Class Demo, Portraits

Fabulous!

Who is that handsome man?

for me its more easy to paint portraits

Thank you Abbie.

I don't know Dorothy but he's eating my food and sleeping with my wife so call the Police. 😕

I don't know what you mean digital...

Landscapes are easier for me. Wish I could have been in your class... did you work from a photograph, or a mirror?

Hiya Cheryl,

I painted it from a print I made of my Avatar. I always work from photographs. I guess it's because of my years of working as an illustrator in NYC.

A portrait demo is always the most thrilling for me...I was raised on them in High School, every Friday....helped me to choose this way of life.
Your students are lucky, indeed, Hal!

Harold,
Almost all of my "people" drawings are sketches of live models. Portraiture scares me because people react to portraits more or less the same way they react to other peoples' photos of them... it's way too easy to accidentally make people feel like they look ugly or aren't captured in the picture.

Maybe I should try doing a some portraits from photos...but they would have to be good photographs or I doubt if the end product painting would be very good. Working from photos is usually a "garbage in - garbage out" proposition, in my experience.

Thank you Marlene. Like you I was always mesmerized by portrait demonstrations. Whenever my buddy, Charles Moran went on portrait commissions I usually tagged along to learn something.

Cheryl I always try to paint from photographs that I took. That way they will be good enough to paint from, such as lighting, details and drama. Also I try to keep my client in the mix by sending him low resolutions of the shot that I will be painting from. That way there aren't any surprises.

Great work Harold. One day I hope to paint portraits but for now, just birdies and fishies!

Its just easy to paint portrait

Lovely work Harold.

Digital, easy does not mean good!

Very good Harold, such talent, I am a portrait photographer, so I am aware of what it take to make a good portrait, painting one is a whole new ball game!!

"Digital, easy does not mean good!"
+1

TL Mair
tlmair.com

Thank you Phyllis.

Digital or whatever your name is - how old are you?

Thank you Karen.

TL I have been doing portraits since I was a teenager. I even sat on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Md and on Bleeker St in Greenwich Village, NYC doing quick study portraits - hundreds and hundreds of them. With all that experience the most important thing I learned was, I have so much to learn.

Its depend what do you call "good" for me photo realsitic portrait wich painted from photo is not good :)

Superb!

Thank you very much JL.

Hal,

I love to see that determined spirit that shines through this marvelous painting.

It's YOU to a tee.

Thank you Roger. It was the first painting I did after my hands healed from that dumb Poison Sumac infection.

Excellent work, Harold!!! I can totally appreciate this, as I did in the vicinity of 1500 pastel portraits live (commission only) at a high-end resort some years ago. Had to get them done in no more than 45 minutes! Talk about intense execution, especially doing portraits of kids. Definitely forces one to sharpen their drawing skills. I've now switched to landscapes and wildlife, which are indeed easy, relaxing, and there's lots of wiggle room--currently in progress. Love your work.

Stunning portrait Harold! Your students are very fortunate to have you as their teacher and mentor. Thanks for posting this wonderful thread.

I think it looks great! When I took drawing in college we had to do a number of self portraits. I guess that was so we'd only offend ourselves if it didn't look right. :-) I still do the occasional portrait but I usually use a photo to work from.

Thank you Sarah. Like you I drew a lot of those quick portraits and they taught me what to concentrate on when doing a portrait and what not to concentrate on - because of the time restriction. I agree with you about that wiggle room when doing landscapes.

Hiya Jimmy,
What I usually say to my students is I'm sharing with them what I have learned from the professionals I have had the privilege to working with all these years. In this case I have been called a name dropper.

Thank you MM. There is nothing wrong with using photographs as reference. That is my preferred way of working since I am a studio artist.

Harold..great work as always!

Ever tried to paint a self portrait (selfie) by looking in a mirror?

Thank you Vincent and how ya been? Good to hear from you again. When I was teenager and couldn't afford a decent camera I drew a few selfies from a mirror. But now that I have a Nikon camera and great computers I prefer doing my art using them as my backup and comp work.

59 years ago, at Cooper Union, NYC..after hours, a bunch of us would take turns having the others draw each of us.

Here is one of my prize possession, a sketch of this 21 year old .

In fact I've just came in contact after all these years with this fine artist , Gunnel Torling Gyllenhoff.

She is still active, creating beautiful art as we speak.

Hiya Roger,
My Uncle John Serroway went to the Coopers Union way back in the early 40s. It's his hands on the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. Mr. French, who carved the statue, admired my Uncle John's bony hands and used them for reference. My uncle was a 6'5" tall Swede who wanted to be a sculptor but lack of money, which seemed to be a problem with everybody in those days and wanting to start a family, kept him from his goals.

BTW I think her name was Gunnel Trolling Gyllenhoff. Real pretty and talented lady.

That is excellent, for them and you! What fun the class must be!! :)

Hiya Georgia,

Thank you. I try to keep all my classes as informative and fun filled as possible. Last week my students were invited to my home for a scanning and photoshop demonstration. Included with the demonstration were cookies, drinks and my usual jokes.😀😜😂😛

Very sloppy work, Harold. I don't know how you could bring yourself to post such a horrendous, quick effort. It looks nothing like you, as it shows a clear lack of skill, almost zero consciousness of skin tones, poorly executed hair texture, ... hardly more than a kindergarten rendition of a cartoon character. (^_^)

yeah, that's it, ... keep on coming in here and putting us to shame.

Harold...thank you for answering. The mirror thing is the most difficult thing to do live. One has to take their eyes off the mirror to work and back & forth. If you draw your own hand...well that's easy to do.

I used to do many Conte on paper portraits live while traveling cross country and stopping in bars and resorts needing gas money. The training was great eye/hand work for me and attention to detail with balance all at the same time ........people were watching. As a shy individual it was stressful. I do not know if I could do it today as it is back breaking work.

I'm out of my league here, so I'm leaving. Maybe I'll come back in the next life, when I reincarnate as Rubens.

Really excellent stuff, Harold S.

Thanks Robert. I really appreciate that... I think. 😐

Vincent, I know what you mean. When my wife and I got married we were broke. Neither one of our families had any money so we were living from paycheck to paycheck. Anyway the reason we always went to Ocean City, Md. for our vacations was I had a standing invitation from Irv Finnifer who had a portrait store right on the boardwalk. I would sit in that store 3 or 4 days and make enough money for Janice and me to have a two week vacation in Ocean City. She never minded me doing the portraits because it gave her enough time to lay on the beach and get a tan. And I didn't mind looking at Janice with a tan.😜

This is what Janice looked like when we got married.

I'm

Harold........what a beautiful movie star style couple you and Janice are! Have not heard the name Janice since high school. I know some Janets but Janice's are rare.

You see the cartoon sketch artists(caricature) today at festivals. They make good money. I could not do that however...can you?

Yes Vincent, I did too many carricatures too count here. Here's one I did of FAAs Barbara Keith.

She is cute Harlod is your wife ?

Harold, it's brilliant!

Yes Digital, she is still my wife after 48 years of putting up with me.

Sorry Vincent.

How is Barbara lately?

Thanks Vincent. The last I heard she's hanging in there but she has had some pretty bad days.

I know she is a cancer survivor. Barbara's success as an animal illustrator and artist is amazing!

Excellent portrait! Your students are very lucky to have you as their teacher.

Your wife is lovely. I like her name too! :)

Congratulations on your long marriage.

Vincent, when Barbara asked me to do this she told me she was unhappy with people feeling sorry for all the time. So she asked me to do an uplifting and numerous portrait of her to help people stop feeling sad every time they thought of her. The result was this carricatures I drew of her.

Thank you Janice... I feel like I'm talking to my wife.😀

You got the job don very well Harold.

Very sorry

Thanks Vincent but what are you sorry about?