Saturday, December 10, 2016

Portrait of Us: Rough Sketch 3 with Figures in Center


I am getting started with a new project, a portrait of a couple.  I am going to be working from a vacation photo that shows this couple in Greece, riding motorbikes along the coast (hence the helmets).  So far I have been trying to work out the composition. I am going to modify the composition of the photo a bit, and use a rectangular canvas (14 x 18 inches); I am hoping to give the figures a bit more room, and to have a little space to suggest a bit of background (from their vacation photos). To try out options for the composition, I started by doing a very rough sketch with blue Sharpie on graph paper at half size (7 x 9 inches). I wasn't really working on getting a likeness yet. When I finished the sketch, I photographed it and transferred it into my computer so I could use Painter to move the figures around on the page, and try out a few options for the composition.  The image posted today is the third of three tries, with the figures in the center.  I think I am going to use a version of this composition, though I may shift the figures a bit further to the right, to reduce the need to invent the landscape in the lower right corner. 


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