Painting With Xara X #3

[LogoVend]

After my success with my self portrait I decided to spend all day doing another one because my girlfriend (a graphic design as well) was working all day - http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

BTW this is not my girlfriend - this is just a friend. And it's a work in progress.
http://www.logovend.com/host/rosasofar.jpg

[Availor]

Nice work, how long does it take you retracing a photo?

[LogoVend]

this piece of work took me about 4 hours so far. and it's not just re-tracing - there is some artistic skill involved in the work as well.

[John Rayner]

Another very nice one James... but not photorealistic... Multiply the time by 10 to get everything just right... http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Availor]

I like it.

James, think of just retracing a photo so it takes less time, and advertise yourself - people like to be drawn like that, and will pay you good money for it!

[LogoVend]

@ John :

The image is not meant to be photorealistic - who said it was? If you want photorealism ... erm ... perhaps just use or take a photo. Everybody is taking about trying to photorealistic things why Xara why? Nope this work is meant to be a rt, apainting, my friend, where you put some thought into how you want the picture to look - a style, a feeling that comes through of the way you have represented the person in the way you are portraying them.

@ Availor :

Don't worry, a friend and I (he works in oils), have already planned to start a venture doing this. At present I am just getting a portfolio together of different styles (you'll see my last one was totally different in style) to put on a website and we already have one commission for work.

As I said it's not just retracing a photo. For a start most people can't take a photo to save their life. There needs to be a certain amount of thought and skill into how you're going to capture a person in the first instance before just simply retracing it and then you need to put thought into how that is going to best sum up the person. For example with Rosa, she's a short girl, so I thought I would put some kind of different perspective on it and also she's a bright and bubbly spanish girl so I thought keep the colours bright. It's not just draw some shapes round a photo and use the eye-dropper. If you were to see the series of photos I worked from (it wasn't just one) you'd see that the colours are totally different and also it's not just from one image. But there again the skill is always what goes on behind the scenes - the viewer just sees a good or bad picture, a picture they like or don't like.

[John Rayner]

Hi James,

I knew it was not meant to be photo-realistic. It is artistic, and shows the skill and talent of the artist. Typically, the more "artistic" the picture is, the less time it takes to create it. An example on the extreme side would be some of Risto's portraits for taking minimal time. On the other end of the spectrum is sarah X... Now that image took some time.

[LogoVend]

What's your obsession with how long it takes to do a picture - it's a rediculas as a standpoint because it neither takes away or adds the artisic element of any picture - it's like saying how much is it work - it's so abstract as to have no meaning. Before you sit down to do some work do you have ideas about said piece of work / art or ideas about how long it's going to take? Nuff Said!

[Grafixman]

John, you really need to cure yourself of this fixation to Sarah X http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif. I think even Valery is moving on to other things, experimenting with different styles. Photorealism isn't everything, as James said. You can use a camera for that. With the avalanche of art produced these days, finding a style that's distinctive is more important.

[RTK]

Great job, James.

It's going to be awesome! Hey, it looks like you are almost there. The perspective is a bit unusal, and it's fun - the details on her blouse adds colour and "interest" as well.

I'm a with LogoVend about the questions of photo-realism. What's the point of taking a portrait photo and trying to copy it, to look almost as good in vectors? Except for the technical (personal) challenge perhaps? Which by the way, doesn't take a way from the accomplishment (which we all can admire).

I think this portrait works just fine. Her character comes across very nicely, wouldn't you say?

Drawing in general is (always) a simplification - a two dimensional depiction of something in three dimentions. Good artists know what to include/exclude, create good compositions, decides on colour (and texture) that works - for the intended purpose.

John: Typically, the more "artistic" the picture is, the less time it takes to create it.
--- If you by "artistic" mean images with "little detail/stylized" them, yes, they probably take less time to put together. But as James said, time by itself means nothing in the picture itself - it simply works or it doesn't.

If you look at the work of professional illustrators in a magazine like Communication Arts - there are all kinds of styles represented. I have no idea which pieces took the least, or most amount of time. Some really clever (but stylized) ones probably took longer working out the idea (and nailing the composition), than creating the final image. Example - Working out the idea: 8 hours (with an overzealous art director http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif) and actually creating the final piece: 1 hour... So how long did it take? 1 hour or 9 hours?

John: An example on the extreme side would be some of Risto's portraits for taking minimal time.
--- Not that I have drawn many portraits... (and I'm not completely happy with any of them). This is my favourite (Russell Crowe in Gladiator) - http://www.ristoklint.com/famous-peo...sell-crowe.htm It doesn't get much simpler than that!

And right now, I don't always have all the "time" I need - so I squeeze out what I can with the time I have. And no, this doesn't mean that I would try to tackle something as complex as Jame's portrait here (or the incredible Sarah X) even if I had all the time in the world. I don't have the patience or the technical skills - and most importantly, it wouldn't amuse me.

Had I more time - I would simply fine-tune (pretty much) what I do right now, and work out better compositions and fine tune/play with the ideas.