Jessica’s 100 Day Challenge: In Depth Head/Neck Study

[Jessica]

My 100 Day Challenge is an in depth head/neck study.  The purpose of this challenge is to have a solid foundation of the head/neck in order to create realistic portraits from reference and imagination. I hope to achieve the following goals during the next 100 days.

Goals:

• Be able to see and draw the underlying skull/muscle structure of the face at many different angles from references
• Be able to create a basic skull/muscle structure at many different angles from memory/imagination
• Be able to see and draw the planes of the face/neck for the purpose of understanding light and shadows from references
• Be able to create a basic the planes of the face/neck for the purpose of understanding light and shadows from memory/imagination

 

In order to achieve these goals, I will be dedicating time everyday to this study.  I am currently following several head instruction videos on NMA.  Instead of rushing through (as I’ve had a tendency to do in the past), I will slow down and complete many different exercises and studies until I feel like I understand the concepts given.  Here are some examples of how I hope to accomplish the above.

Method:

• Study of the skull/muscle structure
  • Learning the basic skull structure and drawing from memory
  • Tumbling skull exercises
  • Master Studies/References with emphasis on the underlying skull
  • Learning the basic muscle structure and drawing from memory
  • Master Studies/References with emphasis on the underlying muscle
  • Practicing different angle portraits from imagination by building from the skull structure, muscle, etc before adding features

 

• Study of the planes of the face
  • Learning how planes can be created from the facial structure
  • Learning how direction of light and facial structure affects the values of the planes
  • Master Studies/References with emphasis on planes and values
  • Practicing different portraits from imagination with focus on planes and values

100 Days may not be enough to even scratch the surface on my goals, but there can always be a “100 Days Part 2” hahahah

 

I appreciate all feedback!  Thank you in advance!

 

Jessica

[Jessica]

Day 1

Worked on a refresher on the skull in a 3/4 view based on the demo from Iliya Mirochnik’s Russian Drawing course.

[Jessica]

Day 2

Another skull at 3/4 view…different than the skull from yesterday.  It’s amazing how different skulls can be.  So cool.  I wanted to draw one more of these before I dive into the detailed anatomy from the Russian Course.

[Debbie H]

Hi Jessica. Welcome to the challenge! It’s great you’re giving yourself the time to do something thoroughly. I’m kind of skipping around doing a broad overview of the head and figure. Iliya’s teaching is great – you’ll learn a lot from him. The first skull I did, I followed along with him and it was really helpful. You’re doing a great job – the skull is hard! I’m looking forward to seeing more 🙂.

[Jan]

This is a great challenge! I’m also currently watching head instruction videos so I look forward to following your progress. I think you’re off to an excellent start with the studies you’ve posted! It looks like you are really trying to follow the structure of the skull with your rendering. Good luck with the challenge and especially with the goal of creating all the angles from imagination. I don’t know that I will ever get there!

[Jessica]

Thank you Deborah and Jan!  I have been studying the head off/on for a few years now with some progress, but slow because it’s been spiradic.  I’m hoping that if I stay dedicated to this challenge I will really push past the mental block that I keep finding myself in.  🙂

[Jessica]

Day 3

I took the skull reference that I drew yesterday and wanted to try to “explode” it.  I got through the bones of the cranium today with the basic outline for the bones of the face.  It was a little harder than I thought it would be, but it’s been really cool to see the parts of the skull and how they relate on this model.  I think I will probably do this a few more times at different angles. Next time I think I will pull the bones of the face out more to really accentuate the difference in cranium vs. face.

[Jessica]

Day 4

Finished up the exploded view of Day 2’s skull.  I will definitely do another one of these.  I didn’t add in the portions of the bones that you couldn’t see if the skull was together that might be something in the future.  For now, this was incredibly helpful to visualize the parts of the skull that Iliya covers in his course.  Each piece connects to each other and I focused on seeing the shadows and the contours in each piece as separate but also keeping in mind why they are visible and how they relate to the other pieces.  Really neat study.

[Jessica]

Day 5 and Day 6

I didn’t post yesterday, but here are day 5 and 6’s progress. I chose a side profile of the skull next. What I’m really focusing on with the rendering is recognizing that the lights and shadows are real forms of the different bones.  I’m not trying to copy, but actually understand what I’m seeing.  Until doing these exercises, I never noticed the superciliary arches, but now having rendered them twice, I can really see how they form in the frontal bone.  It’s pretty cool.

[Jessica]

Day 7

Ok…..Probably one more of these “exploded” views and then I’m going to work on another whole skull to see what I’ve learned.  The zygomatic gives me the most trouble, I think, so these different angles have been really helpful is really seeing how it’s separate yet related to the other facial bones.

[elizabeth hone]

Very dedicated Jessica. I like them

[Debbie H]

Hi Jessica. These are very cool – great concept and a great way to understand the skull parts. The rendering taught me a lot about the forms too. Keep up the good work!

[Jessica]

Day 8

Thank you Elizabeth and Deborah!

I liked this angle because you can see the curvature of the maxillary really well and how the zygomatic connects.  The lighting from the skull model makes a difference of how the curves and shapes of the bones are seen.  Very interesting.

[Author]

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