career post: courtroom sketch artists

As a courtroom sketch artist, a person is essentially hired to draw court proceedings due to the lack of courtroom cameras; in high-profile cases, these drawings are often used in the media, most recently in the cases of the Donald Trump and Luigi Mangione trials. I personally have a vested interest in law and would love the opportunity to watch court proceedings regularly -- despite my lack of enthusiasm about sketching portraits, I would be SO willing to practice my skills and become a courtroom artist.

The technical skills to become a sketch artist (clearly) require the skills of quickly and accurately capturing a likeness through a variety of drawing materials, and having excellent visual memorization skills. This often requires taking classes, practicing extensively, or even getting a degree in a visual arts field, which is extremely helpful but not required. Compared to my last career post about being a cultural policy analyst, this occupation requires much less formal training, as artists often work freelance and are paid on commission rather than with a fixed salary. However, any well-known art program would provide someone with more than enough of the needed skills to be successful in this profession -- to name a few, the Rhode Island School of Art and Design, the Pratt Institute, VCU Arts, and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

still life in oil: process post #2

As soon as I settled on a composition for this piece, things started going a bit more quickly, unfortunately (and predictably) becoming a more difficult process along the way. The first large issue I ran into was that my candle holder was inaccurate when I transferred it onto my canvas in charcoal, which I did not fully realize until I started painting - you can see the clear difference between that portion of my composition between the third and fourth photos above. I also realized more fully how difficult flowers are to paint, and have struggled with painting the flowers that I imagine in my head rather than the ones that I am looking at in my reference. Within the last process photo shown, the flower on the right is a but more accurate and it's easier to tell the direction in which the flower is pointing. I also adjusted the large flower on the left a bit more, which has improved. The next (and last) steps for my grisaille are refining the flowers with more detailed shadows and highlights, and adding some finish highlights on the whole piece before moving on to color washes.

progress post: still life in oil paint

This project was a bit rough starting out; I had lots of issues figuring out what I wanted to paint and how to create an interesting composition. Ever since I figured out the composition, though, things have been going very well! I really love the objects that I chose and I haven't encountered any large trouble with my grisaille yet. On occasions, I struggle with mixing the right amount of turpentine to get a texture that isn't too thick or too thin, but I've hit a medium recently that's working well for me. I'm proud of the detail on my first rose that I have painted, but I'm definitely a bit nervous for the candle holder and statue - they have the most detail in shading as well as very complex forms. At the end of my grisaille and before I paint in color, I want to do a quick look-over to ensure that all of my values are correct. Everything has gone (at least relatively) well so far and I can't wait to continue!