Fig. 1. Rembrandt self portrait etching
Fig.5. Vincent Van Gogh etching
The above self portrait is an attempt to get a likeness by using as few lines as possible. This was a fruitful exercise as it highlights the importance of tone to depict form on a 2-D surface. When I consider this self portrait I see a flat, featureless face with little emotion or expression. Is this dullness due to a lack of lines or tone?
Taking some inspiration from Rembrandt’s use of directional line when cross hatching to depict form, I tried to emulate this in order to generate more expression and emotion into my self-portrait. While not as good as Rembrandt’s, there is more energy and depth to this portrait and a better sense of the sitter’s being. I would like to push the tonal aspect a bit further to see how that would work.
For the above study I used the reflection of a blank laptop screen as this blurred the detail and left a better sense of tonal values – which I wanted to concentrate on. I got a real sense of getting a better likeness of myself as I was able to build upon the layers of tone by adding more cross hatching (and trying to maintain the linear aspect!). There is a classical portrait feel to this, and the addition of a shadow in the background is reminiscent of Raphael’s portrait of Baldasarre Castiglione, see Fig. 6 below.
Fig. 6. Raphael portrait of Baldassare Castiglione 1514-15.
The success of the stronger use of chiaroscuro led me consider the master of this genre – Caravaggio. I love his paintings and am bewildered that there are no known drawings by Caravaggio (as Dixon points out in his recent book, examinations of Caravaggio’s paintings show no understudy marks in ink or charcoal which suggests he painted directly on the canvas). To try a different approach, using charcoal to cover the surface, I then drew subtractively with an eraser in an attempt to emulate the strong lights and darks that provide such power to Caravaggio’s works.
The natural impact of this method gives the sense that the subject is floating in space or looming out of the shadows. The fact that there is nothing to anchor the subject against, makes it pop out from the background space (lights jump forward optically while darks recede). I struggled to get the facial proportions right in this attempt and my nose is far too big, giving the appearance of a boxer. Having said that, I did make this study very quickly and am sure that the proportions could be improved upon by re-working as William Kentridge does for his short films made with charcoal stills. There was a great deal of joy in doing this method, even if the end result was not quite as good as I would have hoped.
Improvements in this attempt, but proportions of face are still not correct and I feel that this is what is grabbing my attention more than anything – bottom half of face is much bigger than the top half, it’s just not balanced!! Still like the overall effect that this technique provides of strong chiaroscuro.
Much happier with this result, if I had to be picky, I would suggest that a broader range of tones could have been achieved by re-working the portrait by adding more charcoal and subtracting to provide more than three tones. Menacing effect which is something different to drawing on plain or toned paper.
Using this method again, but with a broader range of tonal values to produce a different portrait. particularly fond of the blurred edges of the dog’s basket going into the dark background. My eye is attracted to the strong tonal differences in the stripey Zebra blanket which leaps towards the viewer optically. This provides a sense of depth which pushes the dog further away, and the background void is further away still. Charcoal is an extremely versatile medium and this is a powerful effect.
I decided that the A5 sketchbook cover needed a self portrait in oil paint and decided to film it as a time lapse. Apologies for the glare from the window. I was using a black mirror to help simplify the tonal values, and raw umber and titanium white on a burnt sienna tint ground.
IMAGE SOURCES
Fig 1. Rembrandt self portrait etching, https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fcommons%2Ff%2Ff7%2FB320_Rembrandt.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Ffr.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FListe_des_gravures_de_Rembrandt&docid=KAFzVulCRtf1wM&tbnid=4gzwKe1d8YIP-M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwiLg56rwLnkAhXyzoUKHeS2AyMQMwiIASgSMBI..i&w=2434&h=2800&safe=strict&bih=657&biw=1366&q=rembrandt%20etchings%20catalogue&ved=0ahUKEwiLg56rwLnkAhXyzoUKHeS2AyMQMwiIASgSMBI&iact=mrc&uact=8 Accessed 5th September 2019.
Fig 2. Rembrandt self portrait etching, https://sothebys-com.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9821ce9/2147483647/strip/true/crop/450×575+0+0/resize/684×874!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsothebys-brightspot-migration.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1e%2Faf%2F3f%2F7f76bb023ef8c4d62b8730c64cb510d16725f222d6c9a2eee03c54dc77%2Frembrandt-prints.jpg Accessed 5th September 2019.
Fig 3. Rembrandt self portrait etching, https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,h_359,w_640,x_0,y_5/f_auto,q_auto,w_1100/v1555313636/shape/mentalfloss/gettyimages-51243496.jpg Accessed 5th September 2019.
Fig 4. Rembrandt etching self portrait and lady, https://storage.boijmans.nl/styles/header/uploads/2017/10/05/jPMhxOAOk9puvnnWW0EtyljX6ON44SQb91eTxrDY.jpeg Accessed 5th September 2019.
Fig 5. Vincent Van Gogh etching, https://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/image/1662/Old-Man-with-his-Head-in-his-Hands-(At-Eternity’s-Gate).jpg Accessed 5th September 2019.
Fig 6. Raphael,1514-15 Baldassare Castiglione, oil paint, 82 x 67cm, Louvre Museum, 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X4Vrwyk4/MzZVFP4lZUVkFVSmK9Vb3IM+yvgf2Z/CvOwfiexcj+oataJUeTJqbdy40laUKISv6wqHYujctr/wAJr027x5NK2/ZNcE2djkGX+GbZx1yHGFKaJPhzHrFBB8LBW0dSTyrOspeQlTTqXUtObmEkwRyMfL4UZZKfZbUlxt0o5iG1HepeKKKQzdekgGR8KouEpd/WgSn7XWoe2IjvNPJ0+Laqim8tdWpYcVp+wEHf311M60NME01Zsm6uNyT3B1MVDiC+fvbcduSlGsaUJERuPvqhF6CQ4q3uFAchpAAqm8cdvEBDdq+nvAgmPH31Py3K2UteT//Z Accessed 5th September 2019.
Neil C Drawing 2 
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