Charcoal portrait

Martin_J_Crane

A former partner of mine recently retired and I was asked to do a portrait of him based on a reference photo. As you can see, the photo had some good qualities but was pretty overexposed on one side. Since it was a surprise, it was all I had to work with. Anyway, here's the photo and the drawing. I'm looking forward to attempting a portrait painting soon!

jcdr

Really nice drawing. There's a lot more in the sketch than the photo. Well done!

Martin_J_Crane

opnwyder

I love the way you've overcome the obvious shortcomings of the photo. I would suggest you consider removing the strong reflection highlights from the glasses entirely. In my opinion, they are just another shortcoming of the photo and one that you could easily remove. Your representation of the glass is so convincing that it certainly doesn't need the reflective glare and it's more a distraction than anything. It's great either way, but that's my thinking.

Martin_J_Crane

Thanks guys! @opnwyder, too late! Unless I head over to his house and take it off the wall like Whistler supposedly did with one of his paintings... :-D

opnwyder

HA! Well, as I said, it's great either way, nice work!

Ronna

That is really nice Martin.

jlsteinmetz

Looks great. A lot more life in your drawing than in the photo.

tjs

I love charcoal drawings. What a wonderful tribute and it couldn't have been drawn by a better artist! Congratulations on a great portrait. I agree with Jlsteinmetz, it is way better than the reference photo ^:)^

Martin_J_Crane

Thanks very much! I hope to post a painted portrait soon.

shirley_seput

Martin this is great!! :-bd

gfish

=D>

paul_s

Great drawing, so sensitive how you make the tone of the paper work, and how you have used its texture. Love it.