Dennis Eriksson

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Portraits

Why portraits? Everybody likes portraits Who have you depicted? Friends, acquaintances, colleagues, celebreties and some fictive characters I like. How do you get the resemblance down? It’s good to know the person well but a couple of different photos where they look fairly normal, without making faces, will do just fine. Finding good photos weren’t easy, despite rooting through Facebook. When I draw from memory they often turn out as caricatures, which is something completely different. Is it difficult? Usually it’s very difficult. Right after I’m done with a drawing I’m always happy with it until I show it to somebody and they don’t even know who it is. Fixing the small details afterwards is the key to success! Did people know they had been depicted? No. It was a bit of a dilemma to draw a person without them knowing about it and then post it on my blog. I just went for it and hoped people would appreciate it. I have come to realize that you really have to make the portraits in favor of the object for them to be happy. Female objects are a bit beautified while male objects are often made a bit grotesque! Gender problems! Is it the same when you depict people you don’t know? No. I allow myself to be a bit more free and I don’t have to be nice and make them in favor of the object. Did that feel limiting? Maybe. But sometimes it’s nice to know beforehand how it’s going to be. Freedom within the limitations, so to speak. The main focus is always the joy for drawing. Who was the most fun to depict? Good question. It was probably the ones who was easiest to depict. Henrik Walse, Bisse Bengtsson, Sara Frank, Stefan Zschernitz... etc.