DrawingPortraits_Freemium

7/28/2019 DrawingPortraits_Freemium

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presents

Art Tips for Drawing fromPhotographs and Turning

Photos to Paintings

The ArTisT

DAily GuiDeTo usinG

A PhoToreference:



2 .sy.c

The ArTisT DAily GuiDe TousinG A PhoTo reference

Using the CameratoYour Advantagedrawing people from a photograph.

by Sandra Angelo

Silver and Velvet2002, c c,

11 x 16. Cc s

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3 .sy.c

rawing from pho-

tographs has its

advantages and

disadvantages. De-

ciding whether to

draw from life orfrom photographic

reference should be a matter of choos-ing the practical path. Drawing from

life will allow an artist to see a fuller

value range than what can be observed

in a photograph, while drawing from a

photograph of a child, say, rather than

asking the child to pose, can make a

difficult task much more manageable.

A lot of artists concentrate on the

eyes when starting a portrait. Some

concern themselves with the gen-

eral shape of the head, while others

may find that likeness resides in the

mouth. But many beginners are filledwith trepidation at tackling the most

changeable, finely detailed, and idio-

syncratic feature of a person: the hair.

Shiny, silky, smooth, frizzy, wavy,

kinky. A person’s hair is as individual

as his or her facial features. Both thestyle and texture speak volumes about

someone’s age, personality, social sta-

tus, and history. But many artists over-

look that important aspect of a sitter’s

appearance and individuality in record-

ing what I call a “personality portrait.”

They scribble lines, rub tones, and fill

in shapes after they’ve completed the

face, hoping no one will notice that the

hair looks more like a floppy hat pulled

tightly over the head.

You could use a tablespoon to measure

a teaspoon full of liquid, but why riskpouring too much or too little? It’s al-

ways better to choose the right tool for

the job at hand. That’s as true in draw-

ing as it is in cooking.

I recommend buying at least six

graphite pencils, ranging in degrees of

softness from an HB to a 9B, as well as

an F. My favorite brands are European,

because they yield a much wider range

of values. Yes, you could use the yellowNo. 2 pencil in your desk drawer, but

D

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Have the right tools for the job

Rachael2002, , 11 x 81⁄2.Cc s.

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4 .sy.c

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5 .sy.c

you will struggle to get the deep, rich

darks and the soft, light tones that are

easy to create with artists’ pencils.

Artists’ erasers are also a must be-cause, unlike the pink eraser at the end

of a writing pencil, they won’t damage

the paper surface or leave ugly marks. I

use a kneaded eraser for lifting graph-

ite from paper, to soften an edge, or to

lighten a value. As the name implies, a

kneaded eraser can be pulled apart and

pushed back together like bread dough

to clean graphite from the eraser. I

also use a hand-held, battery-operated

eraser for establishing sharp edges or

for removing lines completely.

The surface I prefer is a plate-finish,

100% cotton, pure-white drawing paper

sold in 11”-x-14” spiral-bound pads. Ialso have one pad with thin, one-ply pa-

per that I take along when traveling or

sitting in a doctor’s office, and another

pad that contains a heavier, two-ply pa-

per for studio work.

If my drawings are going to be han-

dled by a lot of people, I spray them with

a light mist of Krylon workable fixative.

If they are going to a framer immediate-

ly, to be placed under glass, I don’t need

to give them that protective coating.

I encourage beginners to learn by copy-

ing Old Master drawings, then progress

to working from large photographic ref-

erences. The two advantages of copying

Old Masters are that it’s easier to render

from drawings, because you can see

how materials were used, and because

you will always learn more from copy-

ing a great drawing than from duplicat-

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Where Do

I Begin?




ing an average drawing.

It’s important to work from a large

reference, be it an Old Master drawing,

a family photograph, or a magazineillustration. Source material has to be

large enough for you to see subtleties

in tones—particularly in depicting

hair. Fashion magazines often have

large faces that are excellent references.

Stay away from family snapshots where

faces are smaller than a thumbtack;

the face in your reference needs to be

at least 5” x 7” for you to gather enoughinformation for a drawing. With com-

puters and laser copies readily avail-

able, it’s quite easy to enlarge photos.Just make sure your enlargement re-

tains adequate resolution.

To save time when drawing a grid

over the black-and-white enlargement

of a drawing or photo, my students

use the Discover Art grid kit; the grid

lines are on an acetate sheet that is

placed over the reference. A sheet with

grids (dark lines that show through

drawing paper) is placed under the

drawing surface. The sheets come

with 1⁄2”, 3⁄4”, and 1” grids. The moredetail in your drawing, the smaller

your grid should be.

If you can’t get the grid kit, youcan simply use a ruler to mark 1⁄2”

intervals along the edges of your pho-

tocopy, and draw grid lines connect-

ing the marks. Draw a proportional

grid on a clean sheet of drawing pa-

per, using a light graphite pencil to

keep your lines faint. Now you are

ready to create a contour-line draw-

ing that will serve as a map for yourshading. Draw the outlines of the

major shapes within the Old Master

drawing or other reference by record-

ing how those outlines move from

one part of the grid to another. For

example, you might observe that the

outline of the mouth begins at the

bottom of one square and goes diago-

nally over to the next square, then the

line moves down to the edge of thethird square. Draw that outline cross-

6 .sy.c

Ankaby g mcd, 2003, , 10 x 8. Cc s.

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ing the same set of squares in the grid

on your drawing paper. Also observe

the width and height of the hair in rela-

tion to the face.

If you are struggling with accuracy,

consider turning your reference anddrawing paper upside down. Or place

a piece of paper (with a 1⁄2” window

in it) over your reference, blocking ev-

erything except the information con-

tained within a 1⁄2” square. That will

force you to see abstract line and shape

relationships instead of working from

preconceived notions about how the

subject should look. Once your line

drawing is accurate, you are ready to

start filling in the contours with lines

characterist ic of human hair.It may seem that using a grid is a

cheater’s way of drawing, but it’s actu-

ally a process artists have relied on for

centuries. It’s a simple way of transfer-

ring the major lines of a drawing and,at the same time, either reducing or

enlarging the image. Furthermore, a

grid helps us understand that draw-

ing and painting depend on seeing the

abstract relationship of shapes, lines,

and values. Once you accept that prem-

ise and stop being intimidated by the

magnif icence of Raphael’s Madonna or

the intricacies of Aunt Gertrude’s lace

blouse, you’ll be able to draw anything

accurately—including hair.

I recommend that beginners build up lay-

ers of graphite from the lightest to the dark-

est values, because students seem to have

more confidence in progressing toward the

intense darks rather than away from them.

Following that idea, you should start draw-

ing the lightest highlights and work toward

the dark twists and folds in the subject’s

hair. Use your graphite pencils in numeri-

cal sequence, increasing the amount of pressure you apply to them as you build

7 .sy.c

Jenniby Js wc,2003, , 10 x 8.

wc bsv su, J, s u s .h qucky bb c k css, ccu svxss. oc bck s su, wcus S sby c k quck su c c SBs b. v b cu su b.

How Can I Makeit Look Real?




8 .sy.c

tone. Always place a dark value at the hair

roots, to prevent hair from looking like it’s a

wig that landed on the model’s head. Dark

roots anchor hair to the head.The lines of your drawing should

f low with the three-dimensional form.

That is, have them move as if they were

actually strands of hair undulating on

your paper over the surface of your

model’s head. Don’t draw each line

exactly the same length; let some stop

short and others flow beyond the out-

lines you made over your grid. No mat-ter how much mousse or hair spray is

applied to a head of hair, a few strands

will always stray from the pack.Painters talk about establishing “lost”

and “found” edges with the movement of

their brushes; the same idea applies to

handling a drawing pencil. For example,

the edge between a person’s face and

hair is usually a hard one, because there

is a shadow cast by the overhanging hair,

whereas the crown of the head often

fades into the background and becomes a

softer, lost edge. There is also a lost-and-

found character to individual lines when

they begin as firm, dark marks and grad-ually soften and melt into white paper.

The balance of hard and soft edges helps

establish a realistic quality in a drawing.

Yes, practice is the only way to master any

art form, be it music, dance, or fine and ap-plied art. It’s especially important in draw-

ing, which builds confidence, facilitates

the motor coordination between eyes and

hands, and increases an understanding of

how to depict specific subjects. Practice is

also a way of being sure of what you’re do-

ing once you’re in the middle of a drawing.

If you aren’t quite sure how to draw the

next section, practice on a separate piece of

paper so you won’t worry about ruining all

the good work you’ve done.

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?

Above

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