First Official Portrait of Kate Middleton

[kittyP]

Regardless of how you feel about who she is, she is a very pretty woman and they have made it look like one of those mug shots of an employee for a HR company brochure.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Phew? Phew? It's still no excuse in my book!!!

Well yes, but I was being polite

 

[Ted Striker]

Can't she just get a passport photo like the rest of us?

#oneruleforthem

 

[Mrs Magpie]

The fact the artist (?) took several months to do this ! ! ! ! A class of six year olds couldn't have done much worse . . . .could they?

Well, it was built up in thin glazes, which takes about ten days to dry enough to add another layer of glaze, so I can believe it. Still think it's rubbish though.

 

[albionism]

 

[Frank Merton]

I suspect they warned her about this sort of thing. Most people don't understand that portraits are not photographs and always can be criticized.

That doesn't mean the criticisms are not valid. They must just be kept in balance with an understanding of what is going on.

I remember a portrait my mom had done of me; it was very unflattering, until I realized he was doing his best.

 

[Greebo]

I'd put her in her mid-40s

The suggestion of a double chin doesn't help.

 

[Greebo]

I suspect they warned her about this sort of thing. Most people don't understand that portraits are not photographs and always can be criticized.

That doesn't mean the criticisms are not valid. They must just be kept in balance with an understanding of what is going on.

I remember a portrait my mom had done of me; it was very unflattering, until I realized he was doing his best.

One of these days I'll dig out the one in pastels given after posing for a class twice. It was a reasonable likeness except for making me look bovine.

 

[Geri]

I remember a portrait my mom had done of me; it was very unflattering, until I realized he was doing his best.

I sat as a model for my mum's art class. Some of the portraits were 'interesting' to say the least.

 

[Frank Merton]

I sat as a model for my mum's art class. Some of the portraits were 'interesting' to say the least.

At the time I sat I was sporting a beard, and I looked like Charles Darwin. The beard came off.

 

[goldenecitrone]

At the time I sat I was sporting a beard, and I looked like Charles Darwin. The beard came off.

I didn't realise Darwin wore a fake beard. Now you mention it, though.

 

[Greebo]

At the time I sat I was sporting a beard, and I looked like Charles Darwin. The beard came off.

It was interesting seeing several very different images of the same thing, but disquieting when that thing is you and some people have changed your hair (because it was easier for them), some have completely changed your expression, one or two have changed your nose, and somebody else got the textile bits spot on but not the body parts.

 

[bignose1]

I think its fair to middleton...

 

[DotCommunist]

I didn't realise Darwin wore a fake beard. Now you mention it, though.

he had time share on it with marx and kropotkin

 

[Manter]

Just watched the news when they were talking about it. An art critic laid into it, then they asked the public. No one liked it, but one guy just winced and shook his head. Summed it up

 

[clicker]

I reckon he had started an Edwina Currie one just before the egg fiasco broke, shelved it, got it out again, added a bit of hair and called it 'Kate'.

Or else it's the woman in Greggs.

 

[UrbaneFox]

Regardless of how you feel about who she is, she is a very pretty woman and they have made it look like one of those mug shots of an employee for a HR company brochure.

It's only an accident of marriage that prevented that.

 

[weltweit]

I think a problem with it is that it is a micro expression, yes at a moment in time she probably does look like that, on the way to smiling for example, but such moments are very fleeting and so we do not really recognise this painting as her.

 

[smmudge]

I like it, precisely because it's not very pretty. If I want to look at a pretty picture of Kate I could just look at a shopped photo.

Her eyes are wonky though.

 

[equationgirl]

I think it's technically very good, it just makes her look a lot older than she actually is. Perhaps when viewed in real life it looks different.

 

[Miss Caphat]

I think a problem with it is that it is a micro expression, yes at a moment in time she probably does look like that, on the way to smiling for example, but such moments are very fleeting and so we do not really recognise this painting as her.

that's no excuse though. as a portrait painter you're supposed to be aware of these things, and work from a pose or image that is flattering to the sitter. I have a feeling he is a terrible photographer, and should have had someone else take the photo. Just shocked that he's gotten this far in his career without realizing these things.

 

[cesare]

It looks as though she's trying to smile without opening her mouth. So there's a half way house where the smile is being suppressed causing the lines from nose to mouth which also have the effect of making her look older.

 

[happie chappie]

This type of thing?

Made me spit my coffee all over the desk! Is there a link to the original or, even better, some idea of where it was published (if in paper form)? I know someone who would probably buy one of these!

 

[mk12]

I bought my friend a Viz annual for Christmas called "Cleveland Steamer". The back page has that advert on it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Cleveland-Steamer-Annual-Annuals/dp/1907779906

 

[Frank Merton]

This has got to be a put on, or am I utterly naive for even saying so?

 

[killer b]

100% real, frank. viz often has adverts for shit like this. god knows who buys them, but they must sell!

 

[Orang Utan]

Yes of course. It's a time-honoured tradition, in a comic called Viz, to take the piss out of the kinds of ad you get in tabloid weekend supplements selling cheap and tacky memorial nonsense.
My favourite is the hitler doll which has only one testicle

 

[killer b]

this is my favourite:

 

[killer b]

oh!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/norbet/sets/72157626944431809/detail/

 

[nogojones]

Love it. She looks 40-something, half cut and dressed in Thatchers hand me downs