painting a Master's

I recently had the pleasure of Tintoretto's Penitent Magdalene grace my ocular...modules for the first time. Oh Lord...

I think it's inspired me to attempt to recreate a classic painting, on occasion, to better grasp anatomy, color, lighting, value, etc. I learned a little while I recreated this. A bit of a speedpaint I suppose.

I'm going to try to hold myself to doing this at least once a week.

Tinoretto, Penitent Magdalene (detail)

speedpaint recreation.

I know a lot is off, especially scale and anatomy wise, but it was still a really great challenge for me and more an exploration of the colors he used. I didn't want to get too in depth, but I loved her face. The bone structure is so subtle and so beautiful. 

1

I've stored up god knows how many "how to's" in this folder. It's probably best I wipe off the dust and give them a shot.

Since I'm often and perpetually stuck on an island of the banal, I'm up for any suggestions that break me away from what I gravitate towards. Fanart. But you should draw what you love and I love all the silly pop culture things I draw, so I don't care.

When I first really started to draw stuff for myself, it was Harry Potter fanart. And I loved it, I still do.

I digress. One of the tutorials I found suggested using one of the filters from Photoshop, Crystallize, to a photo of your choice. At the very least, you get really nice color palettes.

I took this random image from tumblr. Which, after searching for the source, is a painting by Richard Estes called New York City Subway.

I used the filter Crystallize, and rotated the image.

It took a while to dig something out of it. I had to step away a couple times and erase the face(s) my brain always wanted to find. 

It isn't perfect, but it was really fun to try. I can't say I'd have come up with this on my own. 

Attempt no. 1 at an environment.