Thursday Art group - Session 8


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Charcoal Portraits

In this session we experimented with portrait drawing with charcoal and using speed and boldness in our initial movements.

Class members began by drawing someone opposite, but on reflection, I would suggest taking it in turns, i.e. one side of the table adopt static poses and the other side draw for 15 minutes before swapping over. In the event, I offered to be the subject towards the second part of the session.


(Click on images to enlarge)

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Stan sketching Vee

Stan uses bold strokes and always draws to the size of his paper. His drawing has a fresh, un-laboured feel.



Stan



 Stan sketching Richard

Although Stan has started to turn me into one of his caricatures, he's done quite well with the shape of the top half of my head. The face concaves in a bit too much - mainly due to the cheek shading and line directions around the jaw and chin.

Stan
Tracy sketching Vee

Tracy has done well with the shape of the head, hair and glasses. The position at the bottom of the page didn't leave much neck room, but the drawing around the eyes, glasses and hair has some nice qualities.

Tracy

 Tracy sketching Richard

Tracy has captured most of the shapes and proportions. The jaw seems a little too square on the left side and lips and nose require some further work. Some nice line work around the top of the head and around the ear.



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Mags sketching Rebecca and Vee

Mags finds portrait drawing a bit of a challenge, but after relaxing, working quickly, and not worrying so much about 'getting it right first time', she produced a brilliant drawing of Rebecca (see below and right).

Mags

Mags sketching Rebecca

The simplicity of line, picking out only the main features, works really well in this sketch and brings freshness and life to the portrait with minimum effort.


Mags

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Rebecca sketching Stan

This drawing of Stan captures his quiet concentration and general demeanour, despite some of the proportions being a little out.


 Rebecca sketching Richard

There's something of a water reflection quality about this drawing. The shape of the top of the head is good, although time perhaps ran out on the nose and mouth - which has become somewhat unaligned.
Lorraine sketching Rebecca

This is an excellent drawing by Vee, capturing proportion, demeanour and texture, with just the right amount of shading and smudging.


Lorraine




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Not actually sure if this drawing is by Lorraine or Vee. The general proportions are good and I really like the background marks.


Lorraine

Vee drawing Rod Stewart

Although the face has gone a bit skew-whiff, the treatment of hair and background gives a feeling of a Rock icon.


Vee
Vee sketching Richard

A good head shape and shading. The eyes seem a little on the large size, but this is a minor point on an otherwise competent drawing.

Vee

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Nan enlarging another drawing

Using the grid method, Nan made a nice job of enlarging this drawing and at the same time putting her own mark on it.

 Nan sketching Richard

The shape of the head is quite good. It would have been nice to see how, given more time, it would have turned out.


The video clips below are the same as those provided after the last session, but left on here for ease of access.
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

Quick sketching in charcoal to define the main lines and shapes in relation to one another..

A reminder of smudging methods, using brushes, sponges, cloths, etc.

A reminder to rest on another piece of paper when drawing, to avoid smudging unintentionally.

Using fixative spray to 'fix' the drawings from smudging or getting on other work.


Observations

As mentioned above, next time I suggest drawing each other, we will take it in turns to be drawer or model.

Quite a few people said they liked working quicker and larger sheets of paper were easier to work with when using this method.

We still have some work to do in getting relative proportions correct and I might suggest working just on eyes, nose and mouth drawings outside of class time.

Some people talked about using grids - and whether they would ever be able not to use them! It's all down to practice and after a while, you will gain confidence to draw without aids such as grids.
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