Work in progress

[andrew_jorgensen]

This is a work in progress:





One thing I need to make progress on is getting permission from the subject herself, who seems to be occupied with other trifles. I hope she won't mind the liberty; no offense is meant. (ETA: as Buffy fans will recall, drawing portraits of people without their prior permission, and then leaving them where the subjects could find them, was a habit of Angelus's. Good role model, that!)

I really need to "push the darks," as they say, laying more graphite on the page and heightening the contrast. I could even stand to add a layer of black to the smock, perhaps get more of the folds in there. I might spend more time on the right side of the hair, making the level of detail match that on the left. And I'm not sure I yet understand the nose.

But the eyes are perfect, which is what most matters to me.

(You might want to be careful what pictures you post to Facebook, as I'm trolling for subjects. However, this may be it for blonde curly hair.)

Comments

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is awesome! You're right, her eyes are perfect. And I love the shading on her hair, because you really get the shape of it. Wow. I'm loving all your sketches :)

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

Someday, I will sketch you (this is partially because the hair will be easier), but I'm going to insist on doing it in person. (I'm a slow drawer. Can you sit still for ten hours straight? Now we know why Angelus preferred to work with the unconscious.)

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, I have a difficult enough time having photos taken of me. I'd be too self-conscious... though if you put me in front of a TV with DVDs I haven't seen yet, I could probably sit still for 10 hours! (That, or you could bop me over the head. *g*)

Are you coming to Washington next year?

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

I don't know; it depends on my travel schedule and improv. It also really depends on the guest list. Are you going?

[deevalish.livejournal.com]

You know, I was thinking about how you needed to push your dark areas. But I never mentioned it because criticism is a hard thing. Plus add the internet and it could all go wrong. Mostly I with held because I see these for the exercises they are. My mind can't but help leap forward to other things you could be doing. Like line weight but like I said, that's jumping ahead. Just curious, what's the highest number B pencil you have? From what I've seen so far, my guess would be 2, maybe 4B.

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the criticism (this time)! My class was sort of a kick into the shallow end, without a lot of technical instruction, and when I see that there seem to be different ways to, for example, hold a pencil, I have no idea when one grip would be more suitable than another. I'm still blending with my finger; I haven't even opened the conte crayons we were told to buy; throughout the class I even avoided the kneaded eraser!

The smock in this is done in 7B. Most everything else is a provisional (and well-guessed) 3B (and some might still be in the 2H with which I pusillanimously render). I'm an unconfident perfectionist; some of these drawings have involved more erasing than penciling. My pencil sets go up to 8B but the heaviest I've gone (I think) in what I've posted here before is a sparing use of 6.

I think I'm ok with being critiqued. I'm very impressed (and surprised) with my own work, for the most part, or else I wouldn't crow about it, but only the bust of Costanza Bonarelli has been what I'd consider a finished, displayable piece. (And that may be partly because lacking confidence in my technique, I have abandoned drawings because I don't know an easy way to go further.)

Line weight?

[deevalish.livejournal.com]

Blending with your finger is not a crime. I do it all the time. It's cheaper than using stomps or q-tips. Kneaded erasers are your friends! The lift out they achieve is amazing! Plus, I think I used mine as stress balls only instead of squeezing, I constantly pulled it apart. Were you supposed to learn chiaroscuro with the conte crayons? That's where you'll learn about line weight. How things closest to you will have thicker lines, further away, thinner. Like the rim of a cup, the edge closest to you is slightly thicker, heavier. The rim farthest away is much thinner, it's like a focus thing.

The smock curiously doesn't seem to be a 7B. You're being very light with it. I admire your handling of the texture of the smock, though.

I think you've got a very good start to your drawing skills. My department director was fond of saying that in all artists there are 10,000 bad drawings. Better get started right now.

I'm not sure what you mean by an easy way to go further. I'd love to help in anyway to figure that out. My thought on what you could do next to further your drawing skills? Practice drawing draping or folds. The few things I recall seeing from you, I felt that the folds could've been darkened more considerably in some areas and then a highlight of sorts could be lifted out.

And also please feel free to simply ignore that last bit. I know how it feels to be told things like this and how vulnerable it makes one.

[dherblay.livejournal.com]

I think I meant that if I were more confident in my technique, I'd be able to draw more quickly (also, if I stopped treating everything like it had to end up as a masterpiece), and thus explore more advanced techniques.

Thank you for the critique, and for the advice. I'll get to the drapery assignment soon!

[rebekahroxanna.livejournal.com]

You might want to try a class at CIA or even the community college if you are getting really serious about this.