Observational Self Portrait

This is an observational self portrait that I created by looking in a mirror and using charcoal as my media. For this project I used online sources to focus on basic facial proportions which were an important aspect of this piece.

I started out by outlining my head lightly in pencil and then lightly sketching in my facial features according to the recommended proportions and positioning. I drew my eyes approximately half way down my head, the bottom of my nose half way down from there, and m mouth about half way down from my nose. Then I added my ears (the tops about at eye level) and outlined my hair. At this point, I went in with the charcoal, adding different values based on where the light hit my skin an hair. To do this I shaded with the charcoal and then spread it using either my finger (for larger spaces) or a tortillon (for smaller spaces needing precision). Lastly I drew in my shirt and the fading background.

I did this piece to improve my methods of drawing portraits in general by using recommended facial proportions, and to practice using charcoal. The use of charcoal requires practice because although it initially seems similar to graphite, it is very different. Charcoal is much softer, and therefor darker than graphite, enabling shading to be faster but also making it intimidating to use at first because of how quickly the shades become dark. After doing this project I am much more comfortable using charcoal and with drawing faces.