Potraits Are Difficult

It takes a lot of practice to get good at portraits.

A portrait can have all the features nailed and be absolutely perfect, and still the overall picture might look nothing like the subject. It's a strange phenomenon and I'm not sure what causes it, but practice does help! If I remember correctly, back in college I decided that it takes 12 portraits to get over the hump. After 12 portraits, it is possible to make one that actually resembles the subject.

(Not 12 of the same portrait; 12 portraits in general. Practice.)

(Don't ask me where I came up with the number 12 or if that works for everyone. I'm an artist, not a scientist!)

So anyway, I'm not sure what made me decide to tackle a portrait in my Second Official Pastel Sketch. I'm really not sure what made me decide to paint my son, because as it turns out it's harder to paint my offspring than it is to paint myself! I know really well what he looks like, and I know really well exactly what about this portrait does not look like him!

Still, I think it came out pretty cool. I am using some fairly cheap pastel paper (Canson Mi-Tientes) and kind of regretting it. I'm not big on the texture the paper is providing here. I'm also not big on the color of the paper... I think it's too cool for Jarrod's skin tone, so I had to kind of fight it rather than let it work for me. Oh well!

I'll probably stop buying the cheap stuff once I run out and/or become satisfied that my pastel pieces are actual full-fledged paintings instead of being merely sketches.

If I get the energy to put more pastel to this piece, I might try to fill in his outfit so it looks less like a floating head and more like a complete little boy. :)