Sunday, July 05, 2009

Nose Edges__a lesson

"Nose Edges_a lesson"________Western Art Academy, Kerrville, TX
A strong light on an object creates a shadow side and a light side. An artist's job is to create the SHAPE of those two sides. The secret to representational art is getting those shapes' proportions RIGHT....(and as I mentioned yesterday, getting other things right is necessary, to: value, color, perspective....and EDGES. The thing I look for is whether an edge is SOFT or HARD. Study the drawing above and how a face will have both soft and hard edges. The kids seemed to really get it when I did a quick sketch comparing the edges on Michael Jackson's old nose with his new nose. see the "before" and "after" sketches above. No disrespect intended....I had a HUGE crush on the young MJ when I was about 11. He was very handsome back then!...My edge summary:
1. The darkest part of the shadow on a curved surface, is closer to the light. See the sphere.
2.Even a soft edged shape has a shape to it...match the shape, match the character of the edges, and you will hae a correct likeness.
3. Michael Jackson's first nose had soft edges, his new nose had sharp edges.

2 comments:

Art with Liz said...

This is great. Thank you.

Jala Pfaff said...

What a funny and effective way to do the nose lesson!