Process Into Image Paint Brief.
Week 2: PROCESS LED INQUIRY: Drawing from a Screengrab from a Film.
Drawing Processes:
* Select a fifth image(s) or item to draw.
* Analyse the image’s visual properties (figural and abstract).
* Generate multiple drawings.
* Process this image by reducing, confusing, or altering using a range of methods (i.e. charcoal, graphite, provisional paint studies, gouache, or watercolour sketches, alterations using the photocopier, overhead projector, photoshop and other digital imaging software).
5a. Screengrab from a Film: ‘Sabrina’ (1954 Film). Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) in ‘Sabrina’ (aka ‘Sabrina Fair’), directed by Billy Wilder. (Photo by John Kobal Foundation/Getty Images). Accessed September 28, 2021. https://gettyimagesgallery.com/images/audrey-hepburn-3/.
I chose this photo because Audrey Hepburn is exquisitely beautiful on the outside and in. There are only a few people who have that really special extra star quality, and she had that in bundles. I also like the contrast between the diagonal shutter blinds that make an interesting frame around her face.
I began altering the image through digital manipulation, shading Audrey and the background in a mauve colour tone to give a feeling of dusk-light mysteriousness,.
Then by projecting a pink hue over the entire picture I portrayed Audrey in a pastel tonal light. This monochromatic colour scheme enhanced her with a different type of beauty, unveiling a very soft, dainty and delicate elegance.
This time I changed mediums, introducing paint. I selected muted tones such as grey, blue, and pink, and made marks by gentle dabs, thin lines and thicker strokes of watercolour. I started by painting Audrey with a very pale pink face with no facial features.
Then I changed the colour scheme digitally (below) to a beige tone for a reflective work.
I created a digital version where I reflected Audrey in a mirror type pose next to the window of shutter blinds. I wanted to produce a subtle quality, with one side (including the head) of the picture in a beige tone, and the other with a pink tone..
I then painted a darker coloured face Audrey, as if it was night-time, but as I used more water consistency her face became a lighter grey-green. I extended her cheekbones, thus exaggerated some portions of her face, I was happy with this colour scheme, as I was trying to evoke a subtle mysterious tone. For both the pink and grey painted portraits I did not feel a need to add her facial features. I just wanted a featureless face.
Next, I zoomed into chosen details from the original photograph. I chose Audrey’s pearl earring and altered the position of this object, thus the focus of it. I painted it dangling from angled blinds, centrally placed in the middle of the picture. In the photograph, Audrey’s eyes are so striking that her pearl earring becomes less obvious or significant, even though it is a symbol of status and wealth. I changed the placement of this object, thus gave it a different life, yet kept the murky darker tones.
Next, I wanted to create one facial feature, an eye. It does not represent Audrey at all, (I could never do her justice), but instead I was focusing on quickly sketching an abstract eye with paint.
Next, I changed the cool blue to warmer brown and red tones, trying to evoke different emotional states.
5b. Screengrab from a Film Set: ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s’. Audrey Hepburn. 1961. Product Type = Photo Print. Publisher = Everett Collection. Accessed September 28, 2021. https://www.amazon.com/Posterazzi-EVCMBDBRATEC068-Breakfast-Tiffanys-Hepburn/dp/B08259J6ZB
I chose this photograph instead of the famous Breakfast At Tiffany’s film image of a front-on Hepburn looking in a jewellery shop. It is an off-camera shot in a natural stance eating in between film takes, and thus I really like Hepburn’s profile pose. An actress/actor (called the Talent) has to be patient on a film set because one waits around whilst the set/lights, etc are prepared. I like the cracked paint, and vivid wear and tear on the marble(?) window ledge, and the reflective window revealing repeated images of smaller size rectangular window shapes.
Again I introduced colour to the image via digital means.
Then I drew as fast as I could in biro to figure out the composition and pose shapes.
After, I used pastel to make quick sketches; the crack intrigues me, her hair curled in a massive French Roll reminds me of my ballet days, and the window reflection is interesting. Of course, I cannot forget the main star of the photograph… Hepburn is the most stunning HB creature that ever did live!!!
