WRT: WRT

Academic Drawing from the Flat

There is no more demanding genre than realistic portraiture.   One of the first classes I took many years ago was a portrait class.   It was a struggle then, and hundreds of paintings later, it still is a struggle.   It requires careful measurement and constant checking of placement of brushstrokes with respect to established landmarks.   The biggest favor I did for myself is to give myself permission to measure with reckless abandon - almost at every stroke. 

Academic Drawing from the Flat

 At first I thought this was squelching creativity.   Then I surrendered to the reality that a human likeness is not as open to interpretation as I might have thought.    Slowing down and carefully placing marks with respect to other marks is crucial for success.   Shown in this post is sampling of (some not-so-great) drawings that I have worked on over the last several weeks.  

Academic Drawing from Bust

I used the standard methods for dividing the face and/or figure as described by my academic drawing class teacher.   A grid works well and similar methods are available in any good portrait or figure book.  From my own intensive period of portrait and figure practice, I can add my best advice toward success in achieving a likeness with two steps. 

Academic Drawing Live Model

1) Decide on a unit of measure for the portrait or figure and use that consistently throughout.  A unit of measure can be a nose length, an eye width - or - for a figure, a head length etc..   For me this made sense because if a mistake is made in a secondary measurement,even if it is slight, then I use that thing to measure the next, the errors can get larger.  Always measuring from the primary unit at least guarantees accuracy with respect to it.

2) Choose a primary pivot point and place landmarks on the face or figure using the unit of measure with respect to that pivot point.      For portraits, I have been using the base spot at the top of the nose exactly between the eyes.     By using that relatively immobile spot, (and the measuring unit in step 1, it was possible to get a consistent measurement on some angle to any other landmark.

Academic Drawing Live Model

After measuring and placing the shapes and shadows, its good to measure again.   The carpenter's mantra works here, "measure twice, cut once." Although it is somewhat tedious, without it, the chances of having an acceptable likeness are slim.  Unlike a landscape, measurements that are close are not good enough for a portrait.