Saturday, March 11, 2006

The Face

This is a self portrait. It's a charcoal piece, with some chalk highlights in places. It is unfinished: Something about finishing it scared me, so I stopped. Pulling that face was my instructor's idea when she took my photo (to create more lines), of which was used as my reference. The eye on the right (my left eye) was almost shut and in the shade. That's why it is darkened out. The eye on the left (my right eye) is all you need to know about this piece. That is the part that I nailed. The rest I had a hard time getting right. I wouldn't be satisfied with the way this turned out, but that eye makes it work. You've also been treated to my real name. Now, all my mystique is gone.

I feel like I'm looking into a mirror when I look at this piece. The mirror reflects all my rage back at me. This was my last work while I was at college. I got interested in psychology and never returned to this period. This is a good thing. Between psychology and various writing and literature classes, I picked up on new skills and gained specific knowledge that drives my passion for real story telling (not hoity-toity literary crap). I think my artistic talents are better suited for what will be my stories to come.

P.S. I'm not a fan of pictures of myself, so this will probably be all you'll see of the elusive Grunt. Also, I'm not a mean guy. I promise.

8 comments:

mo** said...

you definitelly nailed the eyes. well done.
why are you angry though?

The Grunt said...

I'm not angry much anymore, Mona. I think in this instance, my instructor kept pestering me to pull funny faces for the reference photo and I got a little annoyed with her. It worked.

The Grunt said...

Hey WOTS. Thanks for the compliment. Having done pastels and charcoal yourself, then you must know how chalky and dusty you get afterward. One of these days I'll have to try my hand at it again. I think if I was to do the "art" thing again I'd try sculpture. Any volunteers for a live nude? ;)

Anonymous said...

I don't know what you look like in real life, but dude this looks like an awesome drawing. My artistic skill (if i may be so bold to call it that) only extend as far as stick figures and colour by numbers.

Kudos for 'exposing' yourself online.

Scott said...

Excellent picture, but I have to say that it is a little bit scary.

D

Anonymous said...

Now I am a lil frightened of you,
and I like it!

The Grunt said...

It's interesting that it scared some of you. I have referred to this portrait as my evil twin, in the past. In real life you'll only see this face if I'm joking around or in the rare case that someone's about to reap the whirlwind from me. I'm non-violent and a pretty laid back guy to boot.

Maybe I'll overcome my reluctance to put pictures of myself on here to show the other side. Don't expect this to happen often, though. I want most of the focus to be on the writing and ideas.

Crystal said...

awesome! you look just like you!