Choose your method carefully!
In the article on the different methods you can use to make a copy of a Roman mosaic I touched on the types of copies you can make. In portrait work it is very important that you choose the method you are going to use very carefully.
Below are 2 images, the original Roman mosaic and a copy I made a while ago. I used the Direct method but copied by sight something that should have been done either as
A. Piece for piece or
B. a copy of the portrait of Brittania but using my own style.
A competant piece for piece work makes it relatively easy to see where the colors/shades of the tesserae change. In a bit of a mix of the 2 and it's easy to set lines where there shouldn't be. Note on my copy how the right side of here jawline (left as you look at it) has too definate a line.
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The original mosaic, a portrait medallian representing Brittania
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My copy
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Original mosaic from Piazza Amerina, Sicily
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My copy.
This is a piece for piece copy and shows how the mosaic should appear next to the original
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The other 2 portraits show the original from Piazza Amerina and my piece for piece copy, and this is how they should look.
When you progress into portrait work make the choice of how you're going to work, piece for piece of using your own style. Using your own style does not mean you're going into the realms of 'inspired by' mosaics. Whatever you produce needs to be recognisable by an academic or someone with a good grounding in the practical apsect of Roman mosaic work.
How you develop and recognise your own style is relatively simple and I'll cover that in other articles.
As a quick demonstration look at the 2 examples of work from 2 of my students. One had previously be on my course and this was her second time, the other student had never done any of this work before. Both used the same template pattern from an original mosaic yet they each created a piece recognisable as a 'Roman' mosaic but totally their own style of work.
Not too bad for a first mosaic!
