For this drawing, I chose to develop my drawing skills by putting tips of academic training together. Some of which I will share with you. The first thing I began to think about, was the composition and placement of the three individual heads combined, their perspective, and how they would relate to each other. Then, I drew them by placing the contour of all three, ignoring the details. Finally, I began the construction process, which included the proportion of the facial features, followed by the tonal harmony.

I highly recommend this video to everyone. It is very true and will change the way you view things.
Beauty is the eye of the beholder!

Emperor Menelik in Black and White

http://troyartist.com


This acrylic painting of Emperor Menelik, is one of my most recent works. I'd like to share a few techniques on how I accomplished the final outcome.

In this painting of Emperor Menelik, my goal was to capture the spirit of the ancient warrior. I started by producing a pencil sketch on canvas of the composition or placement of the head, and then jumped right into the under painting. I chose to keep the under painting as a final result exploring the different values(from lights to middle to darks) while thinking about form.

This approach brings forth a very special, spontaneous effect, giving the piece a sense of life.

One thing that caught my attention while working on this painting, was the fact that drawing is truly the foundation. You should always begin by drawing the subject before applying paint. This way you are working with the composition, proportion, and tonal value first, then you can move on to color. From my experience, It is quite difficult to focus on the proportion value and color at the same time. Therefore, breaking down the process will definitely make things much easier.