'Jerry' and 'Tom'

'Jerry,' a value study, oils on canvas board,  9" x 12"

JD's head has been
added to my wall
AFTER softening some edges,
 hardening some edges and
losing some entirely.

 This is 'Jerry.' I spotted him and his friend 'Tom' at the neighborhood diner.  Pretending to be figuring out how my camera worked, I snapped their photo.  I liked the look of good friends. I liked the red glass on the bar in front of them with the brilliant, bluish backlighting. I tend to photograph subjects backlighted often.  The results are a challenge to balance in Photoshop, yet I keep doing it.  I either have to consciously choose seats at the bar with better lighting or learn to deal with what backlighting does to skin tones. 

Both value studies were done quickly--an hour or two--with value accuracy and edges in mind.  Tom taught me how many more sketches I have to do to get where I want to go with both.   Jerry's monochrome scheme was much more comfortable to do.  With Tom, I tried Holbein The Younger's pink underlay to see if a mid-tone flesh tones simplified the value dance.   I can't decide if it confuse me or it helped.  A mid tone pinkish flesh tone certainly made more sense. There were a lot more soft
edges with Jerry and Tom than with Johnny Depp. Depp was mostly hard edged.  The harsh, overhead lighting made him that way.




'Tom', A value study, oils on canvas board, 9" x 12"

I noticed with both of these sketches, that they got better when I got aggravated with how things were going. I guess I free up when I think I've screwed up? The Schmid lesson here is the importance of practice, practice, practice.