Portraits

3/4 front

This week we worked on our final portraits on our good paper.  I began with the three quarter front view because I wanted to get those facial features out of the way.  In retrospect I probably should have waited because it did not turn out quite like I expected, again probably owing to the fact that I could have used a bit more practice before we started these.  I think it all went down hill when I started to shade the drawing.  I started with the darkest parts first, but I made the left cheek subtle, which makes the eyes look so dark and  raccoon-like.  It seems like an easy fix, though, so I will have to set aside some time on Monday during class to doctor it up a bit.

3/4 back

Second, I did the three quarter back view.  This one went much smoother, but Amy helped me to see a lot of the things I was doing unconsciously.  First of all, I drew highlights in the hair that were too sharp they started to look like stripes so she showed me how to fix them with an eraser (I still have a little work to do there).  She also noticed that I had a lot of thick lines in the hair that outlined and made the sections of hair look flat, I believe I did try to thin those up.  The one thing I still need to work on is the neck, you may have noticed it right away, I made it way too thin.  When you are working on the same drawing for a long time like these drawings sometimes you tend to miss the obvious while you figure out the details.  At least that is what happens to me.

old master portrait - Raphael

I researched a little on old master drawings since I don't have any of the books from class at my disposal.  I found one that I really like because it accomplishes what I am struggling with, shading effectively to show subtle form without harshness and clearly defining the light source by only shading one plane of the cranium.