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Zoe Saldana Portrait

Blogs > Glider
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
Glider
Profile Blog Joined December 2005
United States1353 Posts
January 16 2014 01:05 GMT
#1
This could also be done on toned paper, the issue with having to use white charcoal or pastel is that you can't really spray-fix it to protect it (it loses much of the white) so I just used white paper. It's probably the most annoying thing about white charcoal and pastel.



****
xaoteca
Profile Joined August 2011
Czech Republic34 Posts
January 16 2014 01:25 GMT
#2
I always wonder if you had to sell your soul to the devil in order to get this skill...
A voice in your head giggles... "Nahfriendthiswayyouwontfindmeyoullhavetobemorepatient!" "Meetsomecompanionsofmineinthemeantime!" Suddenly several figures appear out of nowhere!
Plansix
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
United States60190 Posts
January 16 2014 02:09 GMT
#3
Just years of practice and patience.
I have the Honor to be your Obedient Servant, P.6
TL+ Member
bo1b
Profile Blog Joined August 2012
Australia12814 Posts
January 16 2014 04:51 GMT
#4
On January 16 2014 11:09 Plansix wrote:
Just years of practice and patience.

Nah there was definitely witch craft involved
aZealot
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
New Zealand5447 Posts
January 16 2014 05:23 GMT
#5
She is lovely. And that was lovely. Thanks.
KT best KT ~ 2014
Aelfric
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Turkey1496 Posts
January 16 2014 12:56 GMT
#6
On January 16 2014 11:09 Plansix wrote:
Just years of practice and patience.

You have to have some kind of skill with drawing in order to draw like that. For example i could never practice into drawing like that. I just don't have the necessary talent for it. But for music it's the opposite for me.
Tomorrow never comes until its too late...
Liquid`Nazgul
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
22427 Posts
January 16 2014 14:00 GMT
#7
On January 16 2014 11:09 Plansix wrote:
Just years of practice and patience.

oh ok

lol?
Administrator
killy666
Profile Joined July 2012
France204 Posts
January 16 2014 17:30 GMT
#8
Astonishing, as usual.
My life is sicker than your band
Kon-Tiki
Profile Joined February 2011
United States402 Posts
January 16 2014 18:14 GMT
#9
Watched this one, which was amazing, then I saw there was a Walter White one, and that was even better!
I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.
Empyrean
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
17043 Posts
January 16 2014 18:25 GMT
#10
Excellent as always!
Moderator
Chairman Ray
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United States11903 Posts
January 16 2014 20:12 GMT
#11
Amazing as usual!
Staboteur
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Canada1873 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-01-17 06:31:42
January 17 2014 04:02 GMT
#12
On January 16 2014 21:56 Aelfric wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 16 2014 11:09 Plansix wrote:
Just years of practice and patience.

You have to have some kind of skill with drawing in order to draw like that. For example i could never practice into drawing like that. I just don't have the necessary talent for it. But for music it's the opposite for me.


That's actually a myth, and I'm not just saying that. It's like a taxi driver's knowledge of a city inside and out, or a coder's understanding of how to arrange functions and variables in a way that makes sense to them. It's an impressive feat, but they are all learnable skills. For drawing, on a mechanical level, you only need fairly basic hand-eye coordination.

Contained example for those who think I'm full of shit:

+ Show Spoiler +
I'm not a natural talent. You can't look at my 8-year-old pictures and see potential. I wasn't a kid that had a sketchbook throughout my entire teen years - in fact, throughout all of high school I filled up maybe two sketchbooks, and compiled entirely one of that would be writing.

Here's an image I made around the end of, or just after high school.

[image loading]

And here's some drawings after 9 months of rigorous formal art education:

[image loading]
(Muscle study, no direct reference)

[image loading]
(lifedrawing, 30 minutes)

[image loading]
(face/value study, direct reference)

To seal the deal : I'd estimate I've got at most 1,000 hours actually drawing, and probably need another dedicated 1,000 hours JUST on portraits to get to Glider levels, nevermind his command of different mediums as well. Glider, if you read this - How many hours do you estimate you've spent drawing in your life?


...but to reach Glider-levels of skill, you need thousands of hours of practice, which points to the most important part of learning how to do anything -> Passion.
I'm actually Fleetfeet D:
EonuS
Profile Joined July 2010
Slovenia186 Posts
January 17 2014 13:15 GMT
#13
On January 16 2014 21:56 Aelfric wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 16 2014 11:09 Plansix wrote:
Just years of practice and patience.

You have to have some kind of skill with drawing in order to draw like that. For example i could never practice into drawing like that. I just don't have the necessary talent for it. But for music it's the opposite for me.


no

it takes a lot of time to train your eye hand coordination to achieve that point, but it's certainly possible to start from zero. it does not require any special talent if you treat it as a math-like problem solving process. Hell, two years ago all I knew was how to do a 2d house now I'm pretty much aware of every single muscle of the human body and developed a good sense to record what I see accurately. It's 98% in looking at the right things, 2% actually putting down strokes
Nightwishone
Profile Joined July 2012
Italy391 Posts
January 17 2014 16:51 GMT
#14
You're such a good artist!
Being a writer myself, I find your works very inspiring. I love your Elle Fanning and Chloe Moretz portraits too!
TaeJa IS a bonjwa. TLO - Scarlett - Snute - MaNa - HerO - TeamLiquid fighting!
Glider
Profile Blog Joined December 2005
United States1353 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-01-17 19:52:32
January 17 2014 19:35 GMT
#15
Thanks guys for the kind words. Although I never kept track of the number of hours I've spent drawing (basically I draw whenever I feel like it, some days none, some days a lot so it's hard to even approximate) - through the years I'm sure the numbers adds up.

As for the whole inherent talent vs practice thing that always comes up, I can only say based on my current limited understanding/observation/experience that... as is the case with almost everything, there is no fine line and it's all a mixture of grey (or perhaps a color-wheel). On the extreme end one person can hold the belief that it's 100% talent and practice means nothing, on the other end It's all practice and anyone can accomplish any result (which makes great hallmark cards but we can also see It's most likely not to be the case)... So most people are not on the extreme ends, great, but then you can further argue on what percent of mixture it is between talent and effort and the importance in the role they play in achieving mastery or a particular result.

Of course then what you try to achieve / the nature of mastery comes into play as well, which is itself in a grey area. Making a crazy 1 million block domino, it's easy to agree that most people, through sheer effort (a lot of effort!), can do it. Compose a symphony at age 7, perhaps leans at the other end of shade... With portrait drawing, this mastery itself has no clear objective definition. (do you consider it goal accomplished when you draw someone that kinda looks like that person, or an art so piercing that it captures the dreary soul behind the subject like rambrant does)

Despite all this, often person A says "Oh ye I agree it's a mixture, but I say it's not about inherent ability, sure every little bit of it help, maybe about 10%, but rest of the result is from effort, and then you too can accomplish the goal", and then Person B says " no no, definitely needs at least 50-50, I can't achieve that particular result if I barely have any talent toward it no matter how hard I try." Who is right, who is wrong? Person C enters the argument with his own vague percentage value, maybe backed by his own experience...all are just lines in the sand, drawn by the mind, influenced by too many other factors not considered. This is why I don't like to talk/argue too much on this sort of thing, everyone is so different in some ways, and so similar in other ways, the more you try to make a statement that applies to everyone, the more general / vague it needs to be.

But to end it on a positive note, I will say something that I believe is true. No matter what you think your talent (or lack of) is for what you are trying to accomplish, with effort, you can surpass what you believe yourself is capable of. You may or may not be able to draw like Rembrandt, you can certainly surprise yourself with what you can do with practice, and that should be the most valuable yard stick for us to measure against and strive toward: our own potential, in the direction of our passion.
dmnum
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Brazil6910 Posts
Last Edited: 2014-01-17 20:58:15
January 17 2014 20:56 GMT
#16
What people usually refer to as talent I see as the will of the artist. It's not about how many hours you put in, it's about what you do with those hours. Also you can never be satisfied with your skill; always keep pushing the threshold. Flaubert himself said that his works had nothing to do with talent and everything to do with revisions, and he ranks among the most technically proficient writers.

Also, even if I'm wrong and talent exists, what's the point of letting something you can't do anything about stop you from doing what you want to?
Staboteur
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Canada1873 Posts
January 18 2014 00:12 GMT
#17
First and foremost, thanks for the response, Glider! My objection/frustration and the reason I brought it up in the first place is that it's an attitude I've heard before I.E. "Wow, Davinci was so talented! How lucky he was to be born with such talent!", and I can't help but find it to entirely disregard the amount of work the artist put in to his craft. That annoys me. I've yet to meet an artist I'm impressed by that has a lackadaisical "Oh, I'm good by accident" history, so when people drop comments that lean towards "Wow, how lucky, I wish I was born that way!" I feel inclined to dispel the illusion that art and artistry are purely magic

@dmnum

I don't think there's any argument that talent / inherent proficiencies don't exist. If you got a group of one hundred toddlers to perform a task that they've never performed before, there will invariably be a spread between not only the quality of the completed task, but the speed in which they've completed it. Part of that can be explained through upbringing / medium they've been exposed to etc, but part of it will be yet inexplicable, and I feel pretty safe calling that "talent".

Also, savants are outstanding examples of raw talent! We're not all wired the same, naturally some of us will be better at certain things than others.
I'm actually Fleetfeet D:
LOcDowN
Profile Joined February 2003
United States1015 Posts
January 18 2014 19:45 GMT
#18
On January 18 2014 04:35 Glider wrote:
Thanks guys for the kind words. Although I never kept track of the number of hours I've spent drawing (basically I draw whenever I feel like it, some days none, some days a lot so it's hard to even approximate) - through the years I'm sure the numbers adds up.

As for the whole inherent talent vs practice thing that always comes up, I can only say based on my current limited understanding/observation/experience that... as is the case with almost everything, there is no fine line and it's all a mixture of grey (or perhaps a color-wheel). On the extreme end one person can hold the belief that it's 100% talent and practice means nothing, on the other end It's all practice and anyone can accomplish any result (which makes great hallmark cards but we can also see It's most likely not to be the case)... So most people are not on the extreme ends, great, but then you can further argue on what percent of mixture it is between talent and effort and the importance in the role they play in achieving mastery or a particular result.

Of course then what you try to achieve / the nature of mastery comes into play as well, which is itself in a grey area. Making a crazy 1 million block domino, it's easy to agree that most people, through sheer effort (a lot of effort!), can do it. Compose a symphony at age 7, perhaps leans at the other end of shade... With portrait drawing, this mastery itself has no clear objective definition. (do you consider it goal accomplished when you draw someone that kinda looks like that person, or an art so piercing that it captures the dreary soul behind the subject like rambrant does)

Despite all this, often person A says "Oh ye I agree it's a mixture, but I say it's not about inherent ability, sure every little bit of it help, maybe about 10%, but rest of the result is from effort, and then you too can accomplish the goal", and then Person B says " no no, definitely needs at least 50-50, I can't achieve that particular result if I barely have any talent toward it no matter how hard I try." Who is right, who is wrong? Person C enters the argument with his own vague percentage value, maybe backed by his own experience...all are just lines in the sand, drawn by the mind, influenced by too many other factors not considered. This is why I don't like to talk/argue too much on this sort of thing, everyone is so different in some ways, and so similar in other ways, the more you try to make a statement that applies to everyone, the more general / vague it needs to be.

But to end it on a positive note, I will say something that I believe is true. No matter what you think your talent (or lack of) is for what you are trying to accomplish, with effort, you can surpass what you believe yourself is capable of. You may or may not be able to draw like Rembrandt, you can certainly surprise yourself with what you can do with practice, and that should be the most valuable yard stick for us to measure against and strive toward: our own potential, in the direction of our passion.


That was beautiful.
snively
Profile Blog Joined August 2011
United States1159 Posts
January 18 2014 20:13 GMT
#19
On January 18 2014 04:35 Glider wrote:
Thanks guys for the kind words. Although I never kept track of the number of hours I've spent drawing (basically I draw whenever I feel like it, some days none, some days a lot so it's hard to even approximate) - through the years I'm sure the numbers adds up.

As for the whole inherent talent vs practice thing that always comes up, I can only say based on my current limited understanding/observation/experience that... as is the case with almost everything, there is no fine line and it's all a mixture of grey (or perhaps a color-wheel). On the extreme end one person can hold the belief that it's 100% talent and practice means nothing, on the other end It's all practice and anyone can accomplish any result (which makes great hallmark cards but we can also see It's most likely not to be the case)... So most people are not on the extreme ends, great, but then you can further argue on what percent of mixture it is between talent and effort and the importance in the role they play in achieving mastery or a particular result.

Of course then what you try to achieve / the nature of mastery comes into play as well, which is itself in a grey area. Making a crazy 1 million block domino, it's easy to agree that most people, through sheer effort (a lot of effort!), can do it. Compose a symphony at age 7, perhaps leans at the other end of shade... With portrait drawing, this mastery itself has no clear objective definition. (do you consider it goal accomplished when you draw someone that kinda looks like that person, or an art so piercing that it captures the dreary soul behind the subject like rambrant does)

Despite all this, often person A says "Oh ye I agree it's a mixture, but I say it's not about inherent ability, sure every little bit of it help, maybe about 10%, but rest of the result is from effort, and then you too can accomplish the goal", and then Person B says " no no, definitely needs at least 50-50, I can't achieve that particular result if I barely have any talent toward it no matter how hard I try." Who is right, who is wrong? Person C enters the argument with his own vague percentage value, maybe backed by his own experience...all are just lines in the sand, drawn by the mind, influenced by too many other factors not considered. This is why I don't like to talk/argue too much on this sort of thing, everyone is so different in some ways, and so similar in other ways, the more you try to make a statement that applies to everyone, the more general / vague it needs to be.

But to end it on a positive note, I will say something that I believe is true. No matter what you think your talent (or lack of) is for what you are trying to accomplish, with effort, you can surpass what you believe yourself is capable of. You may or may not be able to draw like Rembrandt, you can certainly surprise yourself with what you can do with practice, and that should be the most valuable yard stick for us to measure against and strive toward: our own potential, in the direction of our passion.


youre not only an amazing artist youre a poet
My religion is Starcraft
Sporadic44
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States533 Posts
January 19 2014 05:47 GMT
#20
Its always a treat to watch your videos Glider. Thanks for sharing your work.
"Opportunities multiply as they are seized."
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