First Portrait Commission
I've painted a lot of quick head studies, but this is the first time I've accepted a commission for a traditional portrait painting. The subject is Jacquelynne, a person I feel very fortunate to call my friend. Painting this was like fighting a mini war. Had to stay focused for a lot longer than I usually do on a head, and take it to a higher level of finish. It also was a great field test for painting with small tiles of colour (an approach I learned primarily from Morgan Weistling).Anyway, I'm happy to say the portrait was well received!
Oh, and this is 12x16", oil on canvas.
posted by Marco Bucci at 1:28 PM
37 Comments:
Fantastic, man. It's nice to see you could run a little longer distance isn't it? Great eyes!
I've been poking in and out of your blog since a Google Alert I have set notified me that you wrote about Morgan Weistling (when you got his DVD set) and I wondered how a caricaturist would adapt Morgan's teaching.
I have seen a lot of "students of Morgan" claim to have learned great things from him -- no doubt they have -- but this portrait stands out as you having really "gotten it" and applied it well. This is a very strong portrait, great brushwork, values and hues. You should be very proud of this, and accept more portrait commissions with the confidence that, in the end, you will give them an heirloom-quality work of art.
Nice work, man! Great paintings like this are hard work, are they not? ...almost an artistic wrestling match, and you did not let the painting beat you!
Amazing! Like the earlier comment, love the eyes
awesome what you put into this! Fantastic Marco!
WOW Marco! The portrait is amazing! Did she sit still the whole time or you took a photo of her?
Wow,what a great likeness. You are awesome with the oils.
that looks really nice. Its great to able to compare the portrait to the real person:D
well done, sir!
gawd this is beautiful.
geeze man, I'll give you more respect in mario kart!
Marco, holy crap!! Beautiful job.. that is a fantastic portrait.
Mike
Absolutely stunning. You raised to the challenge in a great way. Your friend Jacquelynne must be so happy.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Thanks for commenting guys!
David, thanks a lot for the post (I'm a fan of your blog too, by the way!) Maybe I can address some of your comments. Morgan's DVD (especially his short portrait sketch) really was an excellent demonstration of what can be done with just 5 values. So the key, for me, is to always know which value I'm working in. As you can see from previous posts, I also do lots of studies from the masters to understand how they simplified things like value. In response to the caricature-related question: to me, the only idea that separates (good) caricature from (good) portraiture is the amount of attention you need to pay to the actual shapes on the model. The caricaturist can often observe one or two essential features about the model, or an overall relationship of shapes, and exaggerate that for a likeness (which still requires powerful observation, and considerable drawing skill). The portrait artist is concerned more with revealing precisely how the light falls on the model, and the placement of the forms/masses. I don't want anybody to think I favour one art form over the other. I love both.
A lot of my favourite portrait artists are also great caricaturists (and vice versa), because one really does feed the other. Dan Adel/Tom Fluharty/Jason Seiler are all great examples of that. There are other things to say about painting, of course, but what I took from Morgan is mostly how to control value.
marco,
I have to tell you that im very impressed with this painting, you did a fantastic job, great portrait,
im curious how your going to top this
any how talk to you soon,
your pal,
de Vries
I have a commission to do Nathan, the grandson of Bob, the manager of a Sacramento art supply store (Bob really likes my acrylic work). Nathan is about the same age as Jacquelynne. Anyway, I hope my painting comes somewhat close to the quality of yours. If it does, I may (gulp) post it. Nice work, Marco!
Wonderful portrait Marco!
Really beautiful work, Marco! I can see why it was so well received :)
beautiful painting man! I love it.
Very well done, Marco. She could only be happy about it.
wow! amazing work, and congratz on your 1st traditional portrait commission!
really nice painting, you captured her beautifully!
Amazing once again Marco!
ha ha CONGRATS!! that is soo cool man! way to go!
WONDERFUL WORK!!!!
Man, you are a monster!!.. this portrait is terrific!!.. all your studies you did before have brought you to this point!!..
Gorgeous! Congrats dude.
Really brilliant work man !!!
Congratulations Marco.
Beautiful job.
I love her eyes.
Fantastic work Marco . Having patience to see it through is quite a test . Again - beautifuly done .
ABSOLUTELY Beautiful marco!!!!!!!! looks Incredible~T
Absolutely beautiful!
brilliant!
HUGE TALENT!!!! This is so good!
Very nice. Your work has real soul to it. I can feel he humanity in the eyes.
Such great oils! Man you update so much, inspiring.
That's fantastic Marco.
Hey! Good painting eh!!!
Post a Comment
<< Home