The Grid System and Self Portraiture
Next week we will be using the Grid system to copy a portrait photo to a canvas to paint.
Start with an 8x10" head and shoulders portrait of yourself or someone you want to paint and a 16x20 canvas, a ruler and a watercolor pencil.
Everyone will need to bring a photo to work from- a portrait of you or someone you would like to paint, a ruler and a watercolor pencil, along with your other supplies.
You may want to tone your canvas (not too dark), prior to gridding it to save time later.
While, researching a better way to explain the grid process, I came across this YouTube Demo which is almost what we are doing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Bz-6Mg_Qw
The difference is that we are NOT printing the grid on acetate to place over a photo, but you are welcome to do so if you prefer .
Instead, we are making the grid on the image either in Photoshop or drawing the lines with a colored pencil or thin red Sharpie onto the photo printout, then drawing a grid with a watercolor pencil onto the canvas.
Once we grid our canvas (2' squares) we transpose our gridded (in 1" squares) 8x10" reference photo onto the gridded (in 2" squares) 16x20" canvas to paint
Here are some links to inspire you on self portraits http://www.erincone.com/archive.php
Make sure to look at her early work in this archive as well as later work.
Another artist to look at is Frida Kahlo's self portraits. These are just 2 examples of the many artists who chose to do self portraits in a modern way.
Happy Painting!
Start with an 8x10" head and shoulders portrait of yourself or someone you want to paint and a 16x20 canvas, a ruler and a watercolor pencil.
Everyone will need to bring a photo to work from- a portrait of you or someone you would like to paint, a ruler and a watercolor pencil, along with your other supplies.
You may want to tone your canvas (not too dark), prior to gridding it to save time later.
While, researching a better way to explain the grid process, I came across this YouTube Demo which is almost what we are doing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Bz-6Mg_Qw
The difference is that we are NOT printing the grid on acetate to place over a photo, but you are welcome to do so if you prefer .
Instead, we are making the grid on the image either in Photoshop or drawing the lines with a colored pencil or thin red Sharpie onto the photo printout, then drawing a grid with a watercolor pencil onto the canvas.
Once we grid our canvas (2' squares) we transpose our gridded (in 1" squares) 8x10" reference photo onto the gridded (in 2" squares) 16x20" canvas to paint
Here are some links to inspire you on self portraits http://www.erincone.com/archive.php
Make sure to look at her early work in this archive as well as later work.
Another artist to look at is Frida Kahlo's self portraits. These are just 2 examples of the many artists who chose to do self portraits in a modern way.
Happy Painting!