This self portrait was done in the style of Mark Demsteader for a school project in Spring '13.  Charcoal, pastel, white conte, and collage on tinted charcoal paper.
22"x30" graphite on medium tooth paper.  Done Feb. 19th, 2014 for a class project called "DochotoMe".  The one on the left is from observation and reflects how I think others see me.  The one on the right is from photo references and reflects how I see myself.
Work in Progress for "The Longer You Look" drawing.  Graphite on mixed media paper.   Final drawing to be posted Friday, May 16th!
I used text as texture and isolation of figures so that the meaning would not be lost in a jumble of visual simulation.  The text of the figure says "Too close, is this too close?" to emphasize how hard it can be, mentally, to work with a live nude model.  There are certain etiquette and those change with different models and how comfortable they are in certain situations.
 
The "long" title of the piece is "The longer you look, the less sense it makes based on what you thing you know." which does a few things.  It speaks to how maddening drawing from observation can be because we are taught certain things as children (like cell-shading from cartoons) that give us preconceived notions about how something SHOULD look when drawn out.  It isn't until we've spent years of our own effort painstakingly observing what's in front of us that we realize that absolutely everything is much more visually complex than "here's the shadow, here's the highlight, here's the mid-tone".  This title also refers to the subject as "it", removing identity and personification from the figure.  In essence, the figure becomes an object to be studied rather than a person sitting in a way that tends to cause cramps, cut off circulation, and may cause fainting on some occasions.
Self Portraits
Published:

Self Portraits

These are self portraits from 2013/2014.

Published: