Thursday Art group - Session 7


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Portraits

In this session we experimented with portrait drawing - head and shoulders.

In the first instance, starting with photographs helped to provide familiarity with proportions, more easily than drawing from a live subject. Some people used the pencil measuring technique and others used a grid system. However, in the end, most found that a grid system was easiest to follow.

portrait montage

From top left running clockwise, drawings by: Lorraine - Rebecca - Mags - Vee - Nan

(Click on images to enlarge)

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10 Minute Sketches

With only 15 minutes of session time left, the class were asked to sketch the person opposite to them. This would mean working quickly - constantly looking at the subject, down at the drawing, and back to the subject again. This forces the observer to quickly sketch details that seem most prominent - basic shape of face, hair, glasses, etc. - before gradually working back into the drawing with detail and improvements in proportions.



 No one was expecting miracles to come from this exercise, but amazingly, many people captured enough qualities of their subject that recognition of people within the group was quite clear.

On behalf of the members of the group, I should mention that everyone was openly apologetic to everyone else as they commenced their drawings, since no one wanted to deliberately or accidentally offend their subject!

Stan sketching Nan... and possibly, Rebecca

Stan's quick, bold drawing style lends itself very well to sketching and in these drawings he has really begun to capture both a feeling of activity and a good likeness of the human form. The sketch on the right, which appears to be Rebecca, is quite caricature in its execution, with emphasis on hair and headband .

Stan - Portrait		 Mags sketching Vee

Mags has managed to capture the general shape of Vee's head and used the hair to help with relative proportions. Had time not run out, I'm sure the areas around nose, mouth and chin would have been improved.

Mags - Portrait

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Tracy sketching Rebecca

Tracy found it quite challenging to sketch so quickly, but nevertheless captured Rebecca's hair, headband and eyebrows.

Tracy - Portrait 		Rebecca sketching Tracy

Rebecca's sketch of Tracy quite accurately depicts hairstyle and glasses and although nose, mouth and chin require further attention, there is a nice quality about this drawing.

Rebecca - Portraits

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Vee sketching Mags

Vee has captured Mags quite well, with obvious attention on hair and glasses - worn on top of her head. I particularly like the sketchy lines forming the frames. Mouth and nose of course need some extra work.

Vee - Portraits


Top 		Lorraine sketching Nicola

Although this may not look exactly like Nicola, Lorraine has done well with most of the facial proportions and achieved some good detail around areas of eyes, nose and lips. I also like the treatment of the clothing.

Lorraine - Portraits
Kathy sketching Stan

It's only fair to point out that the two drawings, left and top right, were from the first exercise of copying a photograph and not someone in the class. Kathy had a go at a few different methods of scaling the proportions, including using a series of circles to represent the initial shapes and locality of features.

Kathy - Portraits 		Kathy's sketch of Stan was an interesting choice, given that he was sitting at the furthest end of the table from her - and when I came to take photographs, she was almost dismissive of this drawing. However, there are some good observations and the proportions come together to create a recognisable face and hairstyle.

Kathy -Portraits

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The video clips below will help you to grasp further understanding of portrait feature drawing and proportions
How to Draw a Face- Basic Proportions

 How to Draw a Nose
How to draw a Realistic Mouth & Lips

 How to draw a Realistic Nose
How to Draw a Realistic Eye


 How to Draw Portraits & The Head | How to block-in a portrait or the head - by Alphonso Dunn



Techniques demonstrated

Using a variety of measuring methods: Dividers, pencil, grid, circles.


Observations

The members of this class have a lot of latent ability and I am sure that some of them even surprise themselves at times! Undoubtedly, some areas require further practice, but overall, the individual qualities of line and style coming through their drawings really express individuality and personality.

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