Pencil Portrait 9×12

[Jan]

I recently joined NMA. My interest is primarily in portraiture. I have watched all of the lessons by Chris Legaspi and Charles Hu in the Head Drawing for Beginners Course and am currently working through the Reilly Method Units. After completing the suggested exercises, I attempted some more “finished” portraits from the New Masters reference images. I am posting my latest drawing and greatly appreciate any feedback on what I need to work on at this point.

[Mengu Gungor]

This looks great Jan, your proportions look good, and your drawing has good overall cohesiveness. Keep working on your basic structural drawing techniques. Create stronger indications of the planes of the head. And don’t forget hair has structure too. The better you get at those initial stages, the better your finished portraits will be.

Also for more finished pieces, I’d suggest an exercise before you begin, to create a light to dark gradient with your drawing implements. Then squint at your reference, and figure out where the darkest and lightest areas are. Once you’ve identified these, you’ll have an easier time compressing the value range in your reference to what your tools can create. Pay particular attention to local values. Currently in your sketch, the skin and shirt have very close local value, and the hair is not that far off. I suspect in your reference, these three pieces have more of a difference in value.

Keep on sketching!

[Jan]

I greatly appreciate your very detailed critique. This is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping to receive. I have been struggling with combining structure and overall design with realism. I start with a preliminary thumbnail value study that I try to work from. As soon as I begin to see a likeness, however, I find myself tighten up. I start focusing more on the details, and I seem to lose some of the structural elements. I thought I would post a few more of my recent portrait studies. I don’t expect a comment, but it helps me to view them in a different format. I now see the same issues that you described in all of them. I’m excited to build on your suggestions as I continue the courses. Thank you again for taking the time to offer such excellent guidance.

[Jan]

[Jan]

And one more…

[Joshua Jacobo]

These are great. I think you are going to want to keep pushing towards 3D volumes and away from flat shapes.

Which of our head courses have you taken? I can make some recommendations on where to focus your attention.

[Jan]

Thank you so much for your critique and for the kind comment. I have been apprehensive about posting my drawings, but I am excited to have finally taken the plunge and I am especially thrilled to be receiving feedback. I completely agree with your suggestions and will keep pushing myself to focus more on volume and structure. Since joining NMA I have been following the Head Drawing for Beginners series. So far I have completed Level 1 (Portrait Drawing with Chris Legaspi) and Level 2 (Head Drawing with Charles Hu). I am currently working on Level 3 (Reilly Method Head Drawing) and I just finished the first unit on Anatomy. I have also watched numerous video critiques. My plan was to continue with the Reilly Method and then move on to Level 4 with Steve Huston (and eventually take the Advanced Head Drawing course). I would be honored to have you make any recommendations regarding the direction I should take. The lessons have all been excellent and I could not be happier with my decision to join NMA. You have created an absolutely incredible resource for artists and aspiring artists!

[Author]

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