Exercise3:
TheInternalMovie
Studentsalsoappreciatedanexercise
thatI call“TheInternalMovie.”
Mymostsuccessfulpaintingscame
aboutbecauseI imaginedthesubject
asa characterora settingina movie.
There’sa hugedifferencebetween
“modelsittingina chair”and“Juliet
piningforherlostRomeo.”
Forthisexercise,I showedstudents
a referencephotoandaskedthem
totakea fewminutestodevelopa
backstory.Thisworksforanysubject
matter:portrait,figure,landscape
orstilllife.I encouragedthemtoask
themselveskeyquestions:“What’s
themovieabout?Isit lightordark?
Whyisthesubjectmeaningful?What
ledtothispoint?Whatwillhappen
next?What’stheconflict?Howwill
it resolve?”
Thinkingabouttheoverarching
theme—somethinguniversalthat’s
biggerthanthesubject,suchaslove,
honor,sacrificeandcourage—adds
layersofemotionaldepthtothepro-
cess,and,ultimately,tothepainting.
Althoughthenarrativeexistsonlyin
theartist’smind,it guidesthehun-
dredsofdecisionsthatmustbemade
duringthecourseofa painting.
InPersecuted(above,left),for
example,I imaginedthemodelasa
victimofthetargetingofChristians
intheMiddleEast.Thisnarrativeled
tomydecisiontogiveherthe“brow
ofdistress”andtoaddredsplotches
inthebackground.Incontrast,in
WildlingWarrior(above),I imagined
themodelasa bloodthirstybarbar-
ianfroma sword-and-sorceryaction
seriessuchas“GameofThrones.”My
imaginingsprovideda narrativethat
enabledmetopaintwithmorefeel-
ing—andtranslatethatfeeling
totheviewer.These three exercises offer
practical, yet playful ways to get the
creative juices flowing; give them
a try yourself. PJWilliam A. Schneider (schneiderart.
com) studied at the American Academy
of Art’s Saturday Program, in Chicago,
and through workshops with noted artists
such as Harley Brown and Richard Schmid,
among others. His work in portraiture has
received numerous awards in national and
international exhibitions, including those
with the Portrait Society of America and
the Pastel Society of America.LEFT TO RIGHT
Persecuted (20x16) and Wildling Warrior
(20x16) are based on narratives I created that
enabled me to paint with more feeling.ArtistsNetwork.com 63