Thursday, July 5, 2012

"Head Study 070512"

I did this head study from a photo I took today.

Quite a few friends commented that I should talk more detail what I have learned at AAU. I will try my best to do that. The first thing I have learned from Zhaoming's class is the relationship between unity and details. For instance with this head study, before I model the details of the eyes, nose, mouth, and ear, I need to make sure the value are unified to convey the general egg shape of the head. In the light part, The forehead is the brightest, then cheek is a little dimmer, the area above the lips should be even dimmer, and the light area of the chin is much much dimmer. All these value relationships makes the head look solid. Many time when we paint details, we tend to pay attention only on the value difference in a small area and ignore the unity of the entire painting. So the head look flat. This principle applies not only to portrait and figure painting, it applies to all genres.

7 comments:

SharonWrightArtist said...

YOU ARE AMAZING....YOUR PAINTINGS ARE AWSOME!

carol morgan carmichael said...

Wow! So much beautiful progress. Very excited for you and your career. This portrait is a stunner. The grays in the background are a perfect compliment to the warm skin tones. Wow!

Anonymous said...

I hope everyone realizes, we are watching a Master being born, and the fact that Qiang is taking the time, and sharing all his personal thoughts with us. What a thrill it is for all of us. Thank you Qiang!

Unknown said...

Really great portrait. The lighting is powerful and very natural. I look forward to seeing more work!

Lisa Graham said...

This is really really excellent.

MeeLi Lee said...

Thank you for the wonderful art lesson.
Can't wait to apply this to my portraits.

Kathleen said...

Amazing portrait! It is very generous of you to share some of what you are learning. Thank you!!