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100 Self Portraits in 100 Days
Lamp
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey guys!
Last month I decided I wanted to learn to draw a human head, and also learn to draw with charcoal, so here's the deal. I'm currently knee deep in a project, which is, as the title of the thread explains, 100 self portraits in 100 days. I'm on day 35ish and I while I'm proud of the progress I've made so far (I find I am somewhat less clueless than when I began) I finally got up the nerve to put together a thread that I will be updating daily from here on out. I am drawing with charcoal pencil on smooth newsprint, and all are done from the mirror.
You can check out the embarassing beginnings at this tumblr blog: brettshead.tumblr.com
Some days I am VERY strapped for time (or else I am just in a funk) so you might notice that even the more recent drawings have big gaps in quality.
For the purposes of kicking off this thread I will go ahead and post the last eight days of portraits, starting with ten days ago and moving to the most recent. Any feedback you can offer is VERY MUCH appeciated.
Last month I decided I wanted to learn to draw a human head, and also learn to draw with charcoal, so here's the deal. I'm currently knee deep in a project, which is, as the title of the thread explains, 100 self portraits in 100 days. I'm on day 35ish and I while I'm proud of the progress I've made so far (I find I am somewhat less clueless than when I began) I finally got up the nerve to put together a thread that I will be updating daily from here on out. I am drawing with charcoal pencil on smooth newsprint, and all are done from the mirror.
You can check out the embarassing beginnings at this tumblr blog: brettshead.tumblr.com
Some days I am VERY strapped for time (or else I am just in a funk) so you might notice that even the more recent drawings have big gaps in quality.
For the purposes of kicking off this thread I will go ahead and post the last eight days of portraits, starting with ten days ago and moving to the most recent. Any feedback you can offer is VERY MUCH appeciated.
Lamp on
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I'd like to see you push your darks a little bit more. The best ones here are the ones that exhibit a full value range. You're using a dark media so take advantage of it!
Some of these look rushed and the structure begins to suffer. Take your time in the beginning and build up your rendering in stages.
And I will try to push for better contrast in this week's drawings.
Tonight is my last stab (for right now) at this pose and lighting.
Day 35:
Here's Day 38:
On the other hand I'm also just terrified of color and probably avoiding it.
Also I was told to start pushing contrast and I guess I'm not doing that... I'll try to make that a focus this week.
Anyway, here's Day 39:
A photo isn't really necessary but I'd like to know how long these take you on average.
In regards to what NakedZergling said, you don't necessarily have to delve into color and other materials yet, especially since you said that you wanted to work on drawing in charcoal. HOWEVER, that does not mean that you should limit yourself to one way of using charcoal. Experiment and try different methods and materials. Try smooth paper and toned paper, charcoal pencils, compressed charcoal and vine charcoal.
Here's some examples of portraits that do different things with charcoal, they also all go into the darkest values of the medium.
Deelock -- on an average work day I have about 3 hours to draw in the evening, but my schedule varies and sometime I have just an hour or so. I'd say on average these take 2 hours, but I still struggle a lot in the beginning construction stage. Anyway, perhaps I could make a nicer drawing if I took more time (i.e. over the course of a few nights) but I really think that just going for volume has had a better benefit than I would get polishing a turd. Or at least that is the theory I'm working with.
It's true that he recent ones look very similar. I guess it's because I look at certain aspects of a portrait from the night before and see the errors are glaringly obvious. So I decide to make basically the same drawing again, sans the errors... but more likely it just looks the same.
I'll keep pushing and try to experiment a bit, thanks for the comments!
Definitely seeing improvements, and the changes in contrast you've been making are effective!
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Melting -- It's funny, lately I've been trying to really kick my art practice into high gear, which leads me to feel soul-crushing guilt anytime I'm not scribbling something on paper for more than 15 minutes. I have far too many art books scattered around me that I've barely scratched the surface of, and I KNOW that ignoring them is ultimately counterproductive, but it's hard to shake that feeling...
That said, I tried to take your advice and kick out a quicker portrait and focus more on simple forms and construction tonight -- hopefully it shows.
I also switched to Conte instead of charcoal, on a suggestion by Cakemikz... and BOY what a difference! For the first time in the course of this project I felt like I wasn't struggling with the medium, and I could make the marks I wanted to. There's something about the soft touch of these Conte pencils that I just love.
Day 41:
Day 42:
In no particular order what i saw:
1) You draw yourself with high, semi-prominent cheekbones when IMO they are low and very faint.
2) You have a HUGE CHIN that you often draw too small and high.
3) You often draw your eyes too big
4) You make yourself look old specifically by giving yourself way too much of a receding hairline than you really have according to your pictures
5) Mouths are often drawn too narrow
I hope your not offended by the picture, I'll take it down if you want but I did the best I could.
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
Or maybe I'm just being a whiny huge-chinned ass. Either way I'll try to pay more attention this week!
Lyrium -- I'm MOSTLY just fumbling blindly and trying to draw what I see in the mirror, but I've picked up ideas about construction and proportions from Vilppu videos and Loomis books.
I'm trying to draw what I see -- hopefully things are improving, if slowly. I'm open to any good reading you could suggest!
Here's Day 43:
Day 44:
Contrast is looking better!
facebook.com/LauraCatherwoodArt
It's actually interesting to see these, because although you're not using the standard "symbols" for eyeballs or noses or mouths (i.e. the "football" shape for eyes)...it looks like you're using different symbols - the "Vilppu/Loomis symbols", if you will. The handling of the eyes, the shadow under the lower lip, the cheekbones, even your hair (which you're drawing as if you've got the 1950's slicked-to-the-side hairdo, when in your photographs, your hair is relatively short...I assume that's still the case?).
Take more cues from the mirror, and aim for accuracy. Your rendering should be secondary. You may end up with a well-rendered face in the end, but it will look nothing like you. You can still render your self-portraits in Vilppu/Loomis's styles, but...at the same time, you need to be true to your own face, and your own characteristics. Don't render a super-dark shadow under your lip unless there is, indeed, a strong form there (I only have two photographs to work from, but it doesn't seem that you have that). Don't render high, defined cheekbones when it doesn't appear that you have high, defined cheekbones. There are many "styles" in which to draw - even when aiming for something that's more "realistic". What Deelock posted are some examples of this. Try to spend a little more time getting the placement/size/shapes of things down accurately, and worry about the rendering as a secondary part.
This weekend I've been reading "Drawing the Head" by William Maughan (excellent book btw) and it struck me one of the ways that I've been going wrong. Take my cheekbones for example. I do not have high cheekbones, and yet, every time I tried to render out the values I am seeing it read like high cheekbones. Part of the reason for this, I now believe, is that I am not using a tone to indicate highlights in my approach. My paper is my midtone... and that's as light as I've got.
So it just struck me what I've been doing wrong (I think). Since the area underneath my eyes catches a lot of light in most overhead lighting situations, I've been darkening the area beneath it, rather than using a highlight tone under the eyes -- or simply or letting it stay simple as a midtone. That, of course, resulted in a drawing of a person with high cheekbones, even though that's not what I MEANT to draw at all.
I probably sound like a total bonehead.
Friday's drawing looks weird and unlike me, but oh well here it is.
Saturday's drawing. I really am trying to take to heart the suggestion I am reading here regarding likeness. I spent a while trying to puzzle out the structure of my nose for instance, and came up with something much more accurate I think. I hope it is a step in the right direction in that regard.
Day 47: