During the trip to Rome I was more focused on exploring the
culture and famous areas of Italy (the colosseum and the Vatican) and I had not
drawn much during my stay to be honest.
We had visited a few museums/galleries, though there had
been some complications of policies with one or two museums that we are never
allowed to draw, which was disappointing as there were some interesting
subjects that I wanted to draw, i.e. statue heads. During the visit of the
national gallery of Rome (3rd March) I had managed to draw a few sketches/drawings, but
then a strange encounter then took up the rest of my time during the visit.
Statue heads sketches I had done in the National Gallery of
Rome.
What happened afterwards as I was busy drawing my sketches,
a lone elderly man approached me, admiring my sketches. I glanced at him and
thought to be a passer-by who was just taking a quick peak into what I was
doing, until he started speaking to me. He said “Draw face.” At first I didn’t know
what he meant, until I realised that he was requesting me to do a portrait
drawing of him!
Our language barrier was proving to be in the way, and I
gave in for his request and accepted. He was willing to pay 20 Euros which is
really surprising, and he seriously meant it! This strange encounter then
turned into my first live commission for a customer!
I was nervous and a little shaky considering I had not done
this before. I am not confident in drawing faces and was a little worried that
the portrait drawing may not turn out as well and be unsatisfied with the
result, plus I wasn’t sure if the customer would like it once I put time and as
much effort into it, but in the end I had went ahead with the commission.
The result of the portrait drawing. I feel the drawing
could of have been better and to be honest it’s not that great to my standard.
To the customer, the drawing is ok, which I am more than happy to hear. As long
as the customer is satisfied with the drawing, then it is ok for me. He then
gave me the 20 Euros which he had promised.
The session had went overtime where I was supposed to meet
up with the group to leave the gallery and had left in a rush. After catching
up with the group and tutors I had told them about my experience and then I
realised that I should have taken a photo of the elderly man so I can compare
him to the portrait I had done.
Overall it was a weird experience and I wouldn’t have
thought that something like this would happen. It’s just feels out of the blue!
It was a good drawing experience in the end that had helped boost my confidence
in drawing for a customer in a live commission in a public environment!
