Traditional Art

Week 27

Portraits from Observation:

This block will be focusing on portraiture, capturing likeness through observation while measuring proportions to attain correct structure. We were supposed to practice live model drawing today but the model didn't turn up, so we were tasked with drawing our peers.

Since I forgot to take a photo while blocking out the structure, I recreated it.

I started with a circle to mark the cranium, followed by the green lines which I measured as the 3 major sections of the face that mark the forehead, T-zone, and the mouth/chin. From here, I drew a vertical line down the centre of the skull to ensure good symmetry; I used this opportunity to mark in the nose, followed by the eyes which I made sure were the correct distance by lightly marking another the same size between the two as they are 1 eye apart. The head is also generally 5 eyes wide. With this, I placed the mouth by using my pencil to find where the end aligns with the eyes (at the inner corner in Alex's case) and chin, followed by drawing the jaw, measuring where it meets the face at the philtrum. The ears align with the eyes and tip of the nose generally, which is shown by my yellow plumb lines.

With these details blocked out, I was able to begin rendering.

This was the end result, which was a really strong piece! My tutor agreed and had little feedback, except for preparing to draw larger for the submission piece and to shrink the chin a little as I'd elongated it.

The main pointers that helped distinguish this as Alex was his upturned lower eyelid towards the inner corner which give a subtle constant smiling effect, along with his relatively straight lip line, larger bottom lip, and strong lower lip depressor. He has a generally slim face which could be the cause of me elongating the chin, but these notable details really help to set him apart in my portrait.

My warmup drawing to capture Alex's vibe and essence before drawing from observation.

Dev Log Evaluation:

I think I've made a pretty strong start to this block, it especially helps that portraiture is a favourite of mine in art; I love capturing likeness and have been told it's a forte of mine in art. There were only a few missteps I took in this lesson so I've come out feeling pretty confident for the submission pieces.

Week 31

Submission Piece 1 - Structure and Anatomy:

In this session, we would be making our first submission piece, which is a portrait study of a man. Our subject is a past middle-age man with stubble lining the sides of his face and a wispy moustache and beard obscuring his lips. His neutral expression a little stern, with a naturally furrowed brow - his turned eyebrows are a key feature in his likeness so I'd have to make sure I capture it well.

To begin, I started with a thumbnail sketch of the model to warmup, grasp likeness, and practice constructing the head while understanding how his features vary from the standard measurements.

I started with some primitives, cubes to mark the head and neck which define the 3 dimensionality of the head followed by vertical and horizontal lines to mark the vertical centre of the face, followed by 3 horizontal sections to separate the eyes, nose and mouth area. I kept in mind that the left side would be shorter than the right as it is hidden in the slight 3/4 view. Next, I added the eyes in as this is the first feature to mark as you can measure the rest going off of the eyes as a reference point. I drew the nose following along the vertical centre line in a geometric fashion to understand its construction before adding nostrils. I made sure to add tone as I was drawing to establish depth rather than waiting until the end to render.

I believe this thumbnail was successful, but his face needed to be a little longer to demonstrate the droop of the face that occurs with age.

In scaling the drawing up, I marked lines from my pinky finger stretching to my thumb for where the face would start and end. From here, I followed the same process as the thumbnail by starting with a cube to establish the 3D shape of the head, followed by marking the proportions with measuring the 3 sections of the head - I made the observation that this model's middle section with the nose is shorter than the eyes to forehead and mouth to chin. However his face appears proportional as the beard obscures the chin. I drew the eyes and marked each feature from there, using plumb lines to see where other features align to the eyes, and made sure to block in major shadows while I drew to establish the 3 dimensionality throughout the drawing process, building up tone gradually. I squinted to grasp the major shadows like in the eyes and on the left cheek which is where the light evades.

The lighting method of this composition is known as the Rembrandt method, in which the light source is situated at a 45 degree angle from the model which creates dynamic lighting and shadows based on the diagonal nature of the light. Along with the dark background in this piece, the Rembrandt lighting's dramatic contrast helps to alleviate the atmosphere of this drawing.

Here I started to build the depth of this piece by switching from my B pencil to a 2B to block in more of the shadows, such as one of the darkest occurring on the left cheek.

Since the features were all marked, I worked on adding fine details at this point, observing the model's smaller characteristics such as the drooping eyebags. I also started using my 5B pencil to achieve the deep tone in the eye area.

(I'm not sure what happened to the quality of this photo??)

However, my tutor pointed out that I shouldn't go too dark yet as it could skew the tonal range of the entire piece, so I started working on the neglected areas like the right cheek to build tone everywhere before I go too dark again. So here, I rectify my mistake by building the tone in other parts of the face.

At about 2 hours in I received feedback; the major point was that I captured his likeness in the eyes but the nose was too small and threw off the observation. I tried to fix this on my own by increasing the size of the nose tip, but it wouldn't succeed.

Thankfully, my tutor swooped in to help by redoing the nose entirely. He observed that the radix was in the right place, but the nose's projection needed pushing further. The tip aligned with just before the left eye's pupil and so the new nose fit the face much better.

With my last ounce of session time, I observed the general tone of other places in the head such as the temples having a dip and therefore some shadow, and the forehead's side exposed to the light being the brightest area on the piece. Using this block-in of tone, I would be able to continue the fine rendering of this piece after session without reliance on the model as reference.

Dev Log Evaluation:

I believe this is a good start to the submission pieces; I was able to use my time wisely to establish the features of the model with some semi-decent rendering and tone applied, leaving me just rendering to do. I made a few mistakes in misjudging the size of the nose and focusing too hard on rendering a specific area which risks skewing the tonal range of the whole drawing, but since I've got the establishment of tone down, I shouldn't face this issue again. I succeeded in constructing the face by thinking in 3D, so I can see improvement in my ability to draw from life. Rather than drawing what I see, I think critically about the primitive shapes and how they create a face.

My main goal for this piece is to finish rendering the face. Since the background is dark, I will have to ensure the darkest areas of the face (eyes, left cheek) match so the tonal range is consistent throughout the piece.

Week 32

Further Live Model Practice:

In this session, we would continue practicing live drawing by referencing our model, an elderly woman. This would prep us for our next submission piece which is a portrait of a woman. We had the goal today of capturing likeness by constructing the head in 3D form and measuring each feature, rather than drawing what we see to gain resemblance in our pieces. I chose to do a few small drawings rather than the usual thumbnail and big, detailed ones.

I started with a drawing done at an angle between 3/4 and front facing; I began by marking the head with a circle and adding directional lines to find the vertical tilt of the head, leaning towards the left, and a horizontal line for the brow bone. I followed this up with measuring the major thirds of the face and placing the eyes, ensuring the space between them is another eye. I was able to go off this measurement to place the rest of the face such as the nose done in a primitive of 4 planes, followed by the mouth which I drew as a line before adding tone to imply the lips. I found where the jaw is by aligning it to the mouth and measured its angle with my pencil to draw it in, followed by the hairline and ears (measured to alin with the eyes and nose).

I added tone along the way to ensure it maintained a 3D appearance but the contrast was lacking as I stuck to my B pencil as I wasn't spending too much time on this piece. Throughout the drawing, I received only small bits of feedback such as the contrast one, along with a point to ensure the nose doesn't get too shortened. My tutor also pointed out that the model's cheekbones protrude a decent amount so the jowls would come further in.

I feel a little iffy about this drawing; it resembles the model but I don't think I captured her energy well enough. Using tone to imply her thin lips definitely helped and I curved it ever so slightly at each end to demonstrate her subtle smile. Her resting-happy face was something I wanted to capture in her eyes as the lower lid's shape was quite straight which implied their lifting as she smiled. I supported this subtle expression by her puffed eyebags which are accentuated when the cheeks lift from grinning, but I lacked the miniscule glint in her pupils that would've changed the almost sad appearance of her drooping eyelids to a hopeful one from the small highlight. This minor detail can make a difference in expression greatly, explaining why it's commonly exaggerated in animation to portray a lively character, therefore I should keep this in mind when creating optimistic characters or expressions in art.

After our break, I decided to switch seats to try a new angle. I find that I don't often get to attempt the side profile in live model sessions (just because of coincidental circumstances) so I was glad a seat was free for it. After constructing her head with the same method as before but aligning the eyes to the end of the lips to communicate their depth within the skull, I observed her key features from this angle. With age, the nose continues to grow so hers (not big by any means) was definitely a noticable feature in this angle's composition. The silhouette of her head is mostly soft and transitional, but the nose disrupts it. The soft silhouette is reinforced by her chin's lack of protrusion, instead curving into her neck, likely caused by this area of skin drooping with age. With the basic features down, I'd begin adding tone. I find the side profile relatively simple so this sketch was done efficiently, whereas I would've already had tone with a front or 3/4 view since there's a lot of necessary tone to show 3 dimensionality.

I used a B pencil for the softer tones on the face, building up with a 3B for the darker tones in the skin like the shadows collecting under the jaw, ear and neck, followed by a 6B on the hair as its local value was generally darker than the skin. In a bigger piece, I'd spend more time on the hair and begin with a harder pencil so I don't get this grainy effect but the piece turned out okay.

Dev Log Evaluation:

This session went well enough, I do believe I succeeded in capturing the model's likeness by examining her key distinctive features and constructing the head by thinking in 3D. However, I think this session might've just been an off day because I took a while on the first drawing to even construct the head. Looking back, the drawings are good and I can recognise the model in them, but I just took a while to draw them.

Progressing Submission Piece 1:

My goal in the session where I worked on this piece was to complete rendering the face; I placed some crude tones down where I'd need to develop shadow so I could remember where the darker details were without a reference. Therefore, I went in with my 3B pencil and started to shade these areas I marked.

I used a B pencil for lighter areas so my marks wouldn't be too intense - but with my 3B, I made sure the right side of the head had tone where it neared the edge to show how shadow occurs behind the head. I also ensured the entire left side was darker than the right as it's less exposed to the light source.

I also worked on the beard, mostly by using directional lines curving to demonstrate the rounder shape it possesses. Since the local value of the beard is lighter than the skin, I left major parts unshaded, adding dark tone only to the edges to give it 3 dimensionality. I also added stray hairs so it's less uniform, giving it a natural feel.

Since I had the general darkest areas of the ear marked already, I simply went over with my 3B to shade the inner part of the ear to show its hollowness, accentuating the shadows by lining them in and avoiding certain areas to portray the protrusion of cartilage.

Adding in the ear's cast shadow was the start to the bust. I used my B pencil to establish the tone of the skin on the neck and shoulders, lightly marking where the head's cast shadow would be. I believe this composition uses the Rembrandt light technique so the shadows are diagonal, leading to dynamic shapes and therefore, angled cast shadows.

I included some fat folds within the neck to follow the form and demonstrate the slight squeeze of the vest as the skin coming out of it is compressed and rounded. I used my 3B pencil to block in the cast shadow after shading the rest of the chest lightly as to not skew the tonal range by placing the darkest value first.

I layered my B pencil on the vest straps, followed by the 3B to get a smooth, blended texture as this is the darkest value in the composition.

I lightly blocked in a background but I'll wait for the feedback session before I commit to it as it's rather dark as well.

Dev Log Evaluation:

I believe I've progressed well on this piece and brought it to a stage where it's nearly complete, achieving the goal I set thanks to rendering the face, beard, and bust. I would have liked to develop the background's tone but I want to receive feedback and ensure the proportions and values are all correct before I commit to it. I found myself oddly frustrated with the piece before I picked it back up again and that may be due to his eyes staring at me from my sketchbook on the floor, or that the values and rendering were poorly distributed but now that it's almost done, it looks much stronger of a piece and actually cohesive.

Week 33

Submission Piece 2 - Character and Resemblance:

This submission piece has a focus on likeness over structure; it will be important that I maintain the practice of constructing the head and measuring for accurate proportions, but use a keen eye to observe the key features that distinguish our model and set them apart.

To begin, I started with a thumbnail in the corner to map out the features and grasp how drawing this model feels. It went decently and I could already see the resemblance but my tutor just added that thinning the face on the left side would really complete it.

I was also advised not to use the thumbnail as just a smaller version of the drawing, but instead to block out the composition. I only kept the face in mind and neglected the shoulder area, which would've eaten up too much space had I included it.

Next time, I'll use the thumbnail space to map out the composition before I focus on grasping details.

Capturing the Key Features:

In starting the scaled up drawing, I used my thumb and pinky to mark where to place the head and its size. I began with the loomis method to construct the head, measuring the 3 major areas of the face and placing the eyes to establish the features of the face. I observed that the model's nose is is upturned and very curved, appearing almost foreshortened, so the tip aligns with the middle of the further eye.

Her cheekbones are very strong so it'll be important to render them carefully to show their round and extruding form. I also found that the philtrum area is rather long and its space is defined by smile lines. The model's lips were slightly upturned, appearing as a subtle smile so before blocking in the lips' tone, I drew a lip to mark where they meet with that smile included. The tone beneath the lips that meets the chin is also notable for how it defines the chin's shape and curves into the edge of the face.

Feedback:

The left cheekbone and nose could be brought down; I was correct in making the observation that the tip of the nose meets the middle of the left eye, but the nose itself wasn't so short. The cheekbone demonstrated the exaggeration I added to the distinguishing features in the sake of capturing likeness, but bringing it down slightly added notes of realism; the exaggeration was a benefit as when I render and keep realism in mind, the combination of the two will achieve a plausible piece, along with a strong sense of character.
The right cheekbone needed to be a little higher and the angle more upturned to show how the skull wraps around to the brow.
Bringing the lips a little higher along with the nose already brought down decreased the exaggeration on the philtrum's height.
On the left side was the foreshortened eye, however it was too large to be perceived that way; therefore bringing it in portrays the hollowness of the eye area in the face's silhouette and properly communicates the angle of the head.
My tutor also blocked in the collar to establish the bust.

With the features mapped out, I started adding tone as I refined them and added smaller details to places like the nostrils and eyelids. At this stage, I was blocking in tone so suggest where the deepest shadows occurred as I squinted at the model.

At this point, I received some pointers on rendering to sculpt contrast by using directional hatching to imply the contour of the face and the direction of the tone throughout the face, allowing a more 3D feel rather than the aimless tone building I was using.

I found great difficulty in this new approach as it made me rethink how I tackle rendering, which caused a lot of frustration and reluctance to make any new marks. I can see how this method works, but I feel dissatisfied with this submission piece currently. I'm hoping I can pick it back up another day and that developing it with this new technique, and more patience, will help me regain my confidence and improve the drawing.

Dev Log Evaluation:
At this point in the block, I find myself conflicted with my work as I can acknowledge my ability to capture likeness in portraits, but as my tutor pointed out in the lesson, my rendering needs attention. I knew I had an ongoing struggle with contrast but having to adopt a whole new way of rendering was difficult; it did take a slight blow to my confidence as I feel reluctant to progress the piece as I'm unsure where to start, although I plan to pick it up another day with courage, keeping in mind the advice I was given on directional shading in the lesson. So long as I can maintain my smoother style of rendering with this new directional approach, I will hopefully bring this piece to a strong stage.

Week 35

Black Paper Portrait;

In today's session, we would be using white charcoal on black paper, focusing on positives to build lighting to create a piece. Therefore, the primary focus of this piece is lighting and depicting it with layers of white.

I've previously used black charcoal on white paper, but never the opposite so I went in very apprehensive. This is reflected in my thumbnail, looking very scribbly and unsure. Since I couldn't figure out how to apply the charcoal well, the tone all looked even.

However, I was able to improve on this issue in the larger piece. Starting with the basic measurements for the major 3 sections of the face and placing the eyes, followed by the surrounding features, I started to place down the strongest tones of the face where the light hits it most. This was done by squinting and perceiving the shape it takes on the face and ensuring it warps to wrap around the contour of the face. I'd then smudge to ease the transitions which was the solution to my tonal issue! The more I smudge, the more pigment is taken away to leave less white.

I built upon the piece by adding the general tone of the bust, ensuring I omit the area where the head casts a shadow. I evened the tone out on the face to strengthen the light areas and establish strong contrast.

At this point, my tutor stepped in to give feedback; it was mostly a strong piece but just needed some development with the pigment strength. This left me with an even higher contrast and better portrayal of the lighting. From here, I was advised to finish the second eye, develop the hair and add the small details that'll finish the piece.

With the remaining time in the lesson, I worked on the advice I was given and added the 2nd eye, using black charcoal to deepen the value of the irises to add soul to the piece. I also added black to the hairline where the hair folds, separating the part that faces the light, and the other lying beneath it. I also softened some transitions by smudging to communicate the smooth, curving form of skin.

Dev Log Evaluation:

I was very surprised to find how easy this session felt - not necessarily easy, but it went smoothly. I went in with much apprehension as I'd never worked on black paper previously, using white to apply positives so I didn't know what mindset to adopt. However, once I started drawing large, it felt natural and made sense, building light through pigment.

As I left, my tutor said to get a picture before taking the sketchbook home so it can be submitted before any smudging occurs. I assume that means it's at a finished standard, although I'd like to work a little more on it. I aim to adjust the right eye and move it down a little, darken the surrounding area too as the right eye doesn't have enough contrast. Overall though, this piece turned out rather strong and I achieved the portrayal of a portrait with a Rembrandt light technique.

Week 36

Developing the Character Portrait:

(Teo helped me fix the left eye to regain its dimension.)

This is roughly where I'd left the portrait, feeling apprehensive to continue due to my new perspective on rendering. Once I started rendering again, I tried to keep the advice I was given in mind. Using directional strokes to sculpt contrast and imply the form of the model's anatomy.

From here, I went in with my 3B pencil using directional strokes to clean up the rendering on the face, slightly smoothing out the marks Kras made to maintain the harsh edges but give them a sense of transition to communicte the smooth texture of the model's youthful skin. I also started to darken the tone on the jaw to create the tonal transition found in the darkest area of the composition, the shadow on the neck.

Dev Log Evaluation:

Following the end of the session, I felt much better about this submission piece since I'd developed it and cleaned up the rendering. I believe I succeeded in practicing the directional shading, being mindful of how my strokes would curve along a certain edge as if I were running my finger along a 3D object - thinking in 3D! From here, I just need to render the neck, jacket/shoulders, and the ponytail. Another detail I think worked well was the delicacy I used in shading the face to portray to young, clear skin of the model which was complimented by my refrain from rendering to create highlights, depicting the gloss!

At home, I worked on the neck by considering the light source's direction and how the cast shadow would be angled to mark its placement. I then built up the tone to gradually get that deepness within the shadow.

Since I only had gestural markings of the jacket, I needed a reference to work with so I wasn't entirely freestyling uninformed. I used a rougher shading style with broken up hatching to achieve the denim texture, adding depth mostly on the seams.

In drawing the hair clip, I used strokes that ran along its contour to communicate its plastic texture, with glossy reflections. It was mostly light, but I placed a dark stroke in the middle to act as the terminator between the highlight and core shadow.

The ponytail was definitely the deepest tone, I did maintain some highlights within it but its placement further back and overall darkest local value in the composition meant it needed that intensity.

After adding some finishing touches not seen in this photo, of extra darkness added under the jacket to further portray its own cast shadow, the piece was finished!

Finished Works:

Post Mortem:

I found this to be a great conclusion to the year, focusing on portraiture for the final block. This area of art is a particular favourite of mine as I adore capturing unique and distinctive features and portraying the subjective beauty everyone possesses.

Since I already like to draw people in my spare time, it was fascinating to see how my technique improved thanks to this block's lectures in proportion and constructing the head - lessons such as eyes being one eye apart, or the corners of the mouth aligning with the middle of the eye assisted me greatly in my own work. It showed me how to measure and construct the face, and how to increase efficiency with the aligning tips! Our previous study of the planar head also helped this time when it came to placing tone in the rendering stage, which alleviated the realism thanks to the implication of 3D form with the head.

Rendering itself proved a new challenge to overcome and my progress is visible between submission pieces as I re-evaluated my technique and adopted a new method of considering the 3D form to adjust my pencil stroke direction, indicating how a certain area is constructed. My first submission piece has alright rendering and value range. By the way, I'm glad about that as value was a previous struggle of mine! However, it's clearly scribbly and non-descript in the 3 dimensional shape. For example, the cheekbone shadow is just a collection of stray lines, when it should be curving up where the concavity occurs, placing the shadow below the cheekbone's protrusion. My improvement is visually palpable with the final submission piece seeing as each stroke flows to construct a 3D shape!

Black charcoal was an area I'd never previously tackled; however, I was determined to try a new medium to increase my range of skills and it came out alright for a first try! Since charcoal can be smudged to place tone, most of the details were drawn fairly quickly, and the submission piece was practically complete by the end of the session. It's definitely a quick medium for creating art, however messy and still requiring details for completion. I went home and refined small areas to make it pop, like highlights on the eyelids and skin to imply where the light directly hits it and reflects, along with the texture of the skin itself as seen by the shape of the reflection.

Overall, this block has been fascinating and I've had a great time learning and improving. My progress is clear, but I still have a long way to go - I look forward to the challenges I face and overcome next year!

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