Gesso Portrait Cast Study Drawing Florence Italy

Cari Amici,

Here are some images of the man I will be thinking about most of this summer. I miss him already, but had to stop working on him so that the painting workshop with Martinho Correia could begin. My man is the (oh-so-) late banker for the famous Medici family and my mission (which I have chosen to accept) is to create a drawing of the gesso (plaster) copy of the portrait sculpture by Donatello. The original sculpture is a terra cotta with colored glazes in the Bargello, Florence, Italy’s beloved sculpture museum (and I understand a former prison). I have always been drawn to this work, but barely recognized it all in white gesso.

Here you can see my set up with my drawing next to the plaster cast. Shadows are created by hanging stuff between the light source and the art in a manner that gives desired or at least interesting results. I am using the sight-size method, which means, among other things, that I will be getting plenty of exercise. I stand away from my drawing at some specific point, usually around three times the depth of the original. I decide upon a “click-in” spot to help me view my work and the original from the same angle each time. From this vantagepoint, I look and study. I make relationships. Then I advance to make a mark on the paper. Retreating, I realign my stance and check this mark. A lot of pacing, but the results are great training for the eye.



This particular project seems sexier to me than my other charcoal drawings. This time I am using a grey Roma paper with not only black charcoals, but also white pastels. The image above shows the grey paper with only the black added. The image below shows the beginning of the addition of white. I am using a Rembrandt white pastel, since it is the whitest I have found thus far. This technique gives me a better tonal range possible in the drawing. Mmm mmm mmmmmm



The idea of using the grey paper is to incorporate more of the paper into the design. White and black should never meet. There should always be some grey between, no matter how little. Otherwise, I will get mud. Thus far, I am in love and I intend to feed that love until I can get back to him in September.

In the meantime, I am designing some sculptures. Stay tuned . . . same bat channel.

Drawing Portrait of Anthony

As I may have mentioned before, I feel weak in the area of portraiture and want to improve this. Several of my artists friends and I model for each other to help us in our drawing of faces. Anthony (pronounced “Ant – ton- ee”) was the latest sitter. Here you will see my finished drawing in charcoal, as well as steps in the process.



It should be apparent that after my initial drawing on the Roma paper, my shapes are wrong. I try to correct them in the outline stage because it is much easier to move a line than an area of tone. But once I have my tonal drawing, my errors become more evident.
In this case, I felt that I had a decent likeness in line, but once I filled in the shapes with carboncino, I lost something. But redrawing is an intellectual pleasure!

I hope you enjoy this portrait. This one took me about 6 hours to accomplish, for those interested in such things. Of course, this does not take into account how much training I have been doing to be able to create a drawing! One foot in front of the other . . .

Sight Size Method of Drawing

One goal of some 2-dimensional artists is to try to create the illusion of 3-dimensions on their flat surface. It is done with tone, the relative range of a color from lights to darks.



In these images of my study in charcoal of a plaster sculpture cast of an ear, you can see my basic set-up, as well as the finished work. I used the Sight Size Method of Drawing to create this cast. In this case, my easel with board and Roma charcoal paper are placed directly next to the subject I am drawing – namely, a white plaster cast of a sculpted ear hung on a grey board. One light falls on both original and drawing.

In the Sight Size Method, I actually make my observations from about two meters away. Then I walk up to my paper and make a mark. Backing up again to my same spot (which is marked by tape on the floor), I check my mark before approaching again to make the next one. It is a lot of pacing, but with my energy level, this tends to be calming for me. However, it does take getting used to because you must keep your eye on the intended target on the paper as you move in, knowing that as you approach the paper, your point of view will change and so will the perceived location of your intended mark.

With the Sight Size Method, the idea is to place the easel so that the drawn image lines up horizontally with the subject being portrayed. In this case, I want to make a drawing that is 100% the size of the original, so I must place my drawing surface on the same vertical plane as the original. If I were drawing from a live model and wanted to draw a figure smaller than life size, my easel would be moved much closer to my viewing position until my intended size appeared to be the same size as the actual model. And I would horizontally align the bottom of the model’s feet to the bottom of my drawing’s feet. I would then align the head of the model with the head of my drawing. And then draw, continuing to record these kinds of relationships.

Anyway, there is more to it than that, but I hope you understand the basic concept. You may be interested to note that I was unable to get my camera’s tripod high enough to mimic what my eye saw while creating this charcoal drawing. In the photograph, I am actually looking UP at the cast. The viewpoint is different from the one that I drew. And, for the close-up “final drawing” shot, I lowered the drawing on the easel to photograph it by itself. That means that the light source was that much further away, meaning that my drawing is seen with less light on it. The tones will not appear to match the original object, not only because of the limitations of photography, but also because of the paper. The Roma paper is simply not as white as the plaster cast original. And the compressed charcoal (used in the cast shadow) cannot get as dark as the real object’s shadow. Hence, in my drawing, the tones are compressed because of the limited range of the materials used.



It may also interest you that since I am in Italy studying design, including seeing real forms in the terms of abstract shapes, I do not see my drawing as depicting an ear. On one level, of course, I know that I have drawn an ear. But for a long time now, all I have been able to register in my brain are abstract shapes, such as the bird, a distorted infinity sign, and a comma turned 90 degrees.

Now, all I need to do is find an ear doctor who would like to purchase this drawing for the office! (Oh, and sign the work . . . )

Sara – A Drawing In Charcoal

Today has been somewhat of a catch-up day. It has been very cold in Firenze. As such, I have begun to organize and archive some of my images. That includes my progress images of current projects, such as my carboncino drawing of a model named Sara.

Here I have posted five images of my drawing of Sara’s head at various stages. I am spending three hours per day with the model, starting on 22 October. And I am moving very slowly since I am trying to learn a lot and not just produce a drawing.

You can see that each day the head has changed. There is something that I like about each one, although (honestly) there is something that I prefer in the first disegno. The problem with her was that the head was too small for the body. Because I am pushing myself, I chose to completely erase the head and observe fresh rather than simply trying to make all of my drawn features larger.

The first four images are of my cartoon. The cartoon tends to be just regular drawing paper and is where the artist creates the design. The less expensive paper gives the artist the freedom to make mistakes and change one’s mind. Once satisfied, the cartoon image is transferred onto the quality, toothed paper that will accept the charcoal medium, as described a bit in a previous blog.

The last image is of charcoal on the Roma paper. I wanted my drawing to fill the paper, so I took my original drawing to a copy shop and had her enlarged a wee bit. Then I used tracing paper to transfer my disegno. This method allows my original to not be harmed, although in this case I did not transfer from my original drawing. Anyway, the charcoal is faint because while I am going over my lines and pushing the charcoal I have drawn on the underside of the tracing paper onto the Roma paper, I am trying not to emboss the Roma paper.