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The painting, "Mirror, Mirror," was created in
the summer of 2011 as part of a series
of paintings depicting "artists and their art" that started with
my Triple Self Portrait of 2007.
Unlike some of the other paintings that were more conceptual in nature,
this painting
actually depicts the creations of another working artist: Fashion designer
and painter, Helen Gerro.
I therefore had to make sure to get all necessary signed copyright releases
as well as
model release forms signed by the participants.
Helen's fashions were modeled by Amber McKinley.
Here is the composite photograph from which the painting was created.
The painting, "Mirror, Mirror," was developed
from three photographs that I took during two
photo shoots with my model and the costume designer.
The first photo is of the model (Amber) dressed in fashions designed by Helen Gerro.
The second photo is of a clothes rack in the lower left of the painting.
The third is the background image of Helen's studio, showing her working at her sewing maching.
Once I had chosen the particular photos I would work from,
I designed my final composition.
The composite work was produced in Adobe Photoshop.
This image was then gridded in Photoshop and a matching grid was produced
on my canvas.
I grid my images using an "X Grid."
In order to use this kind of grid, your photo reference
must be the same height to width ratio as
the canvas you will use. For instance, a 3"x4" photo can easily
be gridded for a 30"x40" canvas.
The canvas is simply 10 times larger. Or a 4"x6" standard photo
can work with a 20"x30" canvas
which is 5 times the size of the reference. As long as the same number is
being multiplied by the
height and width of the reference to equal the height and width of the canvas,
this will be an equal ratio.
If this ratio is not equal, then your finished drawing (and painting) will
be distorted either
vertically or horizontally.
Once I know that my ratios are correct and I have the appropriately
sized canvas ready to go,
I can then begin my grid pattern. On the photo, since I am working digitally,
I can produce
this grid in photoshop on a transparent layer placed over my photograph.
I begin a grid by selecting the pencil tool in photoshop
and giving it a 1 or 2 point line in
bright red (which usually shows up well against any photo). I use the ruler
tool to place
my pencil tool at the exact top left corner and click. While holding down
the Shift Key
(I'm working on a Mac, so some keys may differ if you're on a PC), I move
to the bottom
right corner and click again. The program creates a perfect diagonal through
the image
from corner to corner. I then repeat this process from the top right corner
to the lower left.
See image 1 below.
From there I can find the exact center of the image. I place
the pencil at center, hold down the Shift Key,
and drawing horizontally to produce a line through the middle of the image
from side to side. I do the same
from the center of the image in a vertical direction. This now gives me
four equal quadrants of the image.
See image 2 above.
I can then click from the points where my vertical/horizontal
cross meets the edge. Top, right, bottom, and
left are clicked while holding the Shift Key. Again, the program produces
perfect Xs through each quadrant.
See image 3 above.
I can then find the center of each quadrant and create vertical
and horizontal lines through them.
See image 4 above.
The process is repeated to complete Xs through each of these
sixteen boxes, creating a 4x4 box grid
with an X through each box. This is my standard grid.
See image 5 above.
If I have a large painting, or one with areas of greater
complexity (a face or hand, etc) then I can continue
to grid down to progressively smaller boxes and Xs in any given area.
See image 6 above.
I then reproduce this same grid on my canvas and it becomes
my guide to reproduce an accurate drawing
of my image. Here is the finished drawing on canvas for Mirror, Mirror.
And here is a close-up of the model's face where you can clearly see the grid and my drawing.
I tend to use an orange or light brown watercolor pencil
to produce the grid so that the color can be
distinquished from my drawing. The color also blends easily into the next
stage of my painting,
as you will see.
I do the drawing in a 4H graphite pencil. The reason for
this is to give me a light, clean line that
will not produce excessive dust than can mix with my paints and muddy the
colors.
Now let's move onto the fun stuff and see how I begin the painting...
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