Vet Portraits with George Pratt

James Sturm, co-founder of The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS), started engaging with the VA Hospital in White River Junction, VT over a year ago. This winter the two organizations hosted a number of events connecting veterans with cartoonists.

James Sturm introducing the event

Recently CCS and the VA Hospital joined together for a night of portraiture with guest speaker and artist George Pratt. George provided visual demonstrations and discussed the comic A Sailor’s Story, by Sam Glanzman. This comic, originally published in the back pages of the Sgt. Rock comics, was inspired by Glanzman’s time on the USS Stevens in the Pacific Theater of War during WWII. The reprint of A Sailor’s Story is a polished, rewritten version of the original that includes testimonials by George Pratt and CCS faculty Steven Bissette.

Steve Bissette showing off A Sailor’s Story by Sam Glanzman

For his portraiture demo, George started digitally using Procreate. He finds this to be the least intrusive software for painting on the iPad, which has charcoal brushes that are realistic and intuitive.  George works by tone, in this case maple yellow highlights and burnt sienna shadows. He starts with the lighter tones first, then darkens or erases to carve out the subject while continually adjusting his colors, brushes, and zoom levels.

George Pratt demonstrating digital painting of a portrait

Limited on time, George switched to traditional tools. He finds traditional medium to be more instinctive; digital somehow takes longer. George uses NuPastel by Prismacolor because the pitch and yaw imitates light. It also has bigger molecules than regular pastel to prevent absorption through the skin and limit inhalation. He starts by drawing the figure shape with a light toned pastel on mid-tone paper then outlines the figure with a darker color, buttressing the shape. Smearing the image with the side of his hand creates a “ghost” of the form where he can later refine the shape. This method prevents him from getting stuck with details rather than focusing on the form as a whole.

George’s demos with the vets inspired many of CCS students to experiment with new techniques and stretch their artistic boundaries.  Student work from this event can be seen below.

George Pratt drawing a vet

A vet with his portrait by George Pratt

Nelson with portraits by Angela Boyle, Wade Simpson, J.D. Lunt, and Cooper Whittlesey

Kelly Swann drawing a vet and conversing

Ben Wright-Heuman drawing a vet while Joe Davidson watches

John Carvajal painting a portrait of a vet, Joann

Portrait of a vet by Wade Simpson

Angela Boyle and J. D. Lunt drawing

Vet with completed drawing by John Carvajal

Photos are courtesy of Sandi Getbamrungrat.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how NEA grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov