Semi-Realistic Portrait Drawing

I was never taught appreciation of fine arts, and the local museum was simply a great place to play hide and seek.

I never took an art class in school since I was much too busy maintaining a 4.0 grade point average taking calculus, biology and trigonometry. My thoughts were that art classes were for the dumb kids. I still concede that the watercolor classes would be much too mundane, however I must admit that I do regret missing classes like art appreciation and art history.

I had never in my life picked up a sketch pad or paint brush until four years ago, already halfway through my life (or less) and that is something that I regret. Once I realized that I could pick up a pencil and sketchpad then draw an animal that looked so realistic that you would want to reach out and pet it, my views changed dramatically. I then sketched a picture of my child from a photo and an 'artist' friend asked me if I had used copy paper because it looked so identical! I laughed since I hadn't thought of that. That would be like cheating, I suppose.

This became a turning point in my world and I changed my views of art. I started paying more attention to other people's renditions of art and how they created colors onto paper. Some artists really have deserved their fame, although many times famous artists didn't become world renowned until after their death. That still trips me out.

Fame...to be known, not only in your lifetime, but for centuries to come and to go down in history is practically unfathomable and puts me in awe. Perhaps the world's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci somewhere between the years 1503 and 1506. This dude, Da Vinci really deserves the credit though. His stuff is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

....and I get it. It's not useless scribble, like abstract stuff. I suppose an art appreciation class would serve it's purpose here because I just do not understand the big whoop with abstracts. How these artists justify the price tags for their blobs of paint on canvas, mystifies me. My view is that someone somewhere back in time made a mistake on their canvas, spilled some paint or something. Then an unsuspecting bystander comes up, sees a rendition of abstract...interprets it as a combination of Jesus, his Mom, salvation, and the meaning of life, then offers way above market value...and it's called ART!

I still get dumbfounded whenever I see people at an art museum standing in front of a framed piece of "abstract" art. They collect in droves and stare at a piece that depicts something that looks to me like a simple red square with a price tag of $5000, I fathom as to what can be so awesome that it inspires dozens to stand in front of it. I've joined those crowds a time or two, and I still come to the conclusion that most of those people are standing there, just as I am, wondering what they are supposed to be seeing.

My artistic style tends to lean towards realism. I feel such accomplishment when I get the opportunity to sketch portraits that look identical to the actual subject. I have utilized various mediums; pencil sketches, pen drawings, charcoal and pastel and digital artistry.The easiest way for me to draw someone is with a photo of the subject, as opposed to a real life model, simply because I can take my time with a photo and any model would have to hold a pose position for an extremely long time. I like to draw children, pets, landscape scenery and animate them into a permanent piece of art.

Wikipedia describes realism as this: 'Realism in the arts may be generally defined as the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality, and avoiding artistic conventions, implausible, exotic and supernatural elements.'

My view of the world has definitely changed since I became an artist. I can look at something in the real world and imagine it as a painting. I now can see the world in animation. It's a really cool way of viewing everything.