Personae

Digital Personae: May 2013: (c) Luke Bennette

Colored Personae: May 2013: (c) Luke Bennette

Sketch Personae: May 2013: (c) Luke Bennette

I originally did not know what this was when drawing it. I had set out to draw an older man's face. However the picture turned out much the way it did as a result of adding various pasterns that I had previously worked in other pictures. It is clear from the look that we are not looking at a realistic picture, see for instance the elongated neck at the bottom so far beneath the face. Yet there is a sense of mystery and presence in this photo that suggests that the man is only acting from the neck up. There is a mask like appearance to what otherwise is an ordinary man; suggestive in the bottom portion of the picture by the jacket and V neck shirt. The tri-tone effect helps to give it that sense of mystery. As a factual note, the original picture was rather colorful in a somewhat alarming way that made you think this fellow might have been from the seventies.