Self-Portrait

Marcus Bradshaw

2012

oil on canvas

30" x 30"

"Gotta Make A Living"

I've fallen in love with painting. At first I was always drawing and that was it, but now, painting has taken over. I plan on doing a lot of portrait paintings in the next couple of months. I have to start selling my work and make myself known to others. I have to make a living off of my art somehow.

"How to......": Getting better at Portrait Drawing and Painting

Before coming to the University of Cincinnati and the DAAP program I had never taken any figure drawing classes. When I was in high school I just took basic art classes so I wasn't able to get much experience with portrait and figure drawing, I could only do what I knew how to do. I would always draw pictures of other people, like classmates and other friends, and they liked my drawings, but I always told myself that I knew I could do better. So the only thing I could do was continue to get better by practicing more and more everyday. When I finally got into DAAP I was able to improve my drawing skills with the help of my professors. They encouraged me and showed me techniques to improve with my portrait and figure drawing, because they knew that it was my focus in my work. With their help I've gotten a lot better and will continue to do so by practicing and putting more time into my work. If you want to be a great portrait and figure drawer, the best thing to do is to just draw, or paint, as much as possible because there are no limits to what you can achieve in your work.

"How to......": Portrait Drawing and Painting Tips for Success

For those who are interested in portrait drawing or painting, here are a few steps you can use in your work:

1. Start off with the shape of the head, make sure its proportions are correct, not too big and not too small. Also, you can use your pencil or brush to measure the height and width of the persons head. This is a good way to get the proportions right.

2. With facial features, you want to be sure that they are a distance apart from each other as they should be; these include eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and chin. Like the head, these distances can be measured with your pencil or brush as well. 

3. When doing a portrait you never want to jump right in with the details. Its always better to make sure your proportions and angles are good before doing anything else. The details should come last and you don't have to draw or paint everything you see. Some times its good for the viewer to see something that isn't there.

4. Once you have everything in place, now its time to had detail. If you're drawing this may include shading, shadows, eyebrows and eye lashes, wrinkles in the face, hair, etc. If you're painting you want to make sure that you have a good color variation and ranges of value. Mixing colors to get the right skin tone for the person whom you are painting is a big part in determining the outcome of your work.

Visionaries and Voices Field Trip

Today I went on a field trip to Visionaries and Voices, an art gallery in North side, and it was a wonderful experience to say the least. Me and some of my classmates got to meet some amazing people that are artists just like we are. The only difference is that these people have disabilities. But does that make them any different from anybody else? Not at all! Their disabilities don't exclude them from society, especially in the art community because they are very creative in the works that they make. I was very pleased with the work that was shown and my classmates were pretty pleased as well. We were able to meet the people that work in the gallery and get to know a little bit about each individual; how they make their art and what things they enjoy most that reflects their work. Overall, it was just a wonderful experience and one that I will never forget. This trip made me realize how much I appreciate art and how much others should appreciate it as well.