drawing of Ben Hogan Putting

drawing by Steven Anthony Salerno -visit sasgolf.com

Here is a simple oil crayon drawing I recently created depicting superstar iconic golfer in history Ben Hogan, seen in his putting posture about to strike the ball. 

I probably made about five of these relatively quick line drawings before getting it just right.... Because I created each drawing by directly making marks with the crayon on paper without any preliminary light pencil sketch underneath as a guide, I made errors in proportions, or errors in line angles, etc... so it took until the 5th attempt before I got it all done to my satisfaction. Even still, as you can see, the "final" image is purposely rough looking, as I was seeking a very impromptu "sketch" feel for the drawing. (I used photo reference)

I liked this frontal view of Hogan, with his neck and head bent down, because his trademark white cap is seen directly from the top, which is an interesting perspective as it lends a slightly abstract shape into the overall image.

Click here to see a previous post of another drawing I created of Ben Hogan.

Process: I scanned the crayon drawing (which was done on a buff colored raw paper) into Photoshop, where I then added simple washes of digital color for the pants, sweater, and cap.

As you can see from the drawing, Mr. Hogan's putting style was to play the ball lined up off of his left toe, take a slightly closed stance (right foot dropped back a bit from the ball/target line)  plus he then also pulled the putter back to an inside path using a very wristy-hinged stroke to "rap" the ball, which is in comparison to a longer smoother pendulum-stroke technique most Tour players use today.

I must have been channeling another Ben when I made this drawing.... the great American artist Ben Shahn (1898 -1969) because the simple black line I employed, along with the red lettering reminds me a bit this artist's social realism graphic works from the 1930's and '40's. 

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