Char-actor Drawings (update 4/12 From the Wreckage): Winfred Hawkins

[Winfred Hawkins]

graphite.
24.75in x 18in
Portrait of a friend of mine.
version 1
Detail

[Winfred Hawkins]

final version
Bekah Scargraphite 24.75in x 18


detail


Another friend of mine
Amanda The Strong
media: graphite


detail

the needle and thread are real.

Nerve Endings (Gina, a friend of mine)
media: ball point pen


From the Wreckage
media: ball point pen

[Paul McCarroll]

graphite? cool

how long did this take to complete Winfred?
did you take your own photo for reference

+ do you use an eraser a lot?
just trying to figure out that nice frecked sort of shading
sometimes dificult with an online preview,
good work

[Winfred Hawkins]

graphite? cool

how long did this take to complete Winfred?
did you take your own photo for reference

+ do you use an eraser a lot?
just trying to figure out that nice frecked sort of shading
sometimes dificult with an online preview,
good work

About 2 weeks.
Yeah she was kind enough to let me take pictures of her. The hardest part was selecting which one photo to use. She is very photogenic, I rarely had to tell her anything.

I got the technique from an article in "Drawing" magazine. I was reading about Kent Bellows and his process. It's layers of textures and you keep adding and subtracting until you get the desired effect.

I had a hard time trying to figure out how to scratch it though. For me the process was the art. It was a trying experience destroying something that you put so much effort into.

[Winfred Hawkins]

Booker T. Washington
For a charity auction at Tuskegee University.

[Paul McCarroll]

About 2 weeks.
Yeah she was kind enough to let me take pictures of her. The hardest part was selecting which one photo to use. She is very photogenic, I rarely had to tell her anything.

I got the technique from an article in "Drawing" magazine. I was reading about Kent Bellows and his process. It's layers of textures and you keep adding and subtracting until you get the desired effect.

I had a hard time trying to figure out how to scratch it though. For me the process was the art. It was a trying experience destroying something that you put so much effort into.

thanks for the info
two weeks probably seems like a long time to most people to do a drawing but it isn't
the technique is a good one
sort of creating light rather than drawing round it
when I used to airbrush on panels of wood sometimes I'd spend a lot of time putting on thin layers
then splattering kitchen cleaner on to destroy the paint and mop it off
on and on until I could paint in the shadows and highlights
- I did this rather than use masking or any of the usual texturing methods that more often than not make airbrush look typical and plastic
the point being- the further on it got the more nervous I got that i was going to go too far and destroy the work and sometimes I did

so I know that feeling , its a tough call after so much labour

that new portrait youve added is good work too
like that old style
do you have any other work online?

 

[Winfred Hawkins]

that new portrait youve added is good work too
like that old style
do you have any other work online?

http://whawkins.deviantart.com/

[Julia Williams]

Wow, your graphite skills are amazing. So refined and detailed. Great work.

[Winfred Hawkins]

the picture of the girl is manical. why would you scratch a picture of a friend?  i highly doubt you would have done it to the booker t. washington.  respect man, it's called respect.  what exactly are you implying? 

Even though they are detailed. Char-actor is not about drawing predictable portrait's of people
I am not a portrait artist. I actually hate drawing them, mostly because it is a lie. The most rotten; twisted, or perhaps; degraded and abused person will come up to you asking you to draw them in some cute "everything is o.k" style / pose.

I draw aspects of their character that define them as a human being. Your reaction to "Bekah Scar" is exactly what I was trying to make people see. She has issues with the way she looks...even though she is beautiful, which has a lot to do with issues with how she grew up. She does not seem to appreciate herself as she is.

By making the drawing so detailed, the viewer imagines, in his/her mind, how much time, concentration, dedication, and energy was used to create it. When it is ruined they feel the pain of it, like why would you do something like that!

That is exactly how I feel when I meet women who try so hard to maintain an impossible image of themselves. An over exaggerated image that has been dictated by pop culture. They ruin themselves trying to achieve something that does not exist.

[Winfred Hawkins]

i highly doubt you would have done it to the booker t. washington.

It Is For A Charity!

The goal was to create something that old conservative people like. I live in Montgomery, Al. Art is about context. It would not be tactful to do something like that.

I actually started the piece last year, with the intention of adding more symbolic elements in it. I put it down for a while, the lady called me to see if I wanted to donate anything....I then remembered that I had that drawing. So I only had two days to turn it into something presentable.

[Kidknapper]

Your Oil Paintings on DeviantArt are really solid. Nice work

[Paul McCarroll]

She has issues with the way she looks...even though she is beautiful, which has a lot to do with issues with how she grew up. She does not seem to appreciate herself as she is.By making the drawing so detailed, the viewer imagines, in his/her mind, how much time, concentration, dedication, and energy was used to create it. When it is ruined they feel the pain of it, like why would you do something like that!That is exactly how I feel when I meet women who try so hard to maintain an impossible image of themselves. An over exaggerated image that has been dictated by pop culture. They ruin themselves trying to achieve something that does not exist.

insightful
I can see exactly where youre coming from with that
+ its not far off what I took from it initially
its the type of thing that I like to explore too
but I would never have risen to that explanation

- more importantly I just saw your new image 'Amanda the Strong'

man, that is just stunning
I love the way youve drawn the inner construction of the neck
gobsmacked by the rendering and moved by the sentiment

[Winfred Hawkins]

more importantly I just saw your new image 'Amanda the Strong'man, that is just stunningI love the way youve drawn the inner construction of the neck gobsmacked by the rendering and moved by the sentiment

lol...yeah I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I'm glad you like it, and I'm glad my approach is raising questions....or at least getting people to think past the drawing.

These portrait's are similes and metaphors for the idea of portraiture. The idea of capturing what a person really is rather than a mask. Draw the character of the person and not the shell. This person is as a ______?, or this person is like a_______?

I wasn't going to post it for a few more days though, but I guess I might as well.

[Winfred Hawkins]

(=

[Kidknapper]

It's good to know though that there are still artists out there making work that brings deeper meaning beyond the piece of art itself.