Sunday 23 March 2014

Girl on Fire: Portrait Practice #08 and finding the right Katniss Everdeen pose to sculpt

Every movie has its own iconic scene which embeds itself into our psyche and simply screams out to be replayed again and again, especially for fans. For me, the Girl on Fire segment from The Hunger Games movie is that scene ... so much so that I plan to use it to find the perfect pose for my first sculpting project, codenamed ... duh ... Girl on Fire. So with that in mind, my eighth portrait practice drawing is one of Katniss Everdeen in a moment from that scene. I like this particular Katniss pose because it reminds me of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's ... must be the hairstyle.     

Portrait Practice #08 - Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)
Jennifer Lawrence in the Girl on Fire scene

By using better quality drawing paper - Daler Rowney A3 Graduate Sketchbook 160 g/square metre - I was able to get slightly smoother graphite blends for the skin tone. But being my own worst critic and a perfectionist of OCD proportions, I am still not entirely happy with my drawing. I am not making much progress on the drawing of hair and the facial proportions of my portrait drawing still suck (from what I suspect is a result from not having my eye parallel to the paper when I draw).  

Pencil Drawing vs Black and White Photo

Based on a quick rewatching of the Girl on Fire scene, there are two possible subject matters I can based my sculpture on. First is a bust of one of the character's more emotive portrayals during the scene while the other is a complete head-to-toe figure of Katniss Everdeen while she is in mid-twirl and with the lower fringes of her dress on fire. Both are technically beyond the skill-level of a beginner sculptor but maybe beginner's luck can see me avoid a major failure. That's me doing a Grand Moff Tarkin impersonation ... and then we will crush the rebellion with one swift stroke (Dum-dum-dum Dum-dee-dum Dum-dee-dum) ... we all know how well that notion turned out.   

Katniss attending the talk-show interview for the Hunger Games participants
My favourite part of the Girl on Fire scene from the first Hunger Games movie

Anyway, I might be putting the cart before the horse as I still have yet to get some reading done on the sculpting process or even gotten all the supplies I need to actually start sculpting. But without any inspiration to sculpt, the book will likely remain unread and supplies unsourced, so getting inspired is just as important. That's what I keep telling myself as I procrastinate on learning how to sculpt. 

15 comments:

  1. Whenever I see your drawing, there are more and more beautiful, here the design is superb, the composition of hair perfect ! Congratulation Kuan !
    Cheers .
    Vincent .

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    1. Thank you for your very kind words Vincent. :) I am glad that you can see some improvement in my drawings. But I will need to do a little bit more research to make my drawings look more realistic and less akward.

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  2. Looking good and I feel your pain with the hair. More recently I've been telling my students to put a ground down first, lightly blended charcoal works well, and then build up the hair in tonal gradients as opposed to individual strands. Some of these are added at the end to help show the direction in which the hair might be moving or falling.

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    1. Thank you so much for your advice Michael. I am grateful for the help as it's tough trying to learn how to draw by myself without an expert's eye to see what I am doing wrong. I take it that you teach art. ^_^

      On the off-chance that you happen to read my reply to your comment, I wanted to ask if charchoal pencils (not sticks) can be used to put a ground down? Also, in building the tonal gradients, do I use graphite or charcoal?

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    2. We tend to avoid charcoal pencils as they are sometimes so compressed that they scratch the paper, just a simple stick of willow charcoal and then build up with your pencil in the normal way. It just speeds up the process and helps give a sense of depth. From this art teacher's perspective you're not doing anything wrong, keep going my good man.

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    3. Thanks again for the advice and encouragement Michael. XD

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  3. Talented you are, my friend!
    Best,
    Phil.

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  4. Awesome, you're really making nice progress :) I'm jealous :D

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    1. Nothing to be jealous about. I am not that good. XD
      Thanks for your kind comments though. Hopefully one day I can draw and sculpt digital like you but for now it's all analog for me. :)

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  5. And this one is even better than the latest one! I totally love it!

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  6. I really like you portraits practice serie ^^

    Your hand goes better and better in each of them my Dear FeM ^^

    By the way, did you noticed that I gave you a liebster award in my Temple (you worth it a lot !!) :

    http://letempledemorikun.blogspot.fr/2014/03/le-temple-de-morikun-ete-decore-dun.html

    It's showtime for you !! XD

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    1. Thanks a lot Morikun. I am still hoping to improve further as I practice more.

      Oh ... about the award ... sorry but I didn't know. I answered the questions you put up and hope it helps you. ^_^

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    2. Apologies again for missing that particular blog post of yours. >_<

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