Self, 2009 (mirror inverted), by Fred Hatt
This is a self-portrait, drawn in 40 minutes this past Sunday evening. The version above has been flipped across the vertical axis so it appears as I appear to others, rather than as I see myself in a mirror. My self-portraits always look a bit angry. I think it’s just the intensity of the artist’s stare. I must look like quite an ogre to the models who pose for me!
While making this drawing I put a camera looking over my shoulder, set to take a picture every 30 seconds. Here are some selected stages in the development of the drawing.
In the first two minutes, I roughed in the highlights, drawing with the edge of my crayon:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 1:30
Next I started outlining the bright shapes:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 4:30
And then the dark areas:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 7:30
I started bringing in the color of the warm-toned light to my left:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 10:00
And the cooler-toned edge lighting to my right:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 11:30
Then reddish shadows:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 14:30
I started looking for the highlights within the highlights, making strokes that followed the three-dimensional contours of the face:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 18:00
By that point I was about halfway through the process. From this point on I was looking at color, details, and correcting distortions. The face was too thin, so I thickened it up:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 23:00
Toward the end of the process, I was developing the texture of hair and other details. These features can be drawn with a loose hand, as the energetic feel is more important than the precise detail. Some shadows appear reddish, while others are cooler in tone. I used a bluish green, the complement to the natural flesh tone, to deepen these shadows:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt, in progress at 37:30
I stopped at 40 minutes because I wanted the drawing to remain loose and spontaneous. Here’s the finished version, as drawn, not flipped as in the version at the top of the post:
Self, 2009, by Fred Hatt
10 Comments
It’s very cool to see your step by step process — the method to the madness
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BTW, I can relate to your comment about the stare. I remember in a portrait class I posed for, one of the drawings looked like an FBI’s Most Wanted poster because of the intense stare.
From then on I’ve tried to “reset” my gaze now and then so I don’t look like a zombie.
Fred, what a cool experiment!!! Setting up the camera was fantastic idea! Love it.
The difference between 11:30 and 14:30, with the mere addition of the reds, is striking. I see how you really need those reds to bring out the facial contours from the softer cools.
By the way, as a model who has posed before you many, many, many times, you do NOT look like an ogre! Teddy bear is more like it
Thanks for this wonderfully engaging and educational post!
Claudia
More than once I have had people sitting for me, not professional models but portrait subjects, say, “Why are you squinting at me that way?” Claudia, you’re just used to it. Teddy bear, yes – Dr. Teddy von Evil.
Now when I’ve been modeling I’m more worried about looking sleepy rather than too intense!
Thanks for the comments, Andrew and Claudia.
Cool, Fred. Now I wonder (hope) if your gonna put the 30 seconders all together in a video?
Jim, I don’t think I can do that on this one. In more than half of the shots my head is blocking the drawing or the autofocus focused on my head and not on the drawing. Originally I wanted to get a friend who is a filmmaker to make a video of a portrait session, but she’s out of the country for a while so that will have to wait until next month at least. This was my stab at doing it unassisted – photographing myself drawing myself and then writing about it. Pretty darn narcissistic!
Enjoyed seeing the process!
Fred, it’s interesting to see how you see yourself. And there is a difference to me. The drawing without flipping doesn’t look like you. It’s “wrong”. The drawing flipped, does. Yet, of course it’s the same drawing. Makes me wonder what I look like to people and how that is different to the way I see myself. lol! In more ways than just physically!
Liag, have you ever looked at yourself in a non-reversing mirror such as the True Mirror? It’s an amazing experience because we usually always see ourselves reversed in a regular mirror or displaced in time in a video or photo. In a non-reversing mirror you see yourself live, but as you appear to others. The left eye and the right eye then become windows into the correct hemisphere of the brain (or something like that). My experience was that I appeared more alive, and more kind and open, than I usually appear to myself in a regular mirror. The drawing in this post was done with a regular mirror, so it’s interesting that reversing it makes it look right to you!
I’d never heard of the True Mirror. A wee bit expensive, so I think I’ll try to make one (and deal with the line down the middle.)
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