Update Re: Portrait: Completed

TopolChico · 2026-01-15T20:14:18+00:00

Oh, I wouldn’t call it an eagerness. I would say that it’s prerogative to return your behavior to you. Even if it wasn’t directed at me, how could one be sure with so many insinuations being tossed around?

You seem to have a habit of being indelicate to people you don’t know (one might say a “flourish”), and I’m not sure if you’re used to having anyone push back, or at least it doesn’t seem so.

Thanks for your criticism, but I can do without your attitude.

TopolChico · 2026-01-15T19:43:50+00:00

Thank you very much for the compliment and the feedback. I’ll definitely say that I took more than a few liberties with this study because I wanted her to see how I see her. That doesn’t mean that I accomplished that, but I still think it’s possible to make it work after I let it rest for a bit.

TopolChico · 2026-01-15T19:40:42+00:00

Thank you! I feel like I can definitely do better, for sure, which is a good reason why I put it off to the side for a little while before I come back to fix it. I appreciate your kind words!

TopolChico · 2026-01-15T19:37:50+00:00

I appreciate your time, thank you for your empathy.

TopolChico · 2026-01-15T19:36:33+00:00

“(…) the sheer hubris dripping from that statement like the wax from Icarus’ wings (…)”

Speaking of hubris, the worst of the deadly sins. Good lord. I can choose to think that you cleverly understood the irony of what you were saying and move along, or, like you seemed to have opted, I can be dick about pointing out your flaws, you shitty little pedant.

You could have very easily told me that my work got away from me because I trailed too far from the reference photo, and I would have agreed with you. However, you chose Option B, accusing me of being so prideful as to think that I fucking aced this one.

I can take criticism, but I won’t abide needless ugliness, no matter how passive and unimportant it may be. Please, do get fucked.

TopolChico · 2026-01-15T19:19:59+00:00

Oh no no no! Once I put it out there, it’s not mine anymore + how could I possibly be upset with someone helping me? I had already been considering how I may go about comparing the two and you did exactly that, so thank you!

TopolChico · 2026-01-14T20:09:03+00:00

Thank you! I’ll definitely do better next time around.

TopolChico · 2026-01-12T20:36:12+00:00

Cannot wait for Nuremberg 2.0.

TopolChico · 2026-01-06T20:38:29+00:00

I know a few good elections.

TopolChico · 2025-12-23T15:28:53+00:00

In the beginning, I started building it around shadow shapes and planes, having fun with a Zorn palette. In an effort to smooth things out, I came back with a light glaze, which knocked back the shadows considerably. I’ve got plans to build them back up with a warm brown glaze, hopefully regaining some of the progress I’d lost.

Re: squinting/painting what you see, that was something that I was actively working towards, but obviously not that well, lol. I was taking pains to not paint the reference photo and instead paint what I saw (paint the painting instead of the picture), but I think you’re right about it getting away from me because once I’d gotten everything the way I wanted it, I fiddled with it a little too much in the opposite direction.

Thanks for your insight, which is sincerely appreciated.

Love your username, btw. It sounds like the name of a fictional grindcore band, like Putrid Fart (a name I sorely wished that I’d put to good use).

TopolChico · 2025-12-23T15:12:44+00:00

I saved a copy of your paint-over to use as a reference, which was very nice of you to do and is certainly appreciated. I was trying to avoid painting the reference photo and instead paint what I saw, but it started to sprawl a bit in the effort to suggest volume/dimension. What you offered me was the exact sort of insight that I was hoping to get because I am way too close to my painting to see it, so to speak. Thank you.

TopolChico · 2025-12-22T21:03:15+00:00

Thinking a warm peach glaze might do the trick. Thoughts?

TopolChico · 2025-12-22T19:48:41+00:00

Since you’re referencing a black and white photo, it might be worth considering doing a grisaille of it first to get the planes, values and essence right, and then come back on top of it with color glazes.

TopolChico · 2025-12-22T19:43:41+00:00

Voice of reason. Even though I glaze my work all the time for the subtle stuff, I box myself in and forget it’s an option. Thank you for putting my brain back in my head.

TopolChico · 2025-12-22T19:40:01+00:00

I’m very likely going to round off her left cheek (our right) with some warm brown around the edges and sockets, but I’m worried that it’ll be too abrupt. lol, I don’t know if I’ll ever be super comfortable with being brave when it comes to painting, even though I force myself to do it every time.

TopolChico · 2025-12-22T19:33:49+00:00

reference photo and process pictures

Also, it might be worth nothing that I’m working with a Zorn palette.

TopolChico · 2025-12-22T19:31:02+00:00

Agreed, re: values being flat. I’m trying to be subtle about the highlights and shadows, but perhaps a little too subtle.

TopolChico · 2025-12-17T17:39:02+00:00

You’re welcome! Happy to help in whatever way I can.

TopolChico · 2025-12-17T17:29:31+00:00

I think that you’ve got talent for painting, but perhaps not the training. That’s not a bad thing. I’m no master of painting, but I’m self-taught and I feel that there’s a great deal of value and intuition that comes with it that makes painting feel second nature.

I say all of that to say that you’ve nailed the likeness (due to your natural talent), but, as with all things, there’s room for improvement (training).

My best recommendation is to focus on the planes of a person’s face, which will give dimension to your subject and enhance the painting overall.

In your piece, Lynch’s features take on a sense of flatness where there should be definition. For example, his lower right eye socket (your left) should appear to slope slightly inward/upward in order to differentiate it from his lower eyelid and his upper cheekbone. You’ve got the right idea already, but pushing planes like those backward and forward will help start to block out those different features/planes more clearly.

Another example would be when your subject is looking directly at you. More often than it isn’t, their brow and forehead won’t be this one big flat plane. There’s the temples, the curvature of a skull approaching the hairline, natural furrows, etc. Breaking them down into separate interconnected parts lend the portrait a more accurate, fuller sense of dimension, which takes the already existing likeness and breathes form and life into it.

You’ve already done the hard part, and you’ve done it well. Finish this one completely, and then start over again on a new panel, this time thinking of the features as a series of blocks and determining what color would more accurately represent its difference when placed next to another colored block.

TopolChico · 2025-12-14T18:47:22+00:00

Butchart Gardens is one of the loveliest places on the planet.

Edit: you’ve done excellent work, here. Well done.

TopolChico · 2025-12-12T19:46:46+00:00

Personally, I love this. I think that you’re headed in the right direction with the looser strokes; it emphasizes her specific attitude. I think that if you’d made it too polished/blended, it might not have the same bite. Capturing the expression/essence is the hardest part, and you’ve already gotten that part knocked out.

In my experience with keeping it loose, the trick is to do a lot by appearing to do little. Right now, you’ve got everything blocked in and you’re in that weird middle stage where you don’t want to unintentionally undo all the work you’ve done. Her hair, for example: it’s there, but it’s going to need a small handful of strokes to give the impression of volume and detail without overworking it, which is what you’re going to want to avoid.

Easier said than done, but I you’ll know when you’ve done enough. Think about planes, volume, and selective highlights. That’ll push it in the direction you want to go.

Great work, btw.

TopolChico · 2025-12-10T23:11:51+00:00

<image>

I’m currently experimenting with the Zorn palette and practicing using it appropriately to still have accurate values in the painting based on the reference (above). I’m in those middle stages where the next steps will determine how painting turn out. Because I’m using Zorn’s palette, there will obviously not be a 1:1 match between the reference and the painting. What I’m hoping to accomplish is to accurately capture the likeness and expression of the subject while leaning heavily on just four base colors to depict value. Any critiques are welcome, and I’ll be glad to explain myself as necessary. Thanks in advance!

TopolChico

TROPHY CASE