I’ve been working on another portrait of Nye Bevan while I take a break from the first one. I really think I’ve gone over the top with detail in this one. I wanted to do one of him in one of his typical oration-giving stances, but I really do feel I’m messing it all up. I really think that’s because I am trying to get too much in the way of quotes into the portrait.
So, I’ll be going back to the drawing board (or in my case, the Surface Studio screen) to try this one again.
Having said that, I’ve had a lot of hand lettering /hand drawn typography practice and have played around with the brush settings to find one that will work for me!
I also have just noticed that there’s not much differentiation between the different weights of text in the second version, and that adds, I think, to the more confusing appearance of it.
I was struggling with the values of the gesturing fist in the second image. So, I put the photo into Affinity Photo and used the Posterise tool to simplify the areas of shade for me. There’s still a personal interpretation to be done on how I translate these areas into spaces of text.
Hands, feet and faces. These were always the parts of humans I struggled with when doing life drawing.
Drawing typographic portraits is a new endeavour for me. I’m learning, experimenting. One of the main lessons I have to take away today is to not over complicate such a portrait! But there is a fine balance betwixt having enough detail to capture the essence of the person, and having too much so that the essence of who they are is lost.
The first portrait I did, on the left, does look better, but I do think it lacks a bit of detail in the face.
The second one, on the right, is way too busy!
So, my task is to find that point where less really is more.
So, I’ll take a break from them, again, and regroup and try once more!
Angela Porter 