With no open studio nearby and preoccupied with finding a new home, needed to do some drawing to test my portrait skills after a year.
Geralda is a lady friend who emigrated from Brazil. She has the most beautiful skin. After some coaxing, she agreed to sit for a couple portrait sessions. Geralda has a calm beauty I hope to capture in future drawings and paintings…
Geralda 11×14 Trois Crayon on toned paper
90 minutes…
Progress not perfection…
Note: Reposting…These images were posted in 2019-20 but lost when I updated WordPress.
Yuri Yurov suggested I do oil sketches on canvas at the Wednesday Night open sessions to give me more practice on my values and my brush work. Must say, I do get great pleasure using paint and a brush. Bought a 10 sheet Frederix canvas pad; real canvas, medium texture, primed and ready for painting.
Before beginning, lightly applied poppy oil with a rag to facilitate movement of the paint and allow me to wipe away paint to achieve tonal variations. Used Burnt Sienna for the sketch.
Great model. Fantastic facial features. Was able to get a very good likeness.
Toward the end of the session, I introduced Titanium White to modify some of the existing tones. Mistake. Forgot when mixed with Burnt Sienna it creates a cool gray color. If I use Titanium White and Burnt Sienna for oil sketches in the future, think I will mix five values in advance. It is more work than using a rag to create different values, but it has its own charm as a grisaille. Will be a little more observant of the atmosphere as well. Those dark marks behind the head are distracting.
As a prelude to the session, did an oil sketch from a photo Yuri sent out announcing the model and changed the direction of the eyes. Gave me a chance to try out the canvas. It accepts paint readily. Will put a second coat of gesso on before beginning a sketch next time to see if it makes any difference in moving the paint around. Yuri uses Canson Canva paper to paint his oil sketches. It is paper, not canvas, but he puts on a coat of gesso before painting. I will buy a Canson Canva pad after I use up the Frederix canvas pad to test it out.
Have drawn this model a couple times in other sessions. Flowing salt and pepper hair and beard with strong facial planes make for a great evening of drawing. The model was sitting with his right arm resting on top of the back of his chair. Took a position to do a profile portrait. Liked the composition with his arm in view.
Yuri has been talking with me about not drawing so small and using the full paper. He said there is a perfect size for every image (or canvas) and you can see when it fits its space perfectly, so made a conscious decision to draw this portrait bigger setting the outside envelope closer the the edges than I have in the past.
After establishing my placement, started building the big shapes – face, hair, beard, arm – then moved to find the facial landmarks – forehead, brow, eyes, nose, mouth, chin – checking and correcting the proportions. As I added shadows, a nice likeness emerged on the paper. The rest of the session was spent refining and finishing.
Yuri came by at the end of the evening and suggested the head might be too big. He took his hand and spread his palm in front of his face. “The face should be no larger than your hand.” Told Yuri I learned that from Ed Sprafkin and spread my hand in front of the image to show him it was in fact the same size. Think the foreshortened arm, shoulder length hair, and beard give the impression the face is larger than life.
Yuri took his dark pastel stick and followed my line on the forehead profile saying it was an important line and needed to be accentuated. He also said no two shadows are alike, and lightly touched my facial shadows with the side of his dark stick. Using the side of a crayon to shade creates subtle differences as opposed to shading and blending; a valuable lesson here.
Pleased with the drawing. The model liked it as well and took a photo.
“Zaghara” 18 x 24 pastel pencil with white highlights on toned paper
Decided to draw a portrait of our model at Yuri’s last night. Just didn’t care for the full figure pose from my position in the room.
Throughout the evening Dave Henderson, Ray Heinz, and Yuri Yurov stopped by during breaks and checked my progress. They all liked the composition and drawing. Was able to get a good likeness.
During the last break, Yuri came by and took my pencil. He showed me how to finish a drawing. Through the weight of his line, he made small refinements to the rhythm of the center line – brow, nose, lips, and chin. and darkened the eye to create a focal point. He also shaded the jaw line and cheek with lines over my lighter shadows. You can see my default method of shading on the neck, for example. I make light marks and blend with my fingers. After a few minutes, he left and I added white highlights.
It is so instructive to watch a master artist work. In this case, Yuri demonstrated how to take a good drawing through to a fine finish.
“Francesca” 18 x 24 pastel pencil on drawing paper
Our model was clothed last night so I decided to draw her portrait.
Last week Yuri suggested I watch him get started this time so he could demonstrate how he approaches his drawing. He moved his easel up next to mine. He was planning a portrait painting. Using what looked like a burnt umber and black mix, he made a few small brush marks around his canvas to serve as landmarks. He then made a big sweeping curved diagonal line from the bottom right side of the canvas up to the left top. This turned out to be the brim line of the hat; he planned a close-up composition.
He then started a grisaille underpainting to establish the form, values, shadows and light areas. He worked on the big shapes, correcting as he went without any attention to detail. Once he was satisfied with the oil sketch, he started to add color and deepen the values. The detail he did add was focused on the triangle capturing the expressive eyes, the nose and lips to achieve the likeness and spirit of the model. He only suggested an anatomically correct hand with no definition of the fingers save for a loosely drawn couple of shapes. A few color placements and the red hat in an otherwise low key value painting produced a quite dramatic and powerful portrait.
When Yuri looked at my drawing during a break, he said it wasn’t big enough. He meant that I might have made the face the focal point instead of making the pose the focal point. Looking at his portrait in comparison, he was right. He produced an artful portrait. I produced a stock illustration. Okay likeness. Lifeless expression. No atmosphere. Failed portrait. I started a new drawing in the remainder of the session.
What did I learn? To not start working until I have thoughtfully considered the compositional options. To find and project the drama and power of a pose. To use the full drawing area and not draw so small. To make the focal point of a head and shoulder portrait the facial triangle. To make the portrait subject expressive with special attention to the eyes and mouth. To keep working at it because I have a long way to go before I produce artful life drawings.
90 minutes. Used Stabilo CarbOthello 1400/645 pastel pencil on Canson 1557 Classic Cream Drawing paper.
This young model posed for us previously unclothed and returned last night with a new haircut and colorful striped dress. As the fates would have it, only a few artists had color palettes.
With an interesting profile view, decided to draw her portrait with my drawing medium of choice: Stabilo Carb Othello 1400/645 pastel pencil on Strathmore 400 toned tan paper.
Lightly started sketching the big shapes, and after several minutes decided to move the image to the right to capture the right arm. It forms a nice anchor to the triangle of the head, and left elbow.
Worked the figure with light marks trying to find the right lines to shape the envelope using my kneaded eraser. Once satisfied with the general form, moved to the shape of the head and facial planes to achieve her likeness.
During a break, Yuri came by to remind me lines closer are darker and lines farther away are lighter. Continued to develop the form and added some details of her dress.
Dave Henderson came over during several breaks to compliment my progress. He suggested bringing out the belt by creating contrast with the dress rather than making darker lines. Took his advice and modeled her bosom and abdomen to follow the form and added shadow. It did define the belt.
Pleased with the composition. Achieved a spot on likeness. Dave said it is a really nice drawing. High praise from a master.
My weekly portrait drawing group disbanded some time ago, and I miss the regular practice.
Always prefer to draw from life, but in the absence of a live model, I use publicly published mug shots to keep my observation skills sharp.
Great practice drawing gender, racial, and ethnicity differences. Trying to capture the subtle – or not-so-subtle – facial expressions that convey the emotion of the moment is a fun challenge as well.
Use a mechanical graphite pencil in a 9 x 6 spiral sketch book.
Got a second chance to draw this young woman. An art student new to modeling, she did a wonderful job holding her pose during the session.
Usually do portrait drawings in pastel pencil or hard charcoal pencil on 8 x 10 or 9 x 12 toned paper.
Yuri Yurov has been encouraging me to use larger paper and a more “moveable” material like soft vine charcoal. Have used vine charcoal in the past but have no mastery of this material. Both Yuri and Dave Henderson gave me feedback and help during the breaks, and I will be doing more vine charcoal drawings in the future to advance my skill.
Although got a solid likeness, the values are off and rendering of her head wrap is amateurish. Need to study the work of artists like Teresa Oaxaca and Mark Tennant who are extraordinary artists and masters of the medium.
Work in progress – Session 1
16 x 20 oil on Belgian linen canvas panel
Started a new portrait last night at Yuri’s. James, who sat for us a couple weeks ago, was our model. He will be in the same pose next week with his violin and bow, so decided to paint his portrait given the extra time.
Did a grisaille underpainting last night. Spent a few minutes thinking about whether to do a full-figure portrait or just the a close-up view above the knees that still captured the violin. Full figure won.
Started by applying a thin coat of Golden Open acrylic (slow drying) Burnt Umber with a large flat size 20 brush and while wet used a paper towel to wipe away the pigment to create the envelope of the image. After a few minutes when the acrylic was dry, wiped a thin coat of linseed oil over the surface of the panel to aid the movement of oil pigment.
Moving to oil paints for the grisaille, used Titanium White, Ivory Black, Cad Red Medium.
Mixed Ivory Black and Cadmium Red Medium to create a burnt umber. With a size 10 flat brush, started drawing the Form (image) – focusing on proportions and placement – and established the darkest dark in the chair and the lightest light in the forehead. Made corrections to the Form and then concerned myself with the establishing a rhythm of Tone (values) either thinning the burnt umber or mixing it with white. Finally, worked on the likeness with size 6 and size 2 flat brushes.
Pleased with the result after the first session, and Yuri and Dave both complimented the work as well. Took a couple reference photos and will try to introduce some Color during the week before the final session with the model.
Over a year ago, did pastel portrait drawings of two sisters. Got distracted and never did a drawing of the youngest sister. Decided to reward her patience with an oil portrait to make it up to her.
Worked from a reference photo with several iterations all refining the form, tone and color. Added my own shadow to her forehead and eyes to create a more realistic appearance. Intended this to be more of a contemporary oil sketch with less blending work. So, this is a fail. Still learning how to apply paint and to lay down color and tone in a single stroke. Still learning about blending without wiping. Still have a lot to learn.
Her mother says “Like she is sitting in the room.” Happy with her skin tones and modeling her facial planes. Pleased with my soft and hard edge work. Used variety of colors to create shadows on the face; some work, some don’t. Hair color is okay but not enough attention to light and shadow, so looks flat and lacks depth and body in places.
Experimenting with backgrounds. Used pastel like colors to complement her hair and scraped with a palette knife for texture. Advances the portrait as the focal point but doesn’t contribute to any sense of composition. May get rid of the green in the lower left.
Looks like a painting from a photo, but pleased with the portrait for my level of experience. Did capture her likeness and personality. Next time I paint her she will sit for me and it will be more of a fine art portrait.
Long straight mane a la the Woodstock era, strong facial features and full beard with interesting gray and black columns of cascading hair.
Used General’s Soft Charcoal Pencil on Strathmore Series 400 gray toned paper.
Started with placement on the page by softly marking the envelope of the image. Lightly marked with a horizontal line the position of the eyes, nose and mouth. Moved to softly blocking in the big shapes of the hairline, orbital sockets, and beard columns. Corrected any proportion mistakes and started to define the eyes, eyelids, nose, and mouth. Continued to model the facial planes with light and shadow. Finished with rendering of the hair and beard.
11 x 14 charcoal pencil with white highlights on toned paper
Second opportunity to draw this beautiful young woman. She returns next week, so will look forward to another session with her.
Was in the same location in the studio as last week and so the drawing is a 3/4 view again. As I was getting started on lightly mapping the center line, Yuri stopped me and said to revisit the envelope and placement. I moved the image to the left. Had I continued without making the change, there wouldn’t have been enough room for full rendering of her hair. Think part of the reason is I was sitting while drawing and wasn’t able to step back and view the work until the first break.
I normally do stand when drawing or painting. It is how I was taught by Patricia Brentano when I took my first couple drawing courses. For portrait drawing, I was introduced to this lap top easel by my teacher, Ed Sprafkin. I got in the habit of using it. My experience last night reinforces the value of standing when drawing and painting.
Used a General’s Soft Charcoal Pencil and Strathmore Series 400 gray toned paper. The pencil makes a nice soft mark and the paper accepts erasure pretty well.
After finishing, Yuri talked with me about using more freedom in my marks. He said I have been approaching my drawing sessions like practicing chords on a piano. At some point, it will be time to make music.
I take this as a sign he sees my progress and is encouraging me to begin thinking beyond the act of drawing or painting. At some point, it will be time to make art.
Made good progress during the second session. Solid likeness of the model and pleased with the tranquil gesture and expression. Challenge for me will be not to lose it with overworking.
Started the second session with corrections to the form, mostly the hair and head and repositioning the legs and feet. Can see I need to fix the form of the right wrist.
Happy with the skin tones so far. Following the advice of Harold Speed, I put down cool midtones initially and added warmer tones in the light and shadows. Put in some dashes of light blue as well to create some rhythm.
Painted the figure with the Zorn palette, but used Ultramarine Blue for the dress and a mix of Cadmium Yellow Medium and Cadmium Yellow Light in the hair, toned with white and a brown mixed from Ivory Black and Cadmium Red Medium.
Model is seated on a raised stage with a black panel and purple drapery behind her. Planned to paint a narrative background and had enough time in the second session to get one started. Created a dominant mass of cool color with the grass and a dominant mass of warm color with the foliage.
Before the final session, I will develop the foreground and background. Thinking a lakeside scene might work. Need to be cognizant of atmospheric perspective. Ever since my artist friend Ray Heinz coached me on Depth of Field, been more aware of depth in my composition building. After seeing some of Anders Zorn’s paintings that use Unity of Focus, this is my new area of study. Want to use soft edges and let my tones create the depth in the painting and not draw attention to any one detail.
2 hours in second session. Total 4 hours over two sessions. One two hour session with the model remains.
Started a new portrait with a new model this week. The pose borders on a narrative ( she is looking at an Anders Zorn book I bought at the traveling Zorn Exhibit at the National Academy Museum last week. It was a magnificent show of 90 works by Zorn, including a few by his contemporaries).
Spent the first session building the form and values using the Zorn palette. Had extra time and got impatient so started to introduce some color and detail. This was a mistake, in retrospect. Should have waited and started the next session with any corrections to the form and values. As it is now, any corrections to the form will be more difficult because of the details. At a minimum, will be repainting the detail of the face over again. Learning by doing involves making many mistakes.
As an aside, the model was sitting on a patterned fabric. There was a solid fabric draped behind her as well. Neither was interesting to me, so just put some color in to advance the work. Will decide later how to paint the foreground and background; one of my learning challenges.
Wonderful young woman last night at Yuri’s. Only her third session as a model and first with artists; she previously worked for photographers. So poised, with a magnificent face and expressive eyes. She wore a purple gown and was seated but I was drawn to her beautiful face so my choice was to do a close up.
Used a CarbOthello 625 pastel pencil on Strathmore 400 toned paper.
Pleased with the result. Got a very good likeness.
Did a better job with the shading except under the jaw and neck.
Will get another chance to draw this young lady next week.
The title is a reference to how the sitter struck me and not a reference to the painting. Calling this portrait done. Very good likeness – model really liked it (took at least a decade off her age. Was taught to always flatter the model unless asked otherwise).
Three sessions. Six hours.
Composition works. Satisfying path for the eye to follow – up the cane, to the arm, then the head, down the opposite arm, and back again.
When I squint, values read correctly. Did tone down the Tiger Head on the cane, and could have toned down the amulet a bit.
Portrait was painted in natural light. Pleased with the skin tones. Pale with some red tones.
Created a lost and found edge on the denim jacket in one place on either side. Seems to work and I plan to explore this in future paintings.
Unity of focus is good – nothing too sharp anywhere on the painting.
Brush work not good but better – not as tight – strokes have more energy.
Started to experiment with creating a background. This one is a fail. Need to plan the colors and forms, even the amorphous shapes. Not good enough yet to create something visually satisfying on the fly.
After deciding on the composition, blocking in the form, big shapes and basic tones in the first session (see Session 1 post below), was able to move on to paint some color and details in this second of three sessions with the model.
My objective was to capture her likeness and persona, skin tones, hair, and a suggestion of her arthritic left hand.
Also, experimented with some lost edges of her denim coat by blending the edge in places into the background.
So far, happy with my results on all counts.
In the final two hour session with the model this week, will work on modeling the eyes and face, and adding more details and color. Looking forward to painting the cane handle as well. Also, need to tone down the sternomastoid muscle and better define the silver bracelet.
This is a nearly finished portrait after three sessions with the model.
Used Zorn palette plus Ultramarine Blue.
Total 6 hours.
Her pose and expression struck me as pensive. Hard to sit for two and a half hours with only 5 minute breaks every 20 minutes. Imagine I’d look pensive too. This thoughtful look dominated her expression and needed to be conveyed by me. She said she loved it. You never know. Solid likeness of her anyway.
As a blonde, her hair color lent itself to a mid to high key tonal range painting. The natural lighting also kept the shadows within the lower mid tone range.
Will model the cheeks and brow a bit. Add some color to her hair, skin and the shadows. Some gray-greens, mauve, and yellow ochre. She had beautiful nails, so I can add a splash of color there as well.
Still have no idea what to do with portrait and figure backgrounds, but will not worry about that problem. For now, need to focus on blocking in, capturing a likeness, mixing and painting skin tones, brush work; and learning how to paint a portrait and the figure to express and elicit some emotion.
Got a solid likeness. Model sat for 6 hours over three sessions. Did a pastel pencil drawing of this model last year when she wore a wide-brimmed hat.
Zorn palette: Titanium White, Ivory Black, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre and I added Ultramarine Blue.
Goal is more an oil sketch than a finished painting. Will make a few temperature adjustments on the skin tones at facial plane transitions and her lower jaw line and sternomastoid muscle. Work on the hair to create better sense of volume and depth. May leave the lower portion of the panel unfinished.
Not sure what to do about the atmosphere and background. Will let that evolve as I experiment in future paintings.
After showing my first portrait effort to my teacher, Ed Sprafkin (who is in AZ for the winter attending workshops with Max Ginsburg, Michael Malm and Phil Starke, demonstrations with Robert Liberace, Rose Frantzen and Sherry McGraw, and painting in private invitation-only sessions with Rose Frantzen, Romel del la torre and David Kassan) he suggested I use oils instead of acrylics and outlined a process for me in an email.
Took his advice and completed my second three session Open Portrait class in oil. Model provided with no instruction. Total six hours. This is the final portrait.
Used a limited palette favored by Anders Zorn: Titanium White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Medium, and I added Ultramarine Blue. Mixed 3/4 Liquin and 1/4 Turpinoid as a medium.
Took a four session introduction to oil painting course a couple years ago and used oil at a one day plein air workshop last summer, so not much experience with oils. Been using acrylics exclusively.
Enjoy using oils mainly because you can work the paint longer and blend value transitions easier and the colors change very little after drying unlike acrylics. Did notice the white and red faded.
In evaluating this portrait, I got a good likeness, and the composition and placement appeals to my eye. Did okay with the edges. Can see some issues with the skin tones. Could have done a better job with the value changes on the facial planes as well; it’s flat in areas.
Looks labored to me and about what I would expect from a beginner, so not unhappy with the effort given my experience. With more practice want to use more confident brush strokes and do less blending. Really need to look for the subtle value changes in the facial planes, translate them to color, and apply them to the canvas with more self-assured brush work. Also, want to introduce more interesting backgrounds – color combinations, brush work even narrative scenes at some point. Imagine all these things will come with experience.
First attempt at portrait painting. Humbling experience.
My teacher will be instructing portrait painting this spring. Decided to get a head start by attending an Open Portrait Class that offers the same model in the same pose over three weeks, a total of 7 hours, with no instruction. Unfortunately, our third session was cancelled because of a snow storm, so this was a two session effort.
First session was a bit chaotic. About 13 artists drew numbers and we each selected an easel position to be maintained through all three sessions. Left only a couple hours for working.
Used Golden Open Acrylics, a slow drying paint making blending easier than with normal acrylics. Palette was Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Napthol Red, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue, and Burnt Umber.
Had watched a DVD of Jeremy Lipking doing a portrait oil sketch the previous night. Decided to follow his approach. Toned the background with a mix of Ultramarine Blue, Napthol Red, and Titanium White using random brush strokes with a large flat brush. After placing the head with a few lines, he starts with the eyes and works out. Spent most of my time observing the model to set the head in space, block in the eyes and brow, and find her proportions and facial planes. Mixed some skin tones to begin to find the values.
Did not touch the painting during the following week.
“Somewhere” acrylic on MDF panel 16 x 20
This is the portrait after five hours. In the second sitting, was able to capture the likeness of the model and introduce an expression. In fact, another artist who looked at my work after the session remarked, “There is a story there.” I was delighted.
When the third and final sitting was cancelled, I worked on the portrait at home away from the model with a reference photo. I ruined the portrait trying to improve the skin tones around the eyes and mouth and lost both the likeness and the honest pensive expression. What did I learn? Quite a lot, actually. Recreating values and skin tones is challenging with acrylic paints. They tend to dry a couple values darker, so going back into the painting is a guessing game at my stage of experience. Adding a cool blue to the skin tone for shadow works well but can be overdone. Mixing colors to achieve passages of skin tones on facial planes and in shadows will take a lot of practice. First and foremost, I learned not to work away from the model. I’m just not good enough. Yet : )
11 x 14 pastel pencil on Strathmore 400 series toned paper
One of the young art students who draws at Yuri’s occasionally agreed to pose for a portrait session last night. She had never modeled before and she did a wonderful job. Held her pose and reestablished it after breaks without difficulty.
A beautiful young girl with a round face, heart-shaped lips, and a full head of hair, my drawing is a solid likeness but doesn’t do her justice. Found it challenging to model her round face without strong lighting and her eyes aren’t very well-defined because of my mark-making. Kept losing the point on the pencil and the marks got softer after being laid down reducing the definition.
Didn’t want to spend too much time on the dress and pearls to avoid competing with her face. Could use more skill rendering depth and volume in hair.
Started to add white highlights to the upper face but took them out as they didn’t enhance the drawing. Created a mid-tone with the pencil and used the toned paper as the highlight. Not very effective.
11 x 14 pastel pencil with white highlights on toned paper
At Yuri’s last night. He invited his neighbor to pose for a portrait session and she agreed. She was a wonderful model, held her pose for each 20 minute segment, and reestablished her position without any difficulty after each break.
Hadn’t drawn any portraits in more than a month. Found her hair to be a challenge. It was formed into twists.
Didn’t do a very good job modeling the halftones on her forehead, cheek and neck. Look flat. Note to self: After laying down halftones, pay attention to modeling the form.
9 x 12 pastel pencil on Strathmore Series 500 toned paper – from life
Last page in my Strathmore pad. Only fitting it’s the last portrait class until next spring.
Decided to sit on the shadow side to get the full impact of her slight head tilt and the flower on her hat.
Captured a solid likeness and mood of the model with a decent rendering of her striking black hat with white daisy.
90 minutes.
Will take a Portrait Painting class in April. In the meantime, plan to attend open portrait sessions starting in January. No instruction but live model.
Our lovely model posed for both the morning Portrait Class and the afternoon Figure Painting Class. I have had the privilege of drawing her on two other occasions and I was delighted to see her again. Strong facial features, sculpted brow area, large eyes expressing a quiet confidence.
For the past few weeks, I have been experimenting with charcoal stick, vine charcoal, charcoal pencil, stump and brush to do portrait drawings. Trying to acquire some mastery of these materials and a technique of my own styled after Casey Baugh and Mark Tennant. It has been frustrating to say the least and wholly unsuccessful. Not nearly ready to give up, but knowing it will be some time before I produce a satisfying drawing using this approach, I decided to fall back into my comfort zone to draw this portrait.
Used a General’s soft Charcoal pencil on vellum Bristol board. 90 minutes
Started with thumbnail to establish placement on paper, center line, head angle and tilt.
For drawing used charcoal pencil, charcoal stick, vine charcoal, brush, and kneaded and mechanical erasers.
Decent likeness but was distracted before finishing the facial rendering when I added atmosphere. It got stormy fast. Spent the remainder of my time trying to fix it. Before I knew it, the class was over. Never did refine the planes of the face or round the forms much.
I’m finding Vellum Bristol Board leaves a ghost image when erasing charcoal stick in any manner regardless of how it was applied – direct application, by stump, or by brush. You have to be sure of your mark and your hand control.
As a beginner, neither is a strong suit for me. Consequently, my attempts at adding atmosphere using the charcoal stick often results in a mess. Tried to recover today by blocking it over in a black mass. Not very successful.
My teacher suggested trying a new surface. Perhaps Bristol Board with a plate finish. Also need to experiment with new ways to apply charcoal marks for atmosphere.
Decided to seat myself for a head on view – always a challenging portrait pose for me to draw.
Used soft vine charcoal, stick charcoal, stump, brushes, and kneaded and mechanical pencil erasers.
Drawing is okay. Center line is balled up. Also, still having trouble creating clean mid-tones and high values. Tendency to over work some areas.
Note to self: Need to be more thoughtful before making marks and depend less on corrections. Use a lighter touch when drawing both with the charcoal pencil and the stump.
My teacher suggested using mug shots to practice portrait drawing to keep my portrait skills sharp. He does this regularly in a sketch book, so I took his lead and started my own.
This is quite helpful in creating the planes of the face because facial planes are usually washed out by the lighting. Great exercise for practicing the gesture of a portrait. There are some real characters with unusual facial features and expressions.
Determined to learn to draw with charcoal. Have a concept and a couple great examples in artists Casey Baugh and Mark Tennant, but still a long way from executing anything to admire.
Did get a nice likeness of the model and pleased with my effort today.
Used soft vine charcoal, soft charcoal stick, stump, brush, and kneaded eraser.
Started with a small thumbnail of the head gesture in the upper right hand corner. This is something Mark Tennant does in his portrait and figure drawings, and it was recommended I incorporate this practice in my drawings by Dave Henderson, a professional artist and master draftsman who is in my open figure drawing group.
Think I could have pushed the shadow side darker and still made the features visible. Heightened contrast would have helped the drawing.
Should have either left the blouse undefined or given more attention to the ruffled blouse under the white faux fur collar jacket.
90 minutes.
This was the last class of the fall session with my teacher, Edward Sprafkin. New portrait class starts next week.
Got a chance to look at charcoal work by Casey Baugh and Mark Tennant, two master draftsman. It inspired me to stay determined to learn to use charcoal even after last week’s mess.
Megan posed for our class again, so I got a chance to redeem myself. Much better likeness today. 90 minutes.
Used soft vine charcoal, charcoal pencil, stump, kneaded eraser – and this week added a few brushes: a soft wide brush to create the mid tones, and a small flat and a small round to blend and make soft edges. Pleased with these new tools. The wide brush makes a nice clean mid tone instead of the dirty overworked mid tones I was producing with my hand and kneaded eraser. Still have a lot of work to master this medium, but feel like I have a direction now.
In this drawing the light side cheek and jaw line are flat and the shadow side mouth is balled up. If I had more time I would have fixed. Committed not to draw away from the model, so today’s work will have to stand as is. Not as painful to look at as last week, anyway.
More good news today. No portrait class next week because of the holiday, but two more classes in this session. Thought today was the last class.
Week three of four week portrait class. Used soft vine charcoal, charcoal pencil, stump, and a kneaded eraser on Bristol Board.
Failed to get a real likeness (beautiful blonde model) and ended up with a pretty face and a dirty mess.
Nose looks all balled up and badly drawn because the shadow line of left cheek bone looks like it is the left sidewall of the nose. Never noticed this until after class.
Didn’t get an accurate sight line. Her head was not tilted, but she was looking up slightly as opposed to straight ahead. Not even close.
Light source was on the right side and I had no definition of the planes, so started to work in some tones. Need a better smudging technique. When I push and pull tones it doesn’t take me long to ruin my surface so it can’t be erased or toned down. Very frustrating.
Once again, time management was an issue.
Planned to google portrait artists who work in charcoal last week, but didn’t get to it.
Stuck on a plateau with this medium and method. Perhaps a different drawing surface? More likely, a lighter touch and a better technique.
Wednesday night open figure session. Clothed model, a young, exotic beauty. Decided to do a portrait because I’m so rusty. Continued with vine charcoal, charcoal pencil, stump and kneaded eraser, this time on Strathmore gray toned paper.
Determined to learn how to master this drawing medium. At this stage, drawings look overworked and self-conscious, no energy and life. Note to self: Research charcoal artists, stay positive, and keep working. Be careful not to overwork the drawing. Lighter touch. Respect the materials.
Got a good likeness but didn’t do the model justice. Stretched her nose. Note to self: Check foreshortening of nose on frontal portraits when sitting at eye level with the model.
Face is flat, didn’t reveal the planes off the nose and under the eye on the light side. Highlight on bridge of nose is too intense. Rendering of neck in shadow is balled up and sternomastoid muscle is too prominent; should have taken it down a value and added some light to show roundness of throat.
Did experiment with atmosphere using block of charcoal. Not crazy about the marks, though. Maybe next time tone the paper with atmosphere before drawing and pull out the envelope with the eraser.
Two hours. Overall, not a very good effort. Humbling.
Watched Casey Baugh do a charcoal portrait a few months ago at a demo. What a master draftsman. Wasn’t more than five feet away in the first row.
Decided to give it a try this week on Bristol Board and get my hands dirty. Same model as last week, Caitlin.
After outlining the envelope lightly, established the shadow side, orbital shadows and center line. Worked on eyes and facial planes. My instructor suggested to the class not to get lost in the details of the shadow side, so didn’t spend much time there. Used soft vine charcoal, a stump, and kneaded eraser to build tones; a soft charcoal pencil for the detail.
Could have spent another hour laying down and wiping tones to better define the facial planes and create depth. Too heavy with the shadow plane at the left temple; should be observable but feint on the light side. Hair is flat and neglected. Did add some atmosphere, one of my goals in this class.
90 minutes. Ran out of time. Note to self: Time management.
Really enjoy the tactile drawing experience with vine charcoal and the kneaded eraser.
First of four classes. Been a few months since doing any portraits after my Sunday night portrait group ended. The rust shows.
Face has structural problems. Basic stuff like keeping the center line intact, creating correct tones on the facial planes, drawing eyes on an accurate sight-line, and not overworking the drawing. Way too much erasing and correcting this week. Hope to do better next week.
My goals for the next three classes are to improve my placement of facial planes, use more lost and found lines to depict light and volume, to include atmosphere, and to manage my time to always get both a likeness and a sense of the person. Need to start practicing between classes.
Note to self: do a 30 minute portrait from a reference photo from among the mug shots at thesmokinggun.com at least five days between classes. Some real interesting faces at this site.
Most Sunday evenings for almost a year, I have attended an Open Portrait session hosted by Danielle and Chris Merzatta, local jewelry artists and friends to artists in our area. It has been a privilege to participate in their group, getting to know them, their daughter Laurily, and other artists who made this a regular stop.
My drawing skills improved measurably because of this frequent practice. I am in their debt.
At this final session, Danielle’s mother was our model.
Next to last class in this portrait session. Have drawn Jen many times in figure drawing classes and open figure sessions. First opportunity to draw her portrait.
Very challenging pose from the right side three-quarter position because of the head tilt. Lots of foreshortening down the facial center line. Had to correct the lips and chin a couple times. Did my best. Would like another crack at this pose.
Astrid returned with her hoop earrings, Nordic brow, and prominent sternocleidomastoid muscles. Gave me fits with the front on angle as her head position moved slightly after each break. The way she cut her eyes and her facial expression did not showcase her natural beauty and gave her an almost severe appearance.
Long ago my instructor told me to flatter my portrait subjects. Think this is okay as long as it doesn’t compromise the likeness of the sitter. Tried to soften her gaze. Not sure I succeeded, but Astrid liked the drawing.
Started a new four week portrait drawing class yesterday with my teacher, Edward Sprafkin. We had a new model. Classic Swedish bone structure.
Decided to use Carb Othello #645 pastel pencil on brown toned paper. Positioned myself on the light side for a 3/4 view. 90 minutes.
Always a surprise how a drawing will go. Some come easily. Others not so much. Was pleased to capture subtle skin tones on the light side. Want to make this a focus in future drawings on both the light and shadow side.
Final portrait class today. Same model as last week.
Decided to position myself on the shadow side. Much easier for me to draw the deep contrasts on the light side. Shadow side calls for subtle gradations in values. This is a weak area for me.
Likeness is okay. Left cheek is a bit flat. Below the cheek bone should have been same tone as left forehead. Could have lowered the value in the neck area below the jaw to bring the jaw and lower face forward. Not a very convincing job on the hair above the ear; too flat.
Second to last portrait class in the spring semester. Was getting a little too comfortable with the pastel pencil. It makes such painterly marks. Decided to use charcoal and toned grey paper this week.
No longer use a standard approach to getting started, like the approach Andrew Loomis suggests, but depend on my eye and a growing understanding of the head planes and anatomy. Getting better at “seeing” and conducting an internal dialogue about what I am seeing, checking landmarks and correcting.
Still erase too much. When my teacher does a 20 minute demonstration portrait at the beginning of the class, he does not use the eraser until the final finishing and detail stages. He showed me some figure drawings by Robert Liberace in which he leaves his original marks after corrections. Really interesting. Will experiment with this approach.
Also, he suggested getting some accents and highlights on the page early to anchor the values. Need to make this a habit.
Third class this morning. New model, an older woman with platinum silver hair and classic good looks.
Deep set eyes with a wonderful brow ridge and eye lid fold that picked up the highlight. Her pug nose, muzzle and jaw line below her chin form an inverted triangle to the triangle formed by her eyes and nose.
Was fun to add the facial highlights and highlights on the hair to this well-lit model. Think the neck might have used a highlight line on the top of the sternocleidomastoideus muscle and could have better defined the ear fossa. Otherwise, happy with the drawing. 90 minutes.
This was the second of six classes today. Same lovely young model as last week. She was posed in a chair elevated on a stage. Liked the pose so much decided to draw her complete figure likeness.
Light source from the left cast a nice shadow on the wall.
Could have done a better job with the her left arm in the shadow. Inside line could have been toned instead and it would have helped model the roundness of the forearm. Clavicle could have been toned down.
Overall, happy with the drawing done in 90 minutes.
Started new portrait drawing class today, first session of six. Taken three portrait classes over the past couple years with same instructor. First time drawing this model. She has big, brown eyes. Good likeness.
Modeling isn’t very refined and consequently image is a bit flat; wasn’t aggressive enough with form shadows. Note to self: Need to work on depicting hair.
Another interesting model this evening. Prominent chin was a challenge for me to find the plane with the facial center line. Blurred the shape lines away from the focal point of the eyes and nose triangle. Was reminded by my instructor who was in the group the sequence is “highlight, toned paper, shadow. Ear shadow on the cap is clumsy – could have softened the line – ran out of time.
Terrific model last night. This gentleman was recruited to sit and had never modeled in his life. Struck a great pose, held it, and found it readily after the breaks.
His face is full of interest. He has a scruffy white beard. The eyes express a kind of compassion one acquires by living through hard times. Call it appreciation mixed with serenity.
His crooked nose has a story to tell. No one was brave enough to ask.
Able to join my portrait group last night for the first time in over a month. Was a little anxious about drawing the model after so much time away. She listened to a Star Wars soundtrack while she posed??!!
Lately been using CarbOthello pastel pencil for life drawings. Used graphite for this drawing last night, 5B. Think the 5B offered a range of tones depending on my pressure, was erasable, and I liked it. Drawing done on Strathmore Series 400 toned paper, a smooth surface. Don’t use smudge as a shading or tone technique normally and didn’t in this sketch, but found the graphite smudged easily when my hand or arm rubbed against the drawing by accident. Have to be careful. Maybe work down from the top, especially when adding large areas of tone.
Overall, was happy with the result. Solid likeness with slightly exaggerated facial features that captured this model’s persona. There is graphite shine in the right eye because of reworking with too much pressure. Shows my inexperience with graphite.
Professional artist gave me a wonderful metaphor for this problem. He said you can do a beautiful drawing that converses with the viewer and then make a mark that SCREAMS and spoils the gestalt of the drawing.
Line on bridge of the nose could have been softened, especially at the top of the tip, maybe even vanished there because of light. Must keep soft lines in mind. Need to work on shadows and light in folds, and will do more drawings with graphite to improve technique. Two hours.
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