Focus Task - Stencil Style portrait

ARTIST MODEL- Dean Russo

Dean Russo was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY where he currently works and resides. He has studied graphic design and fine arts at Pratt Institute and The School of Visual Arts in NYC. Being an avid animal lover Dean started his career creating soulful animal portraits in his signature style that has evolved over a period of 10 years and, as a professional musician, Dean has been inspired to paint portraits of influential music icons. To see more of Dean's art and to learn more about what drives him, visit his website or follow on Facebook or Instagram.

PROCESS

works from photographs [posterized/stencil]
uses a variety of mixed media
influenced by graffiti and urban art
mostly does cats and dogs because it makes people smile!

focus task

This is a two part process to create our Graffiti style portraits using elements of Dean Russo's work to inspire us. Part 1 is the acrylic paint background. Part 2 is the portrait on top

PART 1 - Background

The background is experimental process to build layers, texture and patterns using acrylic paint and stencils.

**Continue to build up layers of stencils and colour to create depth, texture and pattern. I recommend at least one layer of pattern and texture stencils and a second layer of text/number stencils.

** Pay attention to edges - don't have all the stencils in the middle of the page - "anchor them" to the sides and run them off the edges

PART 2 Portrait

You need to have the photo of your portrait on your computer. You will edit it online and then print it out to transfer to your background.

Use device camera to take a photo [or save from your phone to your computer]
Open up photopea [photopea.com] and open photo
Use the rectangle tool to select your portrait [remove most of background and have a rectangle shape [like an A4 piece of paper]
IMAGE > CROP
IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > POSTERIZE [3 levels]
IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > THRESHOLD [adjust slider]
FILE > EXPORT AS > JPG
Save image and attach to google classroom for the teacher to print to A3 size.

Putting it all together

You can use transfer paper to put your portrait onto your background

Use black paint or Indian ink to fill in the black areas of your portrait.
Russo paints eyes in details and often adds colour, you might choose to do this as well.
Use dry brush Techniques to fill in the negative space of your work. This could be done with colour, white or black to create a shadow [look at Russos work to decide on a style]
Another step that Russo does in his works is to use pens/paint markers to emphasise pattern/details in the background or adds more stencils on top of the portrait. Have a close look at his work and decide if you want to add further details.