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Shutsumon — Pencil Copy of Famous Vemeer
Published: 2009-02-14 17:24:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 1871; Favourites: 23; Downloads: 83
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Description
I wanted to call it "Pencil copy of Vemeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring" but that was too long. But the painting is iconic enough that if I've done my job right it should be obvious.Reference: [link]
I'm still trying to decide if something has gone pearshaped whith the shading or I'm just being over critical of myself. Sometimes I like it, sometimes I think ... hum, I think I messed up.
Took me about five hours this afternoon. F, B and 3B pencils on cartridge paper. Two WIP versions can be seen in my scraps. [link] and [link]
Problems I've noted are that I got the angle of the head slightly wrong and I think I made the eyes too large (but then even when I do try and draw realistically - like here - my natural style is prone to emphasise the eyes). As I said above I'm not entirely happy with the shading either.
(edit) there was also something odd about herright eye but I think I've at least partially fixed that.
Comments and advice greatly welcomed.
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Comments: 13
I love this painting, Its so beautiful and iconic. Did you know that the woman who sat for the original painting did not have an ear piercing and pierced only the left eat to wear this earring.
I do see a few problems with the shading, it is too black and white, there is no variation in the shading, I think you pushed too hard with your pencil, if you want to get nice clean shading you have to be more gentle. With the hard lines you can see all of the pencil movements and it deters from the woman.
Her left eye is done well, it is proportionate but I think its at the wrong angle, It is too front on. The left eye is done well, but it shouldn't dip in the face, it should protrude at this angle a bit because the eyeball is rounder.
You have done a great job with the shading, the shade likes are confident and exact. With a softer contrast you could improve the picture and make it really pop and be about the woman. I hope this will help you in your future drawings. Keep up the great work.
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great shading, you really captured the sense of personality
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Yes, the eyes area little big and the shading could use some work, but it's still really awesome 
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This looks really really good. Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of my favorite pieces of art ever. You did wonderfully capturing Vermeer's style.
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You did your job right; I could instantly tell who it is. Nice work, especially with pencils.
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If I could draw like that, I think my heart would stop. >>;
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Thanks. I just wish i could do it all the time.
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This is really good. I see what you mean by inconsistency in your art that you posted in your journal. This is much better quality than your dragon bug creature.
Did you mean to have her head turned just a slightly different angle than the original. The lips loos slightly different too. Not off though. If I had never seen the original I would think you intended for this whole picture to look just like this.
Regardless it looks great and may even be a better piece of work because of your slight alterations. It's hard enough just to copy something without tracing but altering it slightly is a good representation of skill.
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The main difference between this and the dragon bug picture is the amount of time spent on them I think.
As to the head angle I wouldn't have listed it as a problem if I'd meant to do it. 
But yeah I'm really pleased with it.
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