Silver Siren

Star of the silent age, the inegmatic Theda Bara.

One of the assignments from my Head & Hands class, we were supposed to do a portrait from a photo. I had a book on the history of film sitting on the floor by my computer with this portrait on the cover and it seemed like a fun one to try. The tragedy about this is the film this shot is from, Cleopatra, has been lost. There are quite a few publicity stills that survived, but the film itself is gone. In fact, only 3 of Theda Bara's films have survived the years. Yet another good reason that if you ever have the chance, supporting AFI, National Film Preservation Foundation, or other film preservation organization is a great thing to do.

Now, admittedly, portraiture is not my specialty and there are definately mistakes here, but my professor knew exactly who it was without my saying anything or showing him the reference, so for me, that's a success and I'm happy For that same reason, I'm totally in favor of constructive critique, but in this case, I'm going to say I think I can see most of the things that could make it stronger for myself and additional critique is not needed. I still respect all of your opinions and suggestions all the same, though

Medium: Prismacolor pencils on toned paper, photo reference