These are a series of photographs I took in San Francisco in the early 1980s. I believe the neighborhood was the Upper Haight district.
You may notice in this last that although I managed to get these cement forms square to the frame, because they’re resting on a steep San Francisco hill, the buildings are crooked. Oh well…
I’m a big fan of black and white photography, and have tons of negatives from pictures I’ve taken over the years. Unfortunately, the prints I’ve had developed were not well made, and I don’t have a darkroom anymore, so scanning the slides is my best option.
There are special scanners you can buy that have a light-source built into the top of them for scanning slides or negatives. This device lights the negative as the scanner passes underneath. I’ve managed to rig up a similar system using a regular scanner and just a piece of Canson Pro Layout Marker paper without any special lighting. Color slides or negatives, by the way, won’t scan properly with this system, only black and white.
Scanner with negatives
To make a print a light source is projected through the negative or slide onto emulsion-coated paper. The reason a regular scanner is not recommended for negatives is it doesn’t have that back lit source, so you’d only be scanning the front and not lighting the negative properly. You could just scan a print, but scanning the negative itself directly will give you better resolution.
What got me started on this project was reading an article about a guy who claimed to get decent scans using a florescent light and a plastic cover to light the negative as it was scanned. The white plastic sheet creates a diffused light through the back of the negative that gave him a proper scan, sort of like how a projection screen works. Unfortunately, my first test of that gave me poor results. The light was too bright. What needs to be controlled is the amount of light coming through the negative. Too much light will blind the scanner and give an image that is too bright. Not enough light will make it too dark.
After trying a series of different screens from paper to plastic and different light sources, I found what worked the best for me was the layout paper and dim daylight. The room was dimly lit by sunny daylight through closed blinds. I left the scanner top open, and placed the negative on the glass covered by the paper. After scanning you’ll need digital software that can invert the colors in the image. My scanner only goes up to 1200dpi, and if I reduce that to 300dpi I’ll get a good 4 x 6” print. If your scanner has a higher dpi that’s even better.
Scanned Negative
The Negative Inverted
Another problem you need to be aware of is negatives curl from the emulsion that’s on them which causes them to not lie flat on the glass, and that gives a blurred scan. The paper alone won’t be enough to keep them flat. Slide scanners come with a plastic frame holder that keeps the negatives flat, and to do the same with this customized setup you need to press down the paper and negatives flat, but not block the light passing through or cast a shadow over the negative. I found that I could only manage to scan one or two strips at a time this way but that was okay with me. Also make sure that everything is clean and dust free.
If you want to scan in color, you’ll likely have to get a slide scanner. There are light tables that have special lamps in them for photography (I assume the scanners use these too,) and you could then shoot them on the table instead of scanning. Those tables aren’t cheap though, and you’d need a high quality camera with a macro lens, so a scanner may be more cost effective.
Digging through some archived photos I pulled out a few that I haven’t seen in awhile. I made these using an old Brownie Target Six-20 model camera, when I was approximately six years old. I hesitate to say if I’ve ever shot anything better. My mother recently said she’s seen this camera somewhere at her home in storage, so I’ll have to hunt for it next time I visit her. Some of them on the web go for as little as $10-20 and the film is still available too.
The camera was marvelous in its simplicity with a fixed lens and point-and-shoot operation. One curious feature was you could hold it horizontally and look through a viewfinder on the side as well as one on the top. I also seem to recall having a printing kit for developing the film, but I don’t know what became of that. I even still have some of the negatives, which these images are directly shot from using my light-table.
Neighbor with BB-Gun
Cowgirl
Parents
Attention!
It’s amusing that so many of the portraits have the top of their heads cropped, but give me a break. I was only about four feet tall at the time.
Ink Drawing
Drawing Detail
This is based on an older drawing I made for an unpublished short story several years ago. It was a science fiction story where the dying soldier was wearing all this modern weaponry and a gas mask. I decided to do a retelling of it this time with him in Civil War dress and rifle. The original drawing was also done digitally in grisaille washes, so I changed that this time to all ink on paper. The finer lines are made with an archival ink marker, but the darker areas were from a steel nib, no brushing. My fingers are still a bit numb from all that scratching, and I think I may need to buy some more ink. The detail image is approximately actual size, and the whole drawing is about 10 x 12 inches.
Painting Update v.4
I still need to sharpen up a few spots, and adjust some values here and there, but I like how this looks so far.
Painting update
Not as much progress on this as I hoped. Too many interuptions. Here’s the latest version, however. It’s starting to take shape. I can see that I’ll need to go back over some of these areas later and improve them some, but I’ll wait on that until I get the figures painted.
Here’s an update to the new painting, just the bottom foreground section. I normally work from the background to foreground, but thought I’d begin with the darker areas first this time, and save the figures for last. I should also darken the value on her coat a bit. Hopefully I’ll get the rest of the interior and curtains finished today.
Painted Foreground
Anders Zorn
Detail
While waiting for my oil painting to dry, I spent some time on the Christie’s auction site. I found this image of a painting by the great artist, Anders Zorn. One special aspect of his paintings is how he suggests forms by the simplest of brushstrokes. Notice how the jewel choker on her neck is just a series of white dots, which is enough to tell you what it is without showing the edges at all. It starts off with just a little bit of shadow, and that’s all that he needs. Lovely. Nothing inpires me more to paint than seeing work like this. You can see the rest of the painting at this Christie’s page. It’s a great site, but sometimes bogs down.
I’m starting a new painting. This is based on a quick sketch I made some years back while up in Montreal as I eavesdropped on two friends saying goodbye. He was flying back home and reluctant to leave.
Pencil Sketch
After recently digging up the old sketch, I made a digital color layout for what I wanted the final result to look like. The surface I chose to paint it on was a stretched canvas I had already previously prepared (20 x 16 inches.) I’ll paint this in oils.
Color Layout
Undertone Painting
The painted version on the right is the inital undertone applied in diluted color complements. I had to adapt the sketch to the new proportions, so I added a bit of space to the right side, and placed a bed in the foreground. I try to keep all the painted values somewhat in the middle range at this stage.
To follow yesterday’s post using a grid, here’s a demonstration of a similar sytem for drawing a live model. I’m using a photo here to represent this method, but it should make sense in how to use it for nay real-life situation.
Finding center
Once again, I want to spot the center of the model’s pose and project as much of a grid as I can. Since I’m not dealing with an original 2D image, my mesurement is going to be rough and approximate, but that should still be sufficient. Holding out a ruler at arm’s length makes measuring easier. I run an imaginary horizontal line from the top of his head horizontally to align with his left shoulder, and from that point picture a diagonal line drawn from there to his right toe. I don’t bother to include his right hand and foot since his arm and leg make a nice square. It looks like the center will be approximately where the shadow of his right arm meets the waistline of his shorts. I verify that by measuring out from that point to the sides and top to bottom. Unlike the grid made with the photo from yesterday, this pose is simple enough to not need as many lines, and I can accomplish the same thing just by measuring within the outer boundary and two inersecting lines at the center. The fewer grid lines I make, the better.
Drawing the model
I begin my drawing with a quick sketch of the pose, usually composed of the basic shapes of the figure. This is to insure that I capture the flow of the lines and shapes right from the start without getting trapped by the confinement of measuring. If I’m sketching someone who is not actually posing for me, such as at a park or by the ocean, I want to be sure and get as much information down as quickly as possible before they move.
On my larger drawing, I measure from where the center point is supposed to be out to where I’ve drawn his knee, and check that distance to his left shoulder. Looks like I’ve got that distance correct. Now I check the height from his head to that waistline point, and what do you know, that’s about right too. Lucky me. It might have been that the leg was drawn too long or the torso too wide, but in this case no length corrections were needed. I draw a grid of four rectangles from that point to the sides and compare my figure drawing to the model. (Honestly, I seldom draw out the grid. I’m mainly using it here for demonstration purposes. As long as I know the center point, I usually just “eye-ball” the lines from there, which saves me from erasing grid lines later.) Looks like I’ll need to make some adjustments to his right arm, the height of his right leg, and move his head slightly to the right, shown here in red.
You could also create your grid on paper before you start drawing and just enlarge it by a certain percentage. Measure the sides of the rectangles on your model grid, and draw them on your paper to a larger ratio that will fit on the page, twice as large or whatever size you wish, then draw the figure within that grid. I prefer to start with a sketch instead since it improves my guesswork.
Make sure that you measure points on the model from a stationary spot that doesn’t change, in other words, don’t move around, especially not forward or back. The model also needs to remain as still as possible. When I’m outdoors sketching people, the first thing I draw is anything that might move in the pose they are in, like arms and feet. Train your eye to study the features without looking back, so that if they move, it’s not a problem. For a model that is posing for me time is not a problem, but I still prefer to make quick marks for where things go so the model won’t tire on me. Once everything is properly placed, you can add more details if you wish, but don’t jump into that before you’re ready.
There’s another similar and more precise method of drawing like this which is called “sight-size” that is worth studying, but this system is more portable for outdoor situations.
It is possible to use a grid and scale up an image proportionally to a different size. For this demonstration I’ll be using a photograph, but I use this process for drawings as well.
Original Photo
Scaled up Drawing
First, I determine the extreme area of the figure in space, from top to bottom and left and right sides (white rectangle.) I then divide that region into quarters with a center point (A.) The blue square is the same quarter size with its center at A, and the red squares are quarter sections of the blue.
For the new drawing, this grid could be drawn lightly in pencil or colored lines, or better still on tracing paper. On the larger sheet I begin with marks for the top and bottom at whatever size I wish, shown here in red, and measure out where the grid will be within that space, which I’ve roughly sketched out in green. This gives me enough reference points to see where the major joints and edges of the figure will be placed in relation to the grid. I could divide it up further if necessary, but I don’t want it to get too cluttered. I prefer to only make small marks and lines for where my reference points will be placed, and then set the grid aside so that it doesn’t interfere or impair the new drawing in any way. Following the grid too carefully can cause the drawing to look too mechanical.
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Artwork by D. B. Clemons 