A sample of comis-sioned portrait after a photo... I prefer to work from BW photos because their are giving me the major features of the model but allow me to be creative concerning the color...This one is 9" x 12" acrylic ink and watercolor on 3000g Strathmore paper... Contact me if you wish to comission a portrait. I'm open for business...
5 comments:
That is a great idea to ask for a black and white photo, to give yourself the freedom to color your portrait as you like. But then I guess you have to ask the person what color his/her hair is, and the eyes. More than one of my sitters have asked me to rectify those because they were "wrong". I made their brown hair too light or, more often, their black hair too black or curly when it should have been straight.
100swallows
Yes, I prefer to work after BW photos ... Your sister doesn't sound like the type of clients I would like (I mean, we see ourselves always better a bit than we really are... and a stranger's vision of us coulb be quite unpleasant...) I cannot guaraty more than 85-90 % likeness...
More than that, what I try to do is not a photographical reproduction of a person (photography can do that a lot better, no?) but, if possible, a work of art. something that will last hundreds and hundreds of years, when the "likeness" with the model will be quite imaterial... So, if somebody whant a work of art I'm their man. If they want just a flattering quasi-photo-reproduction they can ask those from the Daily Painters Gallery... (I'm mean, eh?)
sorry for all those typing mistakes...
I really like that 85-90% likeness concept. I can hear it now, "Hey, that nose does not look like my baby. It kinda looks like a little rat nose." "Sorry, that would be falling in the 88% area. Maybe you could change his name to Rattatoie."
Even if you have a color photo it is not the correct color. And finally even if you have the person in front of you it is damn difficult to get the color correct.
Stick with the black and white. If they complain about the color - tell them it is in the 87% region, they are shit out of luck, deal with it.
I have found this type of customer relations cuts down on the tips and referrals so I don't have to paint as much and can concentrate on getting my housework done.
You are certainly right, Bill! Unfortunatelly I don't have that many portrait comissions and so the problem isn't really pressing... But I'll stick with the B&W mostly...
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