Friday, March 27, 2009

Comparing portraits

Igor V. Babailov is a rather famous portrait painter. He is commissioned for formal oil portraits by presidents and by popes. Me? I just started oil painting. I'm basically "feeling my way through the dark."
I thought I'd compare an oil painting of Igor's with one of mine, as a learning exercise. I took his oil of George Bush and my oil of James (a welder by trader), and placed them side by side. Interesting. I need to improve.

6 comments:

Esly Carrero said...

Tim... you're not far off at all.. you just have to finish the rest of your paintings.. and maybe add something important in the background.. like dude did in the Bush painting.

I have to figure out how to learn to acquire the same skills of my digital paintings onto the skills of real live paintings... and maybe I can be the best before you! woo-hoo! ;D lol.

Tim Gardner said...

"Finish the rest of my paintings"? I don't know what you mean. Do you mean to bring the illustration all the way out to the edges? That's ONE way to do it. ...I mean, in general, I'm trying to be impressionistic. ...And James said his wife wanted a sunset, so I threw some sunset-y colors back there, although I think those warm colors distract the eye. ...Anyway, after seeing this, and paying me a bit MORE than what I requested, James and his wife ordered portraits FOR HIS ENTIRE FAMILY. Ten people! But the next month James was laid-off, and had to cancel. ...On a side note, this portrait took about 30 hours.

Tim Gardner said...

I just noticed that my comment there sounded defensive. I actually do not feel "defensive" about my portraits. What I feel about my portraits is confusion. One day I think they're great, and the next day I think they're horrible. So it's a mystery.

JimmyPereira said...

It's been awhile since I stopped by. Wow, Time! I don't have a photo of the subject to compare it too, but this is really beautiful work! Heck, I'd commision ya (what are your rates? ;)

Tim Gardner said...

You're funny, Jimmy. But thanks for being nice.

Esly Carrero said...

whoopsie, sorry.. it took so long for me to reply. I was like having my bday cake & eating it too. ;D What I meant was... yeah... paint to the edge... and/or more background. But as for likeness, depth, volume, color, blending, realism, etc... it's like right on!

I don't see a major difference of accuracy and definition between yours and this other guy's.

It looks brilliant!