Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Rafael Eledge Portrait Begins

At the first meeting with Mr. Eledge, I took hundreds of photographs in various poses.  But, as we all know photographs lie.  Not only does the camera add 10 pounds, it distorts shapes (especially foreshortening) and the colors you see are not translated very well by the camera lens.  So, instead of getting back to my studio and wondering what color his hair actually was when the camera is showing me all sorts of blues and reds, I take the extra time to do a color card. 
I actually sit and mix the colors I am seeing and place them onto a gessoed piece of illustration board.  I take a pen or pencil and write beneath the color swatch, just what I used to mix the color samples.  Now, when my photo shows me a dull gray for eye color, I can refer to the color card for the actual colors I saw. 

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