Realistic Self Portrait

Artist Statement

This is a drawing I did of myself, in grayscale. I chose a photo for this drawing by snapping one in my hallway. I chose this photo because I liked the tilt of my head and the expression on my face, which I think is subtle but intriguing, and I also liked the folds of the fabric. I think the shapes and shadows in this piece look varied and provide many different shades.

I used graphite and pastel paper to create this piece. To start, I drew a 7 x 11 " grid on the paper, as well as on the photo, so that I could transfer the image to scale. I labeled the sides to create an organized system, then I started to draw. I used a one inch by one inch viewfinder to focus on one square at a time, and tried to observe and capture as many details as possible. I mostly used a 4B pencil, but I used a 6B pencil for the darker spots and for the bottom half of the drawing, which had lots of darker values.

I used a grid process to break down the photo into smaller pieces, as well as a viewfinder to focus on each of the squares at a time. I used grayscale to draw the entire picture, using a value strip to match the values that I thought I should use. I drew from the top left to the right, to make sure my hand didn't smudge the graphite. The project moved by squares, and at the end I went over and shaded in the background. If I were to take next steps with this project, I would go and blend the squares a little more, meaning I would make sure that the grid didn't show as much and the lines of the fabric continued smoothly.