FanArt: Norrington and Groves

[honorat]

by Honorat
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Don't own POTC. Didn't take the photograph used for reference. Not making any money.

Summary: More Art! Norrington and Groves on the Dauntless. “That’s got to be the best pirate I’ve ever seen!” Poor Norrington looking pained, and Groves fangirling! I scanned this picture every time I stopped working on it, and I’ve included a few of the stages here as well as the finished piece. Here’s a Navy Lieutenant dauntless_2005! Thanks for the links.



Complete after 8 hours.

After 1 hour of sketching.

After 2 hours

After 4 hours

After 5 hours

After 6 hours

After 7 hours

Detail of Lieutenant Groves.

Copyright 2005. All rights reserved.
8 1/2 x 11 inches, mechanical graphite pencil on printer paper.

Comments

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Wow! What a fantastic comment. *Bounces about happily looking for a pin to poke puffed head* All this PotC portrait practice is paying off. (I think I'm having an alliterative moment here.) I actually have a job doing a real portrait now.

That gold bric-a-brac looking like gold was a surprise to me. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I find if I concentrate on shapes and values instead of what I'm trying to draw, I'll often get the effect I want.

I do start out with that rather rough outline you see in the first drawing of Groves, then I do also draw lots of lines, although I tend to erase them as I change them rather than stacking them up more than once or twice. I find that to draw portraits, I really have to get the proportions accurate, and the lines help me see the shapes. I'll also check things like the relationship of the length of the face to the width of the face, or the length of the nose to the face, or how far under the eye the corner of the mouth comes. It doesn't take much to be off and poof there goes the portrait.

I looked at your drawing and you don't give yourself enough credit. Your animals are anatomically correct (So few people can draw hocks!) and in varied and natural positions. Your landscape has natural lines rather than symbolic ones--the hills are irregular, your cloud looks like a cloud and not a cotton ball, and your tree is quite tree-like. I've taught some art, and it would take about three weeks for someone with your talent for seeing to learn the techniques to do what I've done with this picture. You've already got that most important bit down--how to see what is really there rather than the symbol your brain provides.

I'd recommend the book "Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain." It's got a number of exercises that, if you go through them, you should come out well within range of realistic art like this.

I'm so honoured that you like my art and have saved it. Thank you.