Friday, March 15, 2013

From the Ashes (or Shreds) of a Fiery Temperament

Okay, I have no problem admitting I can be short-tempered. While I do my best most of the time, every once in a while I get frustrated with something I'm working on and tear it up. Not that big a deal. Recently, I joined a caricature site Wittygraphy.com. They have a contest every two weeks and I decided to give it a try, working into my Project 365 lineup. This cycle the chosen subject is Ben Affleck. He's not very remarkable looking, really, except for his chin. Even then, he's no Jay Leno or George Clooney. For two days, I tried to nail him. And it just wasn't happening. I started with a color piece, done with acrylic inks, but it just wasn't him. At the beginning of the second day, I decided to start over. I tried going with straight ball point pen and not trying so hard. That didn't work either. Aargh. Now I was feeling like I was just wasting my time and should move on. Ha. Like I could do that. But, I did need to start a third time and needed to clear the decks, so I ripped the two I had done and tossed them in the direction of the shredder. I just couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, and found myself looking at the scraps. Which now looked interesting in the pile. I grabbed some packing tape and stuck them together. Here's the result:
Now, I really like this, and it was the closest I had gotten to a likeness, but obviously I couldn't submit this as is. So I scanned it and reworked it in Photoshop. Yes, I could've spent another two days futzing with it, but at this point I'll be happy to never see Mr. Affleck again. Here's the final result that I've submitted to the contest:
They're taking entries for another two days, then the voting will begin. As I write this, I was the thirteenth entrant. I consider that good luck, although this has nothing to do with luck whatsoever. Whether I win, place, or nobody votes for it at all, I finished. Now I have to get back to work catching up on caricatures I didn't do in the meantime. As of today, I am a full twenty caricatures behind - eeek! Plus, there's an Art-A-Thon happening right now on IllustratedATCs, and I'm hoping to do some trading - wahoo!