CRITIQUE: Gloria, The Director

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Welcome to American Artist's online art critiques. The comments offered here are written by editors, artists, teachers, and critics in response to images sent by subscribers. The purpose is to help those artists, as well as people who read the comments, by offering an expert's review of their pictures.

Please keep in mind that art criticism is completely subjective and reflects the particular point of view of the person offering the critique. Each of us has our own set of standards and experiences, and what one person considers important to the success of a painting another person may believe is incidental. In the end, we must all make our own decisions about the course of action we will pursue. Click on image to enlarge.

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The Director | Gloria

There are probably more drawings created from portrait photographs than from any other source. Everyone wants to utilize their talents to expand the artistic value of emotionally charged photographs of friends or family members?whether they are recent or vintage images.

While many people strive to transfer family photographs into effective graphic drawings, the problems from an artistic point of view are ubiquitous. The drawings usually look stiff, awkward, and unflattering because there are always slight distortions in the drawings or because the sharp reality of the photographs does not translate well into graphite. To combat this problem, the artist should soften some of the lines?particularly those around the eyes, in the mouth, or in the hair. For example, instead of drawing every single tooth visible in the photograph of the mouth, the artist is better off indicating just the top and bottom curve of each tooth and allowing the rest of the teeth to appear as a band of light gray that darkens towards the corners of the mouth.

In the two drawings here, both would benefit from softening in areas of the faces rather than being crisply drawn such as with the hair and lips of the woman and the eyeglasses and shelves of books in the portrait of the man. Furthermore, the artist would find it beneficial to consult a book about drawing faces because it would point out common treatments that help improve drawings. For example, she would learn that while upper lips are drawn with outlines around the entire shape, lower lips are usually indicated by a cast shadow rather than the outline of the shape. Likewise, eyebrows usually blend into the shadows beside the bridge of the nose.

Many of the portrait artists featured in American Artist say they deliberately avoid finishing the areas of their drawings and paintings outside the face, which allows the graphite, charcoal, or paint to be loose and gestured in those peripheral areas. These marks lend a kind of artistic quality to the pictures and remind viewers that the artwork is an interpretation and not a mechanical copy.

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One of the most useful aspects of painting workshops is the personalized critiques offered by knowledgeable instructors. Now you can get this advantage anytime through American Artist Critiques.

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