Tommy Lee Jones Speed Paint and Letter from Student!

30 Minute speed painting/sketch of Tommy Lee Jones.



Detail of sketch, to show how loose it was painted . . .



I'd like to share this letter with you all, written by my student Kerim to fellow classmates at Schoolism.



hello all,

i was looking through all my class notes the other day and realized how much stuff we all actually learned in this caricature class and how its almost impossible to remember all of it now that we're almost at the end... so i start...ed compiling a list of all of the valuable things Jason has told us, to have on my desk to refer to from time to time and to keep me from having to watch all of the video lessons and critiques to refresh me on what we had learned in previous weeks...

hope that made sense :)

anyways... also, please, keep this list for yourselves (or ask Jason's permission before distributing to others) to respect all of the work Schoolism and Jason have done to help us all improve as artists.

other than that, jason, i hope i did you justice... and for the rest of you, enjoy!

good luck with your final assignments!

----------------------------

words of wisdom from jason seiler
(gathered from all schoolism lessons and various student critiques)

humble yourself

find the true character of the person

keep it simple

look for simple shapes and size relationships between features

eyes and mouth, then head shape most important

think in terms of inner face and outer face

simplify the weight, where is it?

exaggeration: for every action, theres reaction

compare faces side-by-side to point out differences between people

when sketching: start light and thin, think shape and structure

when darkening lines, dont trace. use as guidelines and improve
upon whats underneath

caricature drawing = study of person's true character

exaggerate the truth by pushing the features

get the placement and general shape

don't settle for a weak drawing

perfect practice makes perfect

flip drawing and reference upsdide-down or sideways to turn off left
brain

sketching = adjusting

step back to get a fresh look. zoom out to not get caught up in the
details

squint your eyes to help simplify

what makes person unique and interesting?

what stands out and why?

tell the story

be encouraged, don't give up

don't distort, exaggerate

thumbnail sketching: give yourself choices, possibilities

look at face. what comes out furthest, what goes in, what's narrower,
further?

where is the widest point, thinnest?

find the triangles

focus on placement of features, not details

exaggeration: everything must follow - its the combination of

features relating to each other

likeness is king

width and weight: find the shape of head

pay attention to angles

look away from person. draw the impression of person

follow the form, exaggeration must follow

keep going. start sketching. start over!

think about planes of face, contours of face

sketching = adjustment & problem solving

for beginner: study portraiture before caricature

do thumbnails

develop yourself as an artist - sketch, think, learn, draw, paint, see

hair: get the main shapes first. slow down

don't do one drawing. explore and sketch lots of thumbnails

don't exaggerate one feature but all features working together

doing thumbnails are like taking notes

when doing thumbnails, think in animation drawing style

value painting: start with 4-5 values only and move towards more
complex later

what is the reason for what youre drawing?

try to capture the essence of person

what is a caricature to you? strong caricature, strong likeness,
essence.

hair: try to paint it in, dont use speckling

paint with feeling

think cartoon first

what pops out the most?

thumbnail = plan of what could be. possibilities

shape = placement of features

caricature = character, structure, likeness, exaggeration, humor,
truth

don't get caught up on things that dont matter

pay attention to shapes in between. negative space

eyes: capture the shape of whites of eyes

think in planes/angles

exaggerate and push but still think about anatomy

process: start light. block in general shape. placement. build up.
adjust

slow down. spend more time on the eyes, mouth, nose and head
shape

shapes - width, weight, depth, contour lines

what is the most important thing? whats next?

where is the humor?

humor? you mean humor 'haha' or funny like a clown humor?

umm hello... are you listening to me?

am i talking too much?

do you think i could sell this list on ebay and make money behind
jason seiler's back?

does reading this list make me look fat?

do you think drinking 6 cups of coffee a day is bad for your sense of
humor??

anyways... jokes aside, i hope making this list was helpful to all of
you. but most importantly, don't forget to thank jason for sharing his
wealth of knowledge with us. thanks jason!

peace out
kerim (aka. jerkyturk)


My next class at Schoolism starts on Feb 18th! Sign up today.