An oil painting from my senior show

[icebergart]

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I just recently graduated from college with a degree in art. I haven't really ever posted here, but I love to come here and browse every now and then because it is really inspiring. This is probably my favorite painting that I did during my painting senior project class. Not the best photo in the world, it was hanging on the wall during my senior show and wasn't lit very well.


I did a series of these blurred portraits on wallpaper backgrounds. The idea is that the chaotic figure juxtaposed against the orderly and structured patterns would create an interesting tension and visual. And that the blurred portraits themselves would show a different side of the person than a traditional portrait. You would see into the person instead of just physical characteristics. I found it interesting that most people could still recognise the people i painted.
Let me know what you think.

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There's so much we haven't seen-
Iceberg Art

[joe12south]

Interesting concept. The one thing that strikes me is the lack of structure to the shirt. The folds look blobby rather than giving definition.

[mrgrumble]

nice work! although i've seen that type of figure on top of a patterned ground numerous times before this is a really fresh take on it and well done! i do agree with joe12 about the shirt however, mostly in his left arm though i think?

[icebergart]

Thanks for the comments!
I agree on the shirt, thanks for pointing it out. I started painting these in one sitting because of the way i was painting the faces. I wanted to make sure the paint wouldnt dry so i could blur and blend parts together. I would transfer my images one night and then that Friday night I would start as soon as I could and paint until I was finished sometime saturday or so frustrated I needed to sleep a little. I never got around to trying any mediums that would slow drying time, though I am familiar with them. But i did like the process of getting a medium sized painting ( most from this series were at least 32x42) finished in a night. The faces were a challenge to get to blend just so. Any ways, I might do a few more of these eventually, but I think i need a break now that I have graduated to try a few more ideas.
Here are some more from last semester, excuse the glares

This one is 30 x 50

I tried adding some texture to this one before I started painting. I piled on modeling paste onto the face. The results were interesting, though you cant really see it in the picture. It did make it harder to blend colors together over rough texture.

This one is a smaller one, about 8x11 or something, I did 3 smaller ones. And My professor wanted me to try some water soluble oil paint that he had, but he only had red, blue, yellow and white. So i had to get back to my color theory in mixing the right colors, whew not fun.

This was the first one i did and is 32x42

Welp that is most of them, I had one more larger one and the two smaller ones, but i dont have photos of those for some reason.

I would have loved to have done more or dedicated more time to each piece, but I was dumb and triple concentrated in our art program. So i spread myself thin between graphic design, painting, and ceramics. That is another reason why I had to paint these in just a few days each, I literally had no free time. Each of the larger ones took between 25 - 30 hours to paint.
I appreciate the comments, thanks.

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[Primalpate]

dood wheres the face you seem to know where you were going wit this pic but u forgot to add detailz to the face i dun no why its so blury a lot of people say 'this is my style!!!" but next time put a paper undur your hand so it doesnt smear the pic just a tip BUT it does com off with a pretty cool effect. i also have a deviant art accnt, do you ahve one? I like to add you

ps- CRITIK ME PLZZZ

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...ad.php?t=97189

[AldoKatayanagi]

dood wheres the face you seem to know where you were going wit this pic but u forgot to add detailz to the face i dun no why its so blury a lot of people say 'this is my style!!!" but next time put a paper undur your hand so it doesnt smear the pic just a tip BUT it does com off with a pretty cool effect. i also have a deviant art accnt, do you ahve one? I like to add you

ps- CRITIK ME PLZZZ

comment of the year award.

I really dig your work. It's impressive that you produced them so quickly, but I have to second the crits about the shirts being too undefined. More work on the fabric rendering would contributed nicely to the contrast with the face

[Elwell]

dood wheres the face you seem to know where you were going wit this pic but u forgot to add detailz to the face i dun no why its so blury a lot of people say 'this is my style!!!" but next time put a paper undur your hand so it doesnt smear the pic just a tip BUT it does com off with a pretty cool effect. i also have a deviant art accnt, do you ahve one? I like to add you

ps- CRITIK ME PLZZZ

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthr...ad.php?t=97189

Best.
Post.
Ever.

[Rich Pellegrino]

Good work.

I think the first is the strongest. The contrast between the still body and blurred face make it much more interesting for me. The others fall short because I am too aware of what your trying to do. I'd watch the size of the head in the first piece. It looks a little shrunken to me. What school are you graduating from?

[Zaknafain]

I like it a lot... The first one is of course my favorite though I really like the 4th one a lot too.
If I had a crit than It would be the way you choose your lighting. Its most apparent on the clothes which look somewhat flat because of the lack of direction in lighting. But thats just me, I always go with dramatic lighting.

and Primalpates post in this thread... BEST POST EVER! -_-

[squidmonk3j]

i'd agree that the first one is the best of the batch, and i'd rly like to see more in the same vein. mebbe with stronger relationships between background and foreground....as they stand now, i don't really get an impression of depth. it's more like the charas are superimposed than integrated into a scene. but, maybe that's your intention?

at any rate, cool concept!

[asoir]

nice work and idea, i can see a lot of potential in the first image, just need tuning up.

now, to the real reason i posted:

dude, that CANNOT be a real user. sorry. cant believe it.
(primalpate)

[icebergart]

Thanks for all the comments, they are much appreciated. I agree with most everything you guys have said about what could be improved. As far as in integration between background and the figure, I thought about creating shadows and lighting on the wallpaper but wasn't sure if time would allow me to do it justice, also the initial concept was that there be a striking contrast between figure and background and I wasn't sure if this would be compromised if they were blended together into a scene. I agree with the lighting and the handling of the shirts. I haven't done much with lighting and have only done a handful of still life's, which is something I want to put considerable more time into. I am hoping to buy a tablet soon and am looking forward to starting some digital painting and seeing how that compares.

Oh and I agree on primalpate, i don't even know what to say, or what could be said.

Thanks again!

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Iceberg Art