Traditional Art - National Portrait Gallery #5

 

The portrait I’d chosen to take inspiration from was a self-portrait by Arthur Hughes (1851). I chose this piece because I liked the simplicity of it- the colour act as key contrast points and shadows rather than accents or enhancements to an already tonally correct piece. The main forms of the face are achieved by a single shade of colour, leaving the brightest highlights to the white of the page. I also liked how there are highlights in the hair with a use of orange- whether this is intentional or due to the age of the painting I’m unsure but I felt it added an intriguing aspect to the piece.

In my work I tried to imitate the use of colour to act as shadows, making the forms of the face. I left the highlights of the skin to the lightness of the paper and focused on trying to keep my shadows uniform. I was using a different medium (coloured pencils) than Arthur Hughes so trying to stay consistent was a bit trickier however I felt I was able to capture the forms well through darkening down my colours, gradually lightening them around heightened areas of skin. I could improve upon my blending on portions like the hair- I tried to imitate how the hair in Arthur Hughes’ piece seemed more broken up but with pencil it didn’t really convey too well so I could’ve diverted from my inspiration that and done something more convenient for aesthetic value.