Deep in the Forest, self portrait with leaves, by Mary Stebbins Taitt. In Celebration of digital images, I created this by hand with dots of ink. It took a long time. Some pens worked better than others. Some wouldn't make a dot unless I moved them a little and then they made a dash. :-( Some pens made tiny dots and some made big dots. But here is is. Including a detail. (It doesn't really look that much like me, and makes me look younger than I am. It's more a self-portrait of my inner self, LOL!)
12 comments:
That's wonderful. I love this technique and can only imagine how many hours it took. It was worth it.
I did it so long I got a BLISTER on my finger--literally.
But it was fun and interesting and very time consuming. Not something I am eager to do again immediately! LOL!
Very cool. Can't imagine how much work that was. I love the idea of hand made digital. Reverse technology. Brilliant.
It was a really really LOT of work and very frustrating but at the same time sort of compelling.
Hello - I'm taking an art class at Saint Francis and need to do a series of self-portraits. I love this technique. What types of pens did you use? How should I get started? Thanks! I love your blog.
Hi Suzie,
Sorry, I've been away at a poetry retreat and just got home.
I used fine point art pens (and not so fine point when I needed a color I didn't have.) I went to the art store and to Staples and just collected some greens, browns, flash-tones etc.
Then I made a very light pencil sketch and made dots along the edges of the sketch and then erased the pencil sketch. Then I just kept adding dots. I looked at some magazine photos with a magnifying glass to get an idea about how they looked, and also at some photos expanded on the computer, enlarged a lot. I went for that look. It was slow and time consuming, but one advantage of the technique is, because there are lots of random dots, it is easy to correct a mistake.
Suzie, I was going to leave this info on your blog, but can't find a blog that belongs to you that is public.
Your information is so helpful. Thank-you. I am eager to start a project I was dreading thanks to you! I have a photo of myself that I am going to use as a model but I'm not sure what to use instead of leaves. Any suggestions. I have photos from my garden this summer. I thought Dill or Zinnias might work. Thanks again.
Either dill or Zinnia would be wonderful--each has its super qualities. Dill is so graceful. You could also use leaves--a different kind perhaps--with fall color that could be fun!
It does take a while, but is very satisfying. It would be good to plan to do it over several days if possible, as I actually got a blister.
If you have a computer and a scanner and photoshop--or access to them--you could scan the photo, pixelize it, print it, and use it as a guide--but that's not necessary.
I like this one. Very nice.
Thanks so much, Connie! :-D
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