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Day 52,
Today I did a speed paint of Audrey Hepburn, limiting myself to half an hour. This is as far as I got, but next time I would limit my focus to just the planes, as I see a lot of issues with the orbital structure on the far side, and the likeness is lacking due to spacing issues between the eyes. My goal though in addition to focussing on the head was to paint more often, so I expect to try this again applying what I’ve learned soon!
Day 53,
I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to do more Bridgman studies because I admire not only the structure and simplification of forms, but also the calligraphic line that Bridgman uses to communicate. Here is a page from my sketchbook with a combination of Bridgman head and figure studies, using a new pen I bought that allows me to use nibs and dispense ink with a button for thick to thin line variation. Unfortunately I’m still getting used to the pen itself, so you’ll see a number of unintended ink blots.
Day 54,
Today I did some Frank Frazetta head studies in my sketchbook, using my new nib pen. I did these freehand with no pencil sketch, so there are a few proportional and mark making errors, but I’m more interested(when studying Frazetta, at least) in how I can integrate some of his expressive mark making into my own portraits, as well as some of his design solutions for depicting a face at a really small scale. I can definitely see some influences of Bridgman in his work, having also looked a lot at Bridgman head drawings lately!
Day 55,
Today I switched gears a bit, and focussed on drawing some birds of prey heads in my sketchbook, using what I know about bird skulls. I also tried to apply some of the energetic hatching that I’ve been observing in Frank Frazetta’s head and figure drawings. My goal is to at some point draw human heads as confidently as I can draw animal heads.
Day 56,
Today I did a freehand portrait sketch of Diana(adding a hat and some street clothing instead of viking helmet so it looks a little more like a contemporary lifestyle or editorial illustration). The proportions and structure did not turn out well, but I looked at courtroom art as a source of stylistic inspiration, and I do like how I was able to use very subtle watercolour notes to suggest color and let the lines do most of the communication. I hope to try this approach again, but next time with a pencil sketch so that the feature alignments don’t drift.
Day 57,
Today I did some head quick sketches from the NMA reference library in my sketchbook, focusing a little more on constructing the planes and massing in areas of value to indicate a sense of form. It felt good to switch back to a more analytical mode which gets a bit lost when I do freehand pen sketches, because in those I tend to focus too much on economy of line and hitting the right strokes, rather than building up the structures.
Day 58,
Today I decided to revisit an old Amy Winehouse portrait I did, revising the structures of the face, correcting some proportional errors, and improving the likeness. The revised version is still a work in progress, but here’s the before and after so far. Charles Hu’s head drawing course has really helped me to have a better understanding of the structures of the face, and Chris Legaspi’s portrait series has been really helpful in quickly capturing a likeness.
Day 59,
Today I did more Bridgman drawings, this time focusing on the head section of his life drawing guide. The proportions and planes aren’t as perspectively accurate as I would like, but this is mostly because I did these drawings freehand with a nib to help improve my line quality and penmanship.
Day 60,
Today I did another combination of Bridgman studies and my own sketches, focusing on both the head and the figure, and how to simplify these units into large planes. I also did a freehand pen sketch of the Asaro head. I was so thrilled to see that the Asaro head was added to the 3d reference library, and I can’t wait to do some more sketches of it from different angles and under different lighting conditions!
Day 61,
Today I’m sharing an in progress image of my portrait of Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli, who I love listening to when I’m drawing and painting.
Day 62,
Today I did some more animal portraits, this time focussing on my favourite bird the Blue Jay, applying some of Glenn Vilppu’s pen and ink + wash techniques. I’m using these animal portraits as a means of exploring technique and framing. I have to say that I think I like the brown ink a lot better than the black ink!
Day 63,
Today I continued to work on my Amy Winehouse portrait, refining some of the structures, and strengthening the graphic silhouette of the hair.
Day 64,
Today I worked on improving an editorial portrait I did of controversial Indian Prime Minister Modi. Its still very much a work in progress, but the facial anatomy that I’m learning here on NMA is really helping my to improve upon the structure and strengthen the likeness.
Day 65,
Today I did some quick sketches of 1980s celebrities in my sketchbook, experimenting with a variety of different media including ink, copic markers, and ecoline watercolour markers. There are plenty of mistakes, but I’m trying to use pencil guides less often so as to allow myself to focus more on expressive mark making.
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