ISCA monthly competition..Nelson Mandela

Cropping can have a definite effect on the success of a piece. I had done a quick Ebony pencil sketch of Mandela's head and shoulders, which I scanned into Photoshop. Then I did some painting, but something wasn't working for me...til I cropped it tightly to emphasize his serene gaze:

Here you can see the preliminary stages.

The pencil sketch on the right had some problems (mainly his eye positioning and cheek widths) which I fixed on the next step. Generally, nowadays my under-sketch just needs to be 'in the ballpark' and I do the refining as I go along. When I was a kid, along with many other aspiring artists, I'd rush to get to the fun stuff---the details-- before making sure the foundations of the drawing were solid. Guess I still have a little of that mindset!

Update 4-1-11: My Mandela took second place in a field of twelve entries! The other winners were Euan McTavish and Jan Opdebeeck. The judge was 2009 Golden Nosey winner Glenn Ferguson, who offered this feedback:
2nd Place: Emily Anthony! The likeness on this was perhaps the best overall, and it hobbles the fence between caricature and portraiture, it really "feels" like Mandella, which is what I always preach to beginning caricaturists. The mouth for me is the strongest point, and I like the cropping you did in the end. My only critique is that it feels a little like a floating head. I'd love to see a hint of a neck or shoulders underneath him.

ISCA forum's February challenge winner...

...was my digital caricature of Sarah Palin!

Moderator Klaas Opdebeeck posted the results on the ISCA forum yesterday: 

February Challenge: The results!

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Hey! Although there weren't a lot of submissions this month, I still want to congratulate everyone who did participate!!
For this month I asked Jason Seiler to choose the winner, so here is his top three, which comes together with some honest feedback.

Quote:

1. Emily Anthony. I think Emily had the strongest likeness . . . . she also captured "character" which is equally important. 2. Glenn Ferguson. 3. Euan Mactavish.

Congratulations to all 3 and especially to Emily Anthony!!! 

There were some completely phenomenal entries, so I was very surprised and honored.  The judge was Jason Seiler, illustrator, teacher for Schoolism, and past ISCA Golden Nosey winner. Thank you, Klaas and Jason, and congrats to Glenn and Euan as well! The winner receives an caricature oil painting by Klaas, so I will have to send him some current photos of me soon. :-)

Sarah and the Neanderthals...part 2

I'm still working on Sarah and her friend for the ISCA February challenge:

This is about half done, I'm going for a watercolor look (it's digital).

RPatz-round 2

Thanks to some excellent critiques from colleagues on the ISCA forum, I made some subtle adjustments with a 6B pencil to my Robert Pattinson sketch...compare to my previous post. And I am still looking for my watercolor pencils!

First drawing of 2011

The ISCA forum is lucky to have a new artist/moderator, Klaas Op De Beeck, take over the monthly drawing contest that has been dormant for awhile. He chose RPatz as the first subject, and so far some of the other entrants (and I concur) have remarked on how difficult he is. People who have symmetrical faces tend to be hard to exaggerate and keep a likeness. My own style is not one of big distortions, but I found him tough as well.
This is my first drawing of 2011, done with a humble 2B pencil. For the next version, I am going to dust off my watercolor pencils, as Klaas suggested we try different media to get out of our  comfort zones.