Cast In Contrast

Simon Aberle

Cast In Contrast

Commissioned Portrait.
I went around to the client’s house and took the reference photos myself on this one.
We decided on a style from the artwork I brought with me, and we got to work.
She particularly liked the style of Dwelling In Darkness and Bathing In Shadows so I endeavoured to angle the light in such a way as to capture this mood with plenty of shadows and contrast.
I took the pictures home and tweaked them with Photoshop and emailed her a layout I proposed to draw, and she liked my idea.
I’m very happy with this one, I really enjoy white on black, it is a genre that I can execute quite easily, and it is very effective. I’m also much more comfortable with taking my own reference photos, that way I can decide on the composition before hand and know what will or won’t work.

White and Black charcoal pencils and Black Pastel on Reeves black paper A3.
Completed 8th September, 2009

Please contact me for commissions if you are interested!
simonaberle@hotmail.com

Cast In Contrast belongs to the following groups:

1 on 1: The Fine Art of Portraiture , Complex Simplicity of Art, ! 100% !, Art Up Close, Back In Black ( sorry~NO PHOTOGRAPHY), Beauty of The Human Body , Contemporary Pastel Painters (2 per day), Decorative and Traditional Art, Ebony and Ivory, Fine Arts, Friends of RedBubble, Gods and Goddesses, Impressionist Art, Mixed Media, Painters In Modern Times - TWO PER DAY, Realist Traditional Art, Shameless Self-Promotion, South Australian Artists, The Adult Group, The Art of Duo Tone Erotica, The Artistic Nude, The Sensual Word, Who Needs Color For Beauty? - Black & White Art At Its Best and Woman Appreciation
Cast In Contrast by Simon Aberle
Cast In Contrast by Simon Aberle
  • Lynda Robinson

    Lynda Robinson

    This is absolutely fantastic Simon. Lovely mixture of subtle, soft and strong shadows and beautiful lighting effects. I’m so pleased that you took your own reference photos as then it makes it completely YOUR work. Well done.

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks so much Lynda! I think I would like this style to be recognised as my second signature style. I love drawing white on black!!!

  • Julia Thomas

    Julia Thomas

    Awesome work as always Simon! I love it when you work with white on black as well

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks Julia!

  • Martin Lynch-Smith

    Martin Lynch-S...

    Amazing as always Simon :)

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks Martin :)

  • carss66

    carss66

    awesome work simon,i never get commissions like that lol.

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks so much.
    I don’t usually either lol

  • Angie Muccillo

    Angie Muccillo

    Stunning work! Gorgeous contrasts and love the pose :-)

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks Angie

  • colorblind

    colorblind

    Loving it like always point on …..Simon is a monster and his artwork is showing it lol
    always nice to peep out your artwork ….and its been a while for me so i’m glad to see your work again

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks mate I appreciate that :)

  • Trenton Hill

    Trenton Hill

    Really nice Simon! Love the light and shadows and the expression on her face.

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks Trenton!

  • Hidemi Tada

    Hidemi Tada

    nice work!

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks so much Hidemi!!

  • Mrswillow

    Mrswillow

    Great work Simon! Lovely composition and excellent tonal range!

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks for your comments I always appreciate them

  • Jo Holden

    Jo Holden

    Wonderful work Simon. I’m sure your client was thrilled with how it turned out.

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks, yes she seemed very pleased!

  • Wendi Donaldson

    Wendi Donaldson

    You are SO gifted, Simon….beautiful work!

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks Wendi

  • Edzie

    Edzie

    Beautiful! Wonderful work!

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks Edzie :)

  • maria paterson

    maria paterson

    beautiful lighting, tones and the pose is gorgeous, bet she was thrilled

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks so much, yes she was very happy with it :)

  • Andrea Ida Rausch

    Andrea Ida Rausch

    This is awesome…......and a very pretty client :-)

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thank you Andrea!!!

  • Veikko Suikkanen

    Veikko Suikkanen

    Wonderful work Simon!

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks very muchly Veikko

  • Claire Aberlé

    Claire Aberlé

    You, my darling, are a very very clever bunny….another stunning job, baby :) I still say the ladies are all going to be very very gutted when the handsome artist turns up with his wife behind the camera next time! ;) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks baby!!
    Well I’ll be there for my skills not my looks!!!
    They will be gutted just by seeing that I’m already spoken for by an extremely beautiful Wife :)
    xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

  • catherine walker

    catherine walker

    wonderful ..so well done!

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thankyou catherine!!!

  • joanna77

    joanna77

    beautiful creation. love the lighting and lovely essence of your subject you have capture in your drawing.

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks so very much for your kind words :)

  • red addiction

    red addiction

    Absolutely wonderful!

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks for all of your comments :)

  • Marilyn Brown

    Marilyn Browncommunity host

    Congratulations on coming in the top ten of the PiMT challenge

    Painting the Nude

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thanks so much :)

  • vampvamp

    vampvamp

    fantastic you rock, can you draw me now!? ;)

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Sure! I’d love to :)

  • LorusMaver

    LorusMaver

    Totally outstanding work Simon ! such impact !

  • Simon Aberle replied

    Thank you mate :)

  • Northe

    Northe 9 days ago

    This looks amazing. The contrast worked out real well in particular. What feature of the photo influences your choice of media, though, just curious i suppose. Great work.

  • Simon Aberle replied 9 days ago

    Thanks so much!
    Well this style originated from a work i got commissioned for of Gene Simmons . The photo was mostly black with the white lighting standing out, so rather than doing it in graphite, which would have been a lot more work, I got the idea to use black paper and just do the reverse – fill in the white! It worked a treat, and I did a few others in the same style, Clint Boge , Bathing in Shadows , and my most commented on of this style – Dwelling in Darkness in which the client of Cast in Contrast liked so much, she asked me to take reference photos of her in a way that I could draw her in this style .

  • Northe

    Northe 7 days ago

    Your welcome!
    I’ve actually looked at quite a few dark refernce photos before, but was never sure how to go about doing them. But that sounds pretty cool, the last piece I did on black paper was with oil pastel. I agree, filling in the light values is a time saor, and in the fact that so few others tend to bother and teach it in school or use it in art just further adds to the difference of the portraits. You really have a magnificent talent, and Bathing in Shadows looks brillliant, but, I think my favorite of the mentioned would have to be the one of Clint Boge, totally love the hands reaching up from the crowd, I’ve seen that scene in every concert I’ve ever been to. I als really like Dwelling in Darkness, the detail of grafitti on the wall just shows how much you care about making the final piece perfect and complete. And so it is.

  • Simon Aberle replied 4 days ago

    Thanks so much for the great words Northe, it means a lot to me :)

  • Noel Elliot

    Noel Elliot less than a minute ago

    very…very nice work

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