As the title says, "The last respects" represents my tribute to someone dear. My grandfather passed away on July 12, 2015 due to throat cancer. I wanted to do something to keep his memory green and a painting was a good idea in this situation.
Besides the tribute for my grandfather, the purpose of this painting was to somehow replicate the classic feel of academic paintings from the 19th century, because I love that style and I want so badly to be capable to paint and draw like those masters. Probably you may see some John Singer Sangent influences and you're right. At least that's what I wanted to do, it's more of a study from Sangent than a paint itself.
As a matter of fact, I didn't use any references at the drawing stage, the paint started from a quick 10 minutes sketch which was drawn in the train. The painting was a bit of a struggle. I had to see many paintings from Sargent, to understand how light casts on the figure, how the composition is affected by light and I love how Sargent technically represents the point of interest by putting more details with tiny brush strokes. Gorgeous master.
Also, for a better understanding of proportions, volumes and overall features of his face I did a Zbrush sculpt which helped me a lot so there was no need for any references when I drew that preliminary sketch, and had a lot of fun sculpting.
The process
Some details.
Technical stuff:
Sketch done with pencil on A4 paper in about 10 to 15 minutes (on the train) and then shoot with my phone and imported to Photoshop CS6. From there it took about 5 hours of intense painting and studying (and a lot of breaks).
I hope you like it.
Thank you!
