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Concepts for this week:
Thumbnail sketch
Making an Envelope and Blocking in
Shape of the head
Look for gesture,
definition of views
angle and tilt,
center line,
brow line
Set the features, guides
Thumbnail Sketch, a thumbnail sketch is small first impression, about 1 ½ by 2 inches, squared off in the corner the drawing paper. Look for the main big shapes, light and darks, no details. Thumbnails are useful in any kind of drawing situation. Jot down “The first look”. Get into this good habit and it will be amazing to see how good your thumbnails are!
Drawing size, Generally a portrait drawing looks nice 7/8 of actual size. Drawing or painting small is very difficult, overbig can be freakish looking, unless you are Andy Warhol or Chuck Close!
Starting a drawing, Artists like to square off. A vertical shaped rectangle is known as portrait format and a wide rectangle is known as landscape format. The only other format is the square. Start looking at how portraits fit into the rectangle. Why would this be important? By establishing your space, you are composing within the rectangle. The outside edges are useful to gauge where things are, and for judging negative space.
Composition refers to the manner in which your subject is positioned relative to other things or edges on the page. More formally, it is the arrangement of forms and spaces within the format of the rectangle.
Project, do quick thumbnail of a dozen portraits this week to see how they are composed within a rectangle. Use newspaper, books, magazines, or go online for sources.
There are 3 ways that I like to think about drawing a portrait. They all work hand in hand.
The first is just to draw what you see, just by observation.
The second is by knowing anatomy and the structure of the head, drawing from the inside with structural knowledge.
The third way is to just draw shapes, especially shadow shapes, thinking more abstractly about, it's not an eye it's just a shape that looks like such and such.
The one thing that is certain, don't draw what you think an eye should look like, draw based on what you see. Drawing what you think something should look like, will only get you into trouble.
When in doubt, look at your subject and measure. You can measure up and down, vertically and side to side , or across the form.
Envelope Method, the envelope is constructed with 3 or 4 lines, just like the thumbnail, hitting the widest and tallest points of the pose. These are just mapping points and will help us as we look closer, measure, and block in, working towards a contour.
The Block in refers to looking at each of our envelope lines, one at a time and making better definitions. Doing this with straight lines is a little easier than working with curves at this point.
Look for correct angles. Look for a particular angle and transfer it to the page. This doesn't have to be “perfect” the first time...we are looking for approximations.
As we move forward with this process, we are creating the gesture and the contour at the same time.
Early on Establish the location of the center line to know where features will be located. This gives us a chance to see if there is a tilt, if the head is looking down, up or relatively straight on. Place the arched cross of the brow line.
What are the different position we will run across?
Frontal view, is there a tilt? Is the head looking up or down? Is the symmetry or asymmetry?
Partial ¾
3/4 View, This interesting view as special considerations of slight vanishing points, “the head as a cube”
7/8 view, not much of the far side is visible
Classic Side Profile, great view to see the shape of skull and ear location.
Let's look at a classic way to establish the shape of the head, this from Drawing the Head by Loomis:
He likens the head to a ball, with the sides cut off.
Shape the head and some helpful guidelines, Using the Allen Loomis method, we can draw a ball for the shape of the skull. (Ball above should be round) We can slice the sides for the compressed shape of the skull. Make a good, 90 degree crossing on the slice. Arch in the brow line. Come up about at a 45 degree angle for the hair line, mark it. Measure same distance down to the base of the nose, mark it, measure same distance to bottom of chin:third third, third. A Man's jaw will be angular, a Woman's jaws will be more rounded. Divide the space under the nose in thirds, Not Half, and mark location of mouth. Try several versions of this. Have the head tilt in different positions. Use the crossing of the slice area to help locate brow line.
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Project Work from photos today, Each drawing will be about 4 to 5 minutes
1.do a thumbnail
2. square off your page
3. mark in the envelope
4.start to block in one side at a time
5.establish the center line. Mark basic features.....No details!
You may want to use the envelope method depending on the pose.
Pass your photo to your neighbor. If you are working by yourself, look through magazines to find portrait photographs and time yourself.
Timed quick 5 minute poses
If time in class, let's work with a partner to draw from life, each person will model, while the other draws.
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Take Home Project, This week, look at master drawings and copy a master portrait drawing. You will learn a lot about how the artist was thinking, line quality, and composition. This exercise will improve your powers of observation. If the task seems daunting, draw upside down. You will be drawing the abstract shapes upside down, not eyes or lips.
Holbein, portrait artist of King Henry the 8th is a great artist to start with. Try this old master drawing and find more online, if you liked the experience.
Check out this artist's experience drawing old master drawings
Look online for other Holbein Drawings. Try to copy another one if you have time.
Here are drawings from our first class, starting with thumbnails, and then beginning to get the structure of the head.
