The Gloryworks Experience Creating a bust Preliminary work

  A lot of thought goes into a piece of art before the project is begun. When I start a bust, I want to know a little bit about the person.  The persons who are featured in the Gloryworks presentation are carefully chosen.  Their story must be one that will benefit humanity.  When I first saw Craig Kielburger on television I was impressed enough with his story to seek permission from his family to do his bust.  I spoke with Craig to find out what he was like.  I wanted to know about his dreams and aspirations.  I wanted to try to capture that in his bust as well.  I talked with his parents for some time who helped me get to know Craig.  I did not want to create a piece of art that I would be proud of, but I wanted to capture his personality.  I wanted a bust that people would look at and feel that they have met Craig.
      Digitized images from video tape   I spent several hours viewing video tape of Craig. I even went to the extent of digitizing the video images and making preliminary sketches of them.  I struggled to decide how I would present Craig.  I decided to show him in a speaking pose because this was how I saw him and it was his speaking that impressed me.  I have forgotten how many frames I have digitized from the tape in order to find a pose that I liked.  Craig's father was very generous and sent me profile and portrait photos of Craig. I also asked for photos of the top and back of Craig's head.
      These pictures were used to recreate the shape of Craig's head   My challenge was to recreate someone that I have never met.  This is a typical process that I go through when creating any bust.  I spend a lot of time studying photos and reading biographies to know as much about the person that will help me capture his personality.  Craig speaks with confidence; I particulary wanted to capture that confidence.
       These are some of the preliminary ink sketches that were done prior to creating the bust of Craig Kielburger. I like to do my preliminary sketches with an ink pen.    Click here to return to the bust page  Click here to return to the main page