Courbet’s “Gorton’s Fisherman” selfie

I’m no Gustavo Courbet, but since I’m having @bvartdogs in HS Drawing class work on using values by copying Courbet’s self portrait, I thought I should do the assignment with them. @jared_haberl always reminds me that that’s important to do.

 

There's a lot wrong with this, the hat's too big, his neck is too short, he looks too old, it's not dark enough, the left shoulder is off... I could go on. Students think it's great and that it's not fair for me to post this along next to theirs. I want them to notice my process while I'm working along side of them and I want them to hopefully look at the original, and mine, and their own and see what I'm looking at when I'm drawing and therefore what they need to be looking at and looking for in theirs.

 

Mainly this assignment was about value/shading. Value includes density, contrast and range. Courbet didn't draw this picture with line, he drew almost entirely with value. Be that as it may, we also need to keep looking at/for space, shapes, and proportion.

 

Teens often get caught up in the details (usually described by line or shape) and miss the proportions and the composition and volume- dependent on spaces and values. That's what makes this assignment challenging. That, and that they're using graphite sticks, erasers, fingers, and tissues rather than pencils. Granted, Courbet looks to have used charcoal, but that's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish, which we are going to try to tackle soon enough.

Done