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More than Head and Shoulders: Week 3

April 19, 2021

The Half Figure: selecting and cropping

The Lock Down Haircut
This image needs no cropping but I would omit the shoulder and arm of the other boy on the right.

This week you are invited to paint a figure including arms and hands but extending no further down the figure than about the waist.  You may already have a suitable reference that needs no cropping or you may have a whole figure reference which needs cropping to carry out this week’s challenge. As a rough guide cropping works when it is not exactly at the elbow or cutting through part of a hand or foot.  I have tried to show this in the illustration below.

Thumbnail sketch of whole figure
Head and shoulder crop
Head Shoulders and upper arm crop
Head to thigh crop
Head to mid-calf crop

You will however, always find notable exceptions from well known artists who perhaps have enough magic and experience to make the seemingly impossible work. Some great examples can be found on Jo’s Pinterest board, link below.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/jhall1282/portraits/to-about-the-waist-or-including-a-hand/

Wonderful as the horse is, it is a diversion and I would crop the horse from the image and concentrate on the Afghan man. A double portrait is a different challenge.
Now our focus is directed totally to his gaze.
Photographed in Afghanistan by Alisha

Week 3 Project

Choose a photo reference. Try to find a reference that illustrates the persons character or situation.  You should feel something about the image. Decide by making thumbnail sketches, whether and what cropping would result in a good composition for a portrait that references the figure to about the waist.  Try to include at least one hand.  Some paintings of half figures have the subject at a table, sewing, drinking or reading.  Make careful decisions about the background including only what is necessary or relevant. 

As with the whole figure, work out the sizes of the dominant shapes and how they relate to each other.  Look at the negative spaces.  Either use a grid or at least a vertical and horizontal line across your image and your drawing so that you can check measurements and angles; making sure that your picture space is in the same proportion as the part of the image included in your work.

Really look at the posture of the person and ask questions. 

Is the head at an angle?

Is the person looking to one side?

How does this affect the neck?

Can you imagine how the head connects to the spine?

Are the shoulders at the same height?

What are the arms and hands doing?

Are there negative spaces related to the position of the arms?

What angles are made by the arms and hands?

Are the arms bearing any weight as when leaning on a table?

Looking and answering these questions will inform your work.

Your Paintings:

The Woodcarver
Acrylic by Malcolm
Stanley
Watercolour by Sarah
Acrylic by Ann
Hannah
Acrylic by Heather
Magnus
Acrylic by Elizabeth
After Cezanne
Watercolour by John
Laura
Acrylic by Liz, unfinished
Oil pastel and Oil by Mali
The Bookseller
Pastel by Angela

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