Facing Forward….Senior Sketch

I ran out of Patience……why?  Well, it has to do with the H.A.I.R !! 



I think the next “Drawing” Book I purchase should be “Drawing Hair for Dummies”  or something like that!  I could not for the life of me, replicate the curly hair on the original picture!!  I think too linear!!!  Yep, straight lines et al!



I don’t know if others do this, but I have taken to the habit of outlining my sketches with my finest Micron Pen (.005).  I like the pop it gives and I think with time, it may help keep the graphite in place…don’t know if it will actually work, though.



Because I learn by trial and error (yep, just like 99% of the rest of the human race). These are the fault points in this sketch:

1. I seem to have trouble making the head tilt……I only seem to be able to draw a North-South head.
2. The chin area should be a bit thicker.
3. The nose is too long.
4. The Hair…..well, that’s an OBVIOUS one!
5. ________ fill in the blank!

Since this is for my Sketchbook Project, it’ll be gone in 6 weeks.  Good thing we have digital cameras, and I can keep my own copy of the sketch for sentimental reasons.  I only have room for one or two more drawings in the sketchbook.  Wow!!  I just may have this thing done before Christmas. 

Thanks for your comments and if ANYONE has any hair drawing suggestions or references, I’d love to hear them.

Senior Pictures

I thought I’d be further along with this by now, but my “drawing time” was interrupted by some much needed psycho cleaning!  After being gone for almost a week and spending time in some really clean houses, I felt a little bad for my pad.   Hours later, chores done, I’m feeling much inspired.  So, I thought I’d share my latest drawing with you.  Plus, I’ve missed you guys!!  Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!



The good thing about stepping back and posting these here is…I can see I don’t have the face shape correct on the interior (left) side.   Will try to fix that, ASAP!



Little FYI for you:   Did you know that an artist (A really good artist) cannot display their painting/drawing if it was drawn from a Studio picture because of the copyright???   I did not know this…. it’s a good thing I’m not that good!!



I sharpened my graphite pencil a few times as I attempted the teeth here…..But will need to go in and tone some of those edges down…..Geez!!  A little tombstone-y here, I think!



Don’t look too closely at the hair off the forehead, because it really doesn’t match the picture, but I must say it was fun to draw!!

Oh, I’ve got to show you this book I just picked up. 



Secrets to Drawing Realistic Faces by Carrie Stuart Parks

The book was written by this lady who has done Composite Drawings for the FBI since ‘81.  She thought it best to teach a class on composite drawing to Police Officers so that more bad guys can be caught.   The book is an extension of her class.   A very well written book, with face “rules” which helped me to break down the dimensions of the photograph.

All for now!!

Part 5….The Big Head

I’ve got a big head…Literally!! My heads are big here! Which reminds me of the Jurassic Park movie when the T.rex is after the people in the jeep and the camera pans to the side view mirror which says “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear”. Yikes!! Here it could read “Heads in drawing are larger than they appear in real life”.

Learned A LOT with this week-long drawing!

1. Erasing is not as hard as you’d think. The graphite lead comes off very easy. Just watch out for smudging.
2. Sometimes you just got stop and say “this is good enough for today”. I’m still training my eye and my hand.
3. Familiar faces are much EASIER to draw. Can spot a line problem much earlier.
4. Use a kleenex to help smudge the pencil streaks for shading or highlighting.
5. Creative license can help to make people skinnier.

I thought I captured the eyes real well with this picture. The hair was fun, but not exactly what the picture showed. The head is too round and the chin still isn’t right. I never did go back and fix the shoulders. I was at my saturation point.

Dark hair is hard to do. You’d think that it would be easier, but trust me there is a lot of subtle lighting in her brunette hair. The eyes were the most frustrating part for me. I kept drawing them too big. Again, the shoulders aren’t as broad as they should be. The teeth were not singled out, because it made the mouth look muddy. A sharper pencil may have helped.

This picture isn’t quite finished. I was thinking I’d attempt the matching bathing suits. But, didn’t know if I should go with Markers or Watercolor Pencils. Either way, I won’t be duplicating the pattern exactly (I’m no where near that level).

So, I’m gonna ask you…… Watercolor pencils or Markers for the suits? Please cast your vote in the comment section below!

Have a Safe and Happy 4th of July!