This is the second in the series of posts I've written about my portrait drawings. You can find the first part here About Me.
About this Work:
This water / acrylic painting was done in the year 2010. This is one of my favorite portraits because I was successful in capturing the different movie roles of the great comedian Vadivelu. The idea was to do a collage of characters of Vadivelu. Therefore, I decided to capture the different poses of the actor and so, I picked different pictures of the actor and then the challenge was to capture all of those in one A1 size chart!
The Outline:
I started off by doing the outline of the Pulikesi (the center King-like Character). Then, I outlined the top right corner character, which is meant to sound Aoouvvvv. The tougher parts were yet to come since the left hand portion was already busy with some details of the background arch of the palace and also the costume of Pulikesi. So, I had to push the Naai Sekar character, in the top left corner to the background. I also purposefully chose it to be a cartoon because I wanted to add some variety in the collage.
The best part I liked doing in this collage is the Sunky-Monkey portion because I didn't have much choice but to draw it over the Pulikesi I had already outlined.
The Painting Plan:
Once I had completed the outline, I knew I had a very good scope for using different shades of paints because i was depicting different characters here. So, I wanted to use a contrast of colors to the characters.
Pulikesi Color Choice (Center Character):
It was a natural choice to choose bold and bright colors for the Pulikesi character because of the need to give the bejeweled effect. Right from my childhood, I have always enjoyed drawing shades for jewels. The jewels here lack a finish here, which was sort of planned so that the viewer's attention doesn't go too much onto the jewels - what a way to cover botch-ups!
To me, the main area of importance was the facial expression, the problem with water colors is, if you add a tinge of color here instead of there, it can totally change the facial expression - a funny face can become sad. So, I was really careful about that aspect. Also, the crux of the facial expression was in the way the character had slanted the mouth open. I was really happy with the way I captured the twisted tongue. The mustache's slant and the angle also came out well to my satisfaction. I used some acrylic white on the face to exaggerate the make-up and show as if the character had put an extra coat of powder on the face.
Pulikesi's Eyes:
I really love drawing eyes and in this case, the two eyes were positioned in a weird angle to one another. Also, since the left eye was slightly closed compared to the right eye, the left cheek had to be prominent compared to the right. So, this helped me get the facial grimace better.
AouVvvvv:
The top right character came out easier and well compared to what I had expected. This is where outlining is important. If you manage to do a good job of the outline, most of the drawing is done. Thereafter, it is about how patient you are with colors and drying with certain amount of planning. Just like Vadivelu says, "Edhaiyum PLAN panni seiyanum" ("Do everything only after planning" said in a certain funny slang). True, That dialogue has tonnes of management lesson in it.
Sunkey-Monkey:
The character in the bottom left was chosen to be shaded in blue because the other parts of the collage were colorful and also because it fitted well there, looking up the Pulikesi character with a funny expression.
Naai Sekar:
I decided to keep the Naai Sekar cartoon simple because the improvisation was already complete there since I had caricatured the original character and i didn't want to lose the caricature look. So, i played it safe there just adding a certain rose shade to the coat.
Areas to improve:
The portrait on a whole has a certain raw effect. I have always wanted my work to have a certain human touch so, I have not tried hard to improve that aspect but, I could have probably reduced the dirty effect all over the drawing. This is because the water and brushes I used had a tinge of black and they got carried all over onto the different colors. Always better to use black colors in the drawing after you complete using other colors and use separate brush for black and separate water medium too. That way, you don't get a sullied effect in your drawings. Good to have minuses though, it makes you strive for better!
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| Vadivelu Collage |
About this Work:
This water / acrylic painting was done in the year 2010. This is one of my favorite portraits because I was successful in capturing the different movie roles of the great comedian Vadivelu. The idea was to do a collage of characters of Vadivelu. Therefore, I decided to capture the different poses of the actor and so, I picked different pictures of the actor and then the challenge was to capture all of those in one A1 size chart!
The Outline:
I started off by doing the outline of the Pulikesi (the center King-like Character). Then, I outlined the top right corner character, which is meant to sound Aoouvvvv. The tougher parts were yet to come since the left hand portion was already busy with some details of the background arch of the palace and also the costume of Pulikesi. So, I had to push the Naai Sekar character, in the top left corner to the background. I also purposefully chose it to be a cartoon because I wanted to add some variety in the collage.
The best part I liked doing in this collage is the Sunky-Monkey portion because I didn't have much choice but to draw it over the Pulikesi I had already outlined.
The Painting Plan:
Once I had completed the outline, I knew I had a very good scope for using different shades of paints because i was depicting different characters here. So, I wanted to use a contrast of colors to the characters.
Pulikesi Color Choice (Center Character):
It was a natural choice to choose bold and bright colors for the Pulikesi character because of the need to give the bejeweled effect. Right from my childhood, I have always enjoyed drawing shades for jewels. The jewels here lack a finish here, which was sort of planned so that the viewer's attention doesn't go too much onto the jewels - what a way to cover botch-ups!
To me, the main area of importance was the facial expression, the problem with water colors is, if you add a tinge of color here instead of there, it can totally change the facial expression - a funny face can become sad. So, I was really careful about that aspect. Also, the crux of the facial expression was in the way the character had slanted the mouth open. I was really happy with the way I captured the twisted tongue. The mustache's slant and the angle also came out well to my satisfaction. I used some acrylic white on the face to exaggerate the make-up and show as if the character had put an extra coat of powder on the face.
Pulikesi's Eyes:
I really love drawing eyes and in this case, the two eyes were positioned in a weird angle to one another. Also, since the left eye was slightly closed compared to the right eye, the left cheek had to be prominent compared to the right. So, this helped me get the facial grimace better.
AouVvvvv:
The top right character came out easier and well compared to what I had expected. This is where outlining is important. If you manage to do a good job of the outline, most of the drawing is done. Thereafter, it is about how patient you are with colors and drying with certain amount of planning. Just like Vadivelu says, "Edhaiyum PLAN panni seiyanum" ("Do everything only after planning" said in a certain funny slang). True, That dialogue has tonnes of management lesson in it.
Sunkey-Monkey:
The character in the bottom left was chosen to be shaded in blue because the other parts of the collage were colorful and also because it fitted well there, looking up the Pulikesi character with a funny expression.
Naai Sekar:
I decided to keep the Naai Sekar cartoon simple because the improvisation was already complete there since I had caricatured the original character and i didn't want to lose the caricature look. So, i played it safe there just adding a certain rose shade to the coat.
Areas to improve:
The portrait on a whole has a certain raw effect. I have always wanted my work to have a certain human touch so, I have not tried hard to improve that aspect but, I could have probably reduced the dirty effect all over the drawing. This is because the water and brushes I used had a tinge of black and they got carried all over onto the different colors. Always better to use black colors in the drawing after you complete using other colors and use separate brush for black and separate water medium too. That way, you don't get a sullied effect in your drawings. Good to have minuses though, it makes you strive for better!
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