Comment on Bruce Willis by earlierbirdscenic
Thanks, it all done in pencil on a white sheet of A3 cartridge paper.
I think we've had this conversation before, but how do you get is soooo blackened (wow, just had Metallica come to mind) I usually give up, and leave it sort of greyish...
jus get ure pencil and eat in to the paper. dont be afraid to rip those blacks in. really let the paper feel it. plus i used a 6B but regardless u shud be able to get pretty dark even with a 2B, but with more difficulty.
So in other words...before doing a dark background like that I should just be really angry, and only work on the background. Hmmmmm....Ok, i can do that, I just have to go call my brother...10 minutes of talking with him, and I could be ready for that....
lol, if that works for you, then i'd say go for it. But its a very good way to convey depth. Look up some paintings on a technique called "chiaroscuro". It was used in the renaissance where artists painted pictures with a definite light shining upon the objects. The light would cause great areas of brightness and also great areas of darkness. Its almost like painting in the dark. But yeah i've always been intrigued by that technique. Giving that contrast really gives the art more depth. It gets you one step closer to achieving photorealism.
Ya know...I became an artist to avoid all kinds of research that I hated doing in school. (didn't we all) But lately, I find myself doing more research than ever before. (Does that sound bitchy..cause I don't mean to) I googled it, and see exactly what you are talking about....and I think I like that. I never realized that my favorite painter used it...Rembrandt...I should have known that, but most of his paintings have that extreme dark background...(at least his portraits)