Your Hero and Mine

AAC Cadet Leader · 8 November 2006, 06:41 AM

aac,
i quite agree with you about the pants being too white. i saw those pants in person and he had more grease stains on them than you've shown here. after all, that man lived, ate, breathed and slept old aeroplanes. and your portrait just doesn't convey that yet - keep working at it. you've got his proportions right and the weight of his hips shifting to his right side - that is convincing. but the highlighted lines on the boots - although they are in the right places on the wrinkles of the leather, they are too stark in contrast to the dark ground around them. i think tou need to add some highlights to the grass around the boots where the sun would also be hitting it.
oh and his face - keep working at it. i know his eyes were deep set and hard to see, but... something's not right.

signed,
your ole pal

AAC Cadet Leader · 8 November 2006, 06:45 AM

ole pal,
do you always talk to yourself?

aac

AAC Cadet Leader · 8 November 2006, 06:47 AM

no, not always. you know, art is a lonely business. i mean, you sit there painting for hours on end in your studio (nice as it is and all), but you are all alone, conversing in your head with yourself and with the guy in your painting.
then you get home, turn on your computer and say something to your friends out there in the world, (sadly seldom getting to meet them in person)...but they are there for you. usually that is. and it is enough to keep you inspired. enough to keep you going back day after day to that lonely quiet studio for more hours on end without any human contact.
so sad.

AAC Cadet Leader · 8 November 2006, 04:58 PM

aac
you are an odd one, talking to yourself on a public forum. how do you expect people to take you seriously?

btw, i think cole would've liked your portrait, but do work more on the face.

o.p.

AAC Cadet Leader · 9 November 2006, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAC Cadet Leader

aac
you are an odd one...

well, sure. but hey, why be normal?

Quote:

btw, i think cole would've liked your portrait, but do work more on the face.

roger wilco.

AAC Cadet Leader · 9 November 2006, 07:53 AM

hey aac, ever think of switching to oderless turpentine?

FliegerJG1 · 9 November 2006, 08:12 AM

AAC....what's happening.....has it become too lonely???? Oh my... Here I am to offer some support or just thread conversation. I'd agree with you on some points....pants too white....face needs work.....it looks too fleshy to me...maybe more work will pull it together.....

Know what you mean about turpentine....didn't some artist die from the effects of lead in his paint???? Like when he held the brush in his mouth???

Paint safely dear friend!

FliegerJG1

AAC Cadet Leader · 9 November 2006, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AAC Cadet Leader

hey aac, ever think of switching to oderless turpentine?

why, whatever are you suggesting by that comment ole pal?

Romani · 9 November 2006, 08:23 AM

AAC Leader

I don't know wich of your split personalities I am addressing, but whoever it is, tell the other one doing the painting that the work looks great!

Don't retouch the chin, don't aim for photo realism, if that's what you want, switch to airbrushing !

I think the face is great, he looks a bit like Marlon Brando in the Godfather

The left hand lying on the fuselage is very well. the skin tone in the arms... well, either the right arm along his side has been burned in some nasty accident, or the left outstretched arm needs more suntanning.

I don't think the pants are too white... consider he would have put a clean pair to pose for the portrait !

The biggest problem is the feet, the stark highlights you mentioned can be fixed later, the problem is that the feet are too small and the pose is not right. Best Idea I can come up is to take a pair of boots , stuff them with paper and set up a rig so you can study the pose and correct the painting.

If that's soft ground, the boots should sink a little on it, and grass obscure the outline a bit.. adding footprints around is probably too much, but try to blend the feet with the terrain so it looks like he's really standing and not hovering.

Composition and colors are great... other than fixing the feet, you may want to retouch the left leg so the bent knee is shown under the cloth, making the cloth getting taut over the thigh.. but don't really know how loose or tight fighting those riding breeches are, so it's your call.

And I would like some of that turpentine you are smelling, sounds like fun!

Hope this helps and doesn't make you feel so lonely in your studio. I am sure a lot of people are paying attention to your painting in progress!

AAC Cadet Leader · 9 November 2006, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FliegerJG1

AAC....what's happening.....has it become too lonely???? Oh my... Here I am to offer some support or just thread conversation. I'd agree with you on some points....pants too white....face needs work.....it looks too fleshy to me...maybe more work will pull it together.....

Know what you mean about turpentine....didn't some artist die from the effects of lead in his paint???? Like when he held the brush in his mouth???

Paint safely dear friend!

FliegerJG1

Flieger! My other ole buddy!

been gettin waay lonely here.