How to paint Kevin Durant: Day 2

Yesterday we introduced you to our man and fellow WTLC writer W. Bennett Berry's current art project. He continues today for Day 2, showing us how the project is evolving and how he uses technology to help in the process. Namely, Bennett's playlist.

Bennett:

"Solid progress on the face, but storm clouds (cue cheesy Thunder reference) were on the horizon as I can be too perfectionist/nit-picky and that sometimes ends in P.J. Carlesimo fashion."

The lighting in the arena presented some issues with the right shoulder and upper arm to a degree, so I made the shadow much more subtle than it was in the photo. It's still in there, but very subtle. That being the case, matching up the face with the same adjusted lighting, but not toning it down to quite the same degree, while trying to figure out Durant's cheek bone and orbital (eye socket) bone structure was a little tricky. His cheek bones are very prominent and picked up the light to a significant degree, so adjusting it for the sake of the right arm may not have been the best plan of action. Harsh lighting is both a challenge as well as something, as an artist, that's really fun to play with."

"At the time, I was looking at a lot of Caravaggio for both the lighting (though not as severe in contrast) and aesthetic for handeling the figure. For example, consider Caravaggio's "Taking of Christ" -

"At the end of the day, I was really pleased with the face at the current stage, but it was short lived and I'll get into that in the next installment. On Day 3 I was Leon Lett in SuperBowl XXVII. I said things to the canvas that I hadn't said to any inanimate object since Steve Bartman grabbed the fly ball away from Moises Alou in the 2003 NLCS. It was ugly. Short lived, but ugly and if one had a hidden camera I'd say it would have been endlessly entertaining."

Lastly, we have Bennett's current playlist.

So if you want to learn how to paint well, you can begin by mixing Yo Yo Ma, Mos Def, Dave Matthews, and Neil Diamond.

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Stay tuned for more to come as Bennett's project continues!

Check out the rest of Bennett's art contribution to WTLC HERE.