Portrait Of Math Is Hard by zoobyshoe

[Evo]

Cyrus, I noticed your drawing skills in the "build a house" thread. You have talent.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I just love it Zoob. You really did a great job of capturing the fair skin and hair. Of course your subject is just beautiful!

Thanks, hypatia. Skin tones require the most careful, even work, so I'm glad you approve of this, here.

I left the hair not fully rendered on the advise of other artists so the drawing would be more instantly recognizable as a drawing. If you go beyond a certain level of finish they can be mistaken for photographs when shrunk down and posted on the web. I had a lot of people say they thought the last two portraits I posted here were photographs at first. That sounds like a sort of compliment, but it's not really a good thing: why spend so many hours on something if people just glance at it for a second and move on, thinking it's a photo?

Still, I have fallen prey to this urge to be hyper-meticulous in two other portraits that I haven't posted at PF yet. I'm not sure how to resolve this.

Yeah, Math has the most wonderfully pleasant face, doesn't she?

 

[Evo]

MIH is gorgeous, I have a few pictures of her and she's a knock out.

 

[radou]

MIH is gorgeous, I have a few pictures of her and she's a knock out.

Post them. We won't tell her, we promise.

 

[Cyrus]

Cyrus, I noticed your drawing skills in the "build a house" thread. You have talent.

No, I had tallent. Its all bye bye now.

 

[Evo]

No, I had tallent. Its all bye bye now.

No, you may be rusty, but it's not gone.

I am hoping to find time to start drawing again. All of my artwork and supplies were destroyed in a flood a few years ago and I have been too heartbroken since then to draw.

 

[daniel_i_l]

Wow! At first I thought that it was a photograph!

 

[Anttech]

Very good both actually, although Zoob's is by far the better, cyrusabdollahi isn't actually that bad, I certainly can't use paint that well Can you do me an airbus please cyrusabdollahi?

Zoob do you use your skills for work?

 

[Astronuc]

I am hoping to find time to start drawing again. All of my artwork and supplies were destroyed in a flood a few years ago and I have been too heartbroken since then to draw.

That's rough. But please start drawing again.

 

[Dr Transport]

It's not such a stretch to extrapolate that I have brains from the drawing, but I'm damned if I know how you figured out I was beautiful.

Lucky guess? Both you and MIH...

 

[JasonRox]

Amof, that's totally true.

I agree also!

I remember I once drew a picture for a girl in like Grade 3-6 and she still had it in like senior year in high school. Pretty sweet.

 

[BillJx]

Stunning, Zoobie. Stunning, MIH. You can tell your parents that they do fine work.

Cyrus, I'm no art critic but it seems to be you'd be an artist if you loved the process of drawing so much that you worked endlessly at it. Obviously there can be no talent without intelligence, but a lot of talented people insist that skill development is the biggest part of genius. If you'd rather do other things than spend endless hours drawing, there's no shame in that.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Lucky guess? Both you and MIH...

Yup. There is no zoobyshoe. Zooby is a sock puppet invented by me, Math Is Hard. This is a self portrait.

Fools rule! Hahahahahahahaha!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Stunning, Zoobie.

Thanks much, Bill.

 

[Ki Man]

Yup. There is no zoobyshoe. Zooby is a sock puppet invented by me, Math Is Hard. This is a self portrait.

Fools rule! Hahahahahahahaha!

which makes you your own puppet that is actually your real self in disguise.

sounds like a twilight zone episode. to the bomb shelter and/or bank safe!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Zoob do you use your skills for work?

No, this is a serious hobby only at this point.

 

[zoobyshoe]

which makes you your own puppet that is actually your real self in disguise.

sounds like a twilight zone episode. to the bomb shelter and/or bank safe!

It's funny you should say that because once, when I was diligently at work on my first painting Portrait of a Zoobie as a Young Sock puppet on the Foot of a Barbie About to Wear a Zoobyshoe I was interrupted when my Math Is Hard mask slipped from my face and hit the mirror in which I was studying my reflection shattering me into a thousand ships which sunk immediately upon being launched. The camera panned over to Rod Serling who said a few introductory words, and the next half hour of my life was sheer hell, except for the commercial breaks.

 

[BobG]

It's funny you should say that because once, when I was diligently at work on my first painting Portrait of a Zoobie as a Young Sock puppet on the Foot of a Barbie About to Wear a Zoobyshoe I was interrupted when my Math Is Hard mask slipped from my face and hit the mirror in which I was studying my reflection shattering me into a thousand ships which sunk immediately upon being launched. The camera panned over to Rod Serling who said a few introductory words, and the next half hour of my life was sheer hell, except for the commercial breaks.

Wow! That explains so much, like why I've never seen you two together! And why you have no photo!

That's sadly romantic, but I find the sinking of the 1000 ships so depressing! Now I have nothing but a 1000 empty life vests.

 

[Gokul43201]

Zoob, very nice work.

It's funny you should say that because once, when I was diligently at work on my first painting Portrait of a Zoobie as a Young Sock puppet ...

It's uncanny that you should say that. The first thought that entered my head when I read the thread title was Joyce!

 

[zoobyshoe]

Wow! That explains so much, like why I've never seen you two together! And why you have no photo!

Exactly.

That's sadly romantic, but I find the sinking of the 1000 ships so depressing! Now I have nothing but a 1000 empty life vests.

Well, it seems sad, but the painting was a hit, and launched a 1000 threads titled "My Old Drawings."

 

[zoobyshoe]

Zoob, very nice work.

It's uncanny that you should say that. The first thought that entered my head when I read the thread title was Joyce!

Not really uncanny. I actually already launched 1000 stupid quetions with a paraphrase of that Joyce title. Well, three or four anyway.

 

[sara_87]

wow zoobyshoe that is an amazing picture!

i find it very difficult to draw anyone that i don't think is beautiful...the picture just doesn't come out the same as when you draw someone that you have feelings for and you think is gorgeous

it is clear to see that you really like MIH... or your just super super good at drawing?

 

[zoobyshoe]

wow zoobyshoe that is an amazing picture!

Thank you very, very much.

i find it very difficult to draw anyone that i don't think is beautiful...the picture just doesn't come out the same as when you draw someone that you have feelings for and you think is gorgeous

it is clear to see that you really like MIH... or your just super super good at drawing?

Since you're a portrait artist, too, I'll answer in depth.

By way of illustrating my take on this subject, here's my portrait of Thomas Edison:

I don't like Edison, I don't feel warmth toward him, but I'm deeply fascinated by him, by the kind of man he was and by the impact he had on the world. I chose a reference photo that I felt would afford me the most opportunities to emphasize all kinds of negative character traits while also conveying the fact he was a force to be reakoned with. I find his direct, cold stare to be both an act of agression and an expression of his arrogance.

The rest of his features are not refined, but kind of thick and clumsy in a way that suggests a bully to me, and there's an unkempt edge to the hair that says "I don't care for niceties".

This drawing of Edison is every bit as backed up by emotional reaction on my part as the one I did of Math Is Hard. It's technically just as good, maybe better.

The main difference between the two is subject matter. People would much, much rather look at a beautiful face with a pleasant, serene expression than at an aggressive looking business man eyeballing them as if he's figuring out how he might exploit them. If you go back to the beginning of this thread and read my post #15 you'll see where I give the story of how this portrait of Math is Hard was received on an art forum served as a revelation to me about the importance of subject matter.

So, while I don't feel any inclination to draw someone unless they elicit a strong emotional reaction from me, that reaction doesn't have to be limited to thinking they're beautiful. I just have to find them compelling, attention-getting in some way, and I'll put a lot into the drawing. The ones people prefer to look at, though, are the ones where it's clear I have expressed a positive range of reactions to the subject.