Traipsing About

Traipsing About

Share this post

Traipsing About
Traipsing About
Composer Portrait Challenge, Part 1
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
User's avatar
Discover more from Traipsing About
A newsletter about reclaiming creativity, ditching tired personal paradigms and learning new skills...even as a *gasp* adult!
Already have an account? Sign in

Composer Portrait Challenge, Part 1

Learning to draw portraits, one composer at a time. (Weirdo alert!)

Jan 12, 2022
1

Share this post

Traipsing About
Traipsing About
Composer Portrait Challenge, Part 1
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

I suck at portrait drawing for two main reasons: 1) it's par with rocket science difficulty-wise and 2) I've put exactly three hours of practice into it in my entire life.

Enough! January is my month to go from "is that a person?" to "hey, only the ears and chin are weird!" (Here's week 2.)

How? I'm taking 30 minutes a day to draw a portrait. To make it easy to think of subjects, I'm drawing composers whose piano songs I'm learning, as well as performers I admire. (Like Otis Spann, a Chicago blues pianist.)

My goal is to improve my shading skills and generally work on perspective. I'm looking past my absolutely mediocre skills with optimism thanks to a Skillshare video I watched that said, "you don't discover your talent to draw. You develop it."

Chelsea, always helpful, pointed out that drawing a bunch of dead white guys from past centuries is straight-up odd. Nice to have feedback to keep me from getting too strange, I suppose.

DISREGARDED. I shall soldier on in all my weirdness!

BTW, I know my first one isn't a portrait...I decided to go full formal drawing after the 1st. This isn't an art school dissertation, alright?! Sheesh.

This first round of portraits includes:

  1. Louis Armstrong - I'm learning What a Wonderful World

  2. Ludovico Einaudi - the esteemed/maligned modernist Italian composer. (Learned a bunch of his songs.)

  3. Otis Spann - badass Chicago blues pianist

  4. Franz Liszt - the brilliant 20th century virtuoso and composer (I'm working on his Consolations.)

  5. Martha Argerich - incredibly talented Argentinian pianist.

  6. Lang Lang - the flamboyant Chinese pianist.

  7. John Legend - American singer and songwriter.

  8. Chris Martin - lead singer for Coldplay.

  9. Erik Satie - the very quirky Impressionist/modern French composer.

  10. Yann Tiersen - French composer of the Amelie soundtrack, which has a few songs I'm learning.

  11. Chopin (no first name needed!) - I'm learning a bunch of his preludes and other pieces.

January Artist Portraits, Part 1


Subscribe to Traipsing About

By Dakota Gale
A newsletter about reclaiming creativity, ditching tired personal paradigms and learning new skills...even as a *gasp* adult!
sophia's avatar
1 Like
1

Share this post

Traipsing About
Traipsing About
Composer Portrait Challenge, Part 1
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share
Fresh starts and frustrations
The challenges of beginning anew
Mar 8, 2024
10

Share this post

Traipsing About
Traipsing About
Fresh starts and frustrations
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
7
The Airstream life
No more van life?
Aug 18, 2023
6

Share this post

Traipsing About
Traipsing About
The Airstream life
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
8
The delight of daily progress
Finding a haven in a sea of Adulting and making it all feel more doable.
Nov 17, 2023
2

Share this post

Traipsing About
Traipsing About
The delight of daily progress
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Ready for more?

© 2025 Dakota Gale
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More