My last chess portrait for the day. Ā I really should have stopped at two. Ā This…
Ten Greatest Chess Players
Continuing to experiment, today I’m trying two new approaches with the new drawing technique: multiple portraits crammed together and combining this with the use of inktense pencils.
As material, I used ten great chess players, most of them not still playing, let alone still with us. Ā Let’s go through them first and talk about likenesses. Ā So, left to right along the top row, then the bottom row:
– Bobby Fischer looks good – there’s a likeness there.
– Paul Morphy – not as good but still a likeness
– Tigran Petrosian – pretty bad. Ā I can tell it’s him but I can also see a lot that’s wrong.
– Mikhail Tal – there’s a likeness but it’s a cartoony caricature. Ā Looks like a Simpsons villain.
– Magnus Carlsen – terrible, unrecognisable
– Jose Capablanca – I’ve caught the softness of the eyes but nothing else
– Gary Kasparov – no, not got him. Ā Looks more like a Nigel Short.
– Boris Spassky – again, no
– Emmanuel Lasker – ok but it’s difficult to not get a likeness with a face like that
– Anatoly Karpov – another bad one
So likenesses are generally not there. Ā Bit how did the two experiments work out?
I think the concept of multiple portraits with overlaps is a winner. Ā Maybe the best approach is to decide first which are most important, draw them in, then add all the rest afterwards wherever there are gaps. Ā Overlaps are not a problem – they add some energy and fun.
And the inktense pencils? Ā They work but I could have done better. Ā I started by choosing and colouring loots of black areas – black and white has to work for chess players, doesn’t it? Ā But then I thought the space above Tal’s head looked a bit empty, so coloured that in red, adding some more red in other places to balance it. Ā And then I added some blues in places. Ā It’s come out OK but I can’t help thinking this would have looked better with a lot more white on the page and very little blue and red (if any).
Still, there’s a good feeling to this one. Ā You can feel the concentration. Ā It’s going up for sale.
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