Positive/Negative

 

11/27/22 

My nocturnes put me in the mood to make portraits on black paper. I loved doing life drawing on Zoom this way when the model had set up the lighting to be deliberately dramatic. With the portraits, I chose reference photos (all again from Earthsworld) that were strongly lighted on one side.  

The last three pairs were the most intriguing experiments. In each case, I first crosshatched the “positive” side of the portrait with ballpoint. Waiting until the next day so that the same reference photo would be somewhat fresh again, I then drew the “negative” side of the portrait on black paper. In some cases I think I got a stronger resemblance in the negative drawing, but the eyes always come out looking a bit creepy and empty because the dark pupils are too small to look distinct. It’s a fascinating mind bender to try to “see” only the lighted parts of the faces.

11/28/22

With all of these, both positive and negative, I also tried to be as minimal as possible: How little can I draw and still convey the essential features and expression?

12/3/22

12/4/22

12/4/22

12/5/22

12/5/22

12/6/22