20 Artists Magazine December 2019
Build DRAWING BOARD
Doing a self-portrait from life, looking
straight into the mirror, is hard
enough, invoking all the psychological
trepidations that come from staring
intently at oneself. Then there are all
the physical difficulties involved in
keeping the same pose: fighting glare
from the light source and mirror, not
to mention the ephemeral effort to
create a satisfying artistic statement.
But creating a side-view self-portrait
entails all of this plus setting up two
mirrors just right, so that one mirror
reflects the side-view image of your
head found in the other mirror.
And yet, even with this more com-
plicated setup, it may not be vastly
more demanding to do a side view
than a full-on view. You might find
that a side view allows you to hold your
pose better, see yourself more objec-
tively and achieve a better likeness.SETUP
The initial setup isn’t as complex as
you might think. Here’s what I do:
Facing the easel, I place the two mir-
rors on either side of me, as pictured
(left). In this case, I positioned the
right-hand mirror slightly in front of
me near the easel, and I placed the
other mirror on the left slightly behind
me, facing them toward each other in a
somewhat off-parallel manner.
If you prefer, you can reverse the
front/back order of the mirrors.
Either way, your side-view reflectionSELF-PORTRAITURE
Side-View Self-Portraits:
Easier Done Than Said
DAN GHENO off ers practical tips for perfecting the setup.
Dan Gheno
demonstrates the
side-view mirror
setup for his class at
the Arts Students
League of New York.
PHOTO BY ROBIN SMITH