I am currently taking a Painting for the Illustrator class. Our first assignment was to find a 15th-17th Century painting and use the same colors, but adjust it to make it our own. One of the first paintings I thought of was Girl With a Red Hat by Johannes Vermeer. I thought of this for one reason alone, that red hat. If I could make it glow in the final painting, it would be truly eye-catching.
Girl With a Red Hat – Vermeer, 1665-1666
I did a few sketches and decided that I would remove the girl and place my youngest brother as the figure instead. Luckily, I had a photograph where he was in a similar pose. I would darken the background completely, leaving out that brownish detail in the original piece.
This piece was done in acrylic and gouache on plywood. Looking at the two side by side, I am proud of the result. The colors and proportions aren’t exact, but it is not meant to be. The hue of the robe is more of a purple in my rendition, but I do have to say that I love how the face came out. The multitudes of yellows, blues, greens, purples, and reds that I used to create a life-like skin tone worked perfectly. Capturing the highlight on his face was a challenge too. Choosing the solid background was a smart move because the red hat is glowing vibrantly.
This project was enjoyable and I will be applying what I have learned to my other paintings and illustrations.
The atmosphere is spot on.
Thank you, capturing the contrast was tough.