the quest to convert people to the right approach for portraiture, and in many ways as an artist i feel like i'm a early Spanish pastor, trying to convert savages into Christianity!

Thanks for your tip on phtalo blue. I feel like a new convert to the use of that color already!

[Allan Rahbek]

Marcus,
This is uphill for sure.
It looks like the references are taken indoor.
The outdoor light is characterized by the light enveloping the figure.

Allan

[Marcus Lim]

Originally Posted by Allan Rahbek

It looks like the references are taken indoor.

Yes, The reference is a studio glamour shot, no doubt at all. I've seen many such "glamour shots" going around in Singapore...in fact they were a rage a few years ago.