Master Copy: JS Sargent

[reidaj]

First off, I am completely amazed at the talent posting here at ConceptArt. I'm not sure how I managed to not discover this community until now.

Over the last couple of years I've done a few master copies and really enjoyed it. I usually will tape up the source next to my paper on a drawing board and then work freehand using my pencil or a knitting needle to check measurements. I've felt these exercises really flexed my mental muscles with regards to proportion and measurement, and besides that it was fun too.

I'm a fan of JS Sargent's charcoal portraits, so my for my latest copy I decided to work from one of his unsigned drawings, circa ~1905. (The original can be found here. (http://www.corcoran.org/collection/highlights_main_results.asp?ID=94))

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n185/scandia3815/ThinAirArt/fullsize/olympio_fusco7w.jpg

[k4pka]

I almost can assume you have this obscenely cheap book (http://www.amazon.com/Sargent-Portrait-Drawings-Works-Library/dp/0486245241/sr=8-11/qid=1164151697/ref=pd_bbs_sr_11/104-7394852-4271963?ie=UTF8&s=books)then?

I love it!

[Victor B]

Lovely master study, theirs some *very* slight discrepencies, but a wonderfull piece I could instantly recognize it. Very well done I hope you post more often!

[MarkHarchar]

Welcome Reidaj. I am a big fan of this era in art myself. This is a wonderful copy from Sargent. The inside of the top eyelids near the nose are a tiny bit too convex, however this is a very solid piece. I am working on master copies myself as painting and drawing exercises and I really think that they help. Keep working. You definitely have talent.

[reidaj]

k4pka- Yep, that book is a steal! There are a lot of nice reproductions in the Sargent book, I might try another one in the near future. I have a couple more books from the same publisher (Ingres, Rubens)... also a great value at $6/each!

vctr, hylandr2 - Thanks for the feedback! I really enjoyed working on this one- the intense focus on very precise measurement and proportion was taxing, but almost trance inducing... I swear hrs would go by in what seemed like 20 mins. I'm looking forward to working on another master copy in the near future- this kind of focused copywork really seemed to exercise that part of my brain that helps me 'eyeball' more intutively when working from life. I've done a couple of still life studies since, and the angles and proportions definitely seem to be coming easier then before.

[Justin.]

The lips should be more pronounced- the upper ones anyways, and you need to indicate a bit stronger value, but other than that it's good!