David's ear - Final

Here is the final version of the ear. It took two sessions at the Art academy to get to this point. 

Most of the work during this session was spent on making the background look less flimsy as well as make the outline of the shape more precise. This was achieved by adding more tones to the drop-shadow.

David's ear - Part I

Next part up is the ear. This is one of the easiest facial features to draw and it went pretty quick to get the results seen here: 

Basically the ear consists of two ovals. One big on the top and one small on the bottom. The trick is to get the proportions of these ovals correct. You size the width/height of each oval against the entire length of the ear to make sure that the proportions are correct. It is also important to capture the direction of the oval so it looks like the model. After the initial construction work you start working on the details which was a lot of fun. Left to do is to add more layer of tone so that ear looks more realistic…enhance the contrast between areas.

Drawing Tip #4 - Beware of outline!

While drawing the contour of an object it is easy to make it look like it just an outline…a dark line. However, this doesn’t look very realistic, things don’t have an outline in the real world…everything just blend together. That is why it is important to look for areas on your drawing that looks like outline and softening them up by eraser or trying to blend the neighboring areas with the same tone.

David's lips - Final

Completed my drawing of David’s lip. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Sofia from Sofia Art Academy showed me how to make the lower lip to look more full. Trying to make the strokes follow the shape as much as possible and paying attention to how the tone changes depending on the light that strikes the lower lip.

Drawing tip #3 - Don't copy, analyze!

Igor, my teacher at Sofia Art Academy, keeps stressing that students in the school of classical traditional drawing don’t just copy what they see; instead they analyze the model and make decisions on construction and tone based on that analysis. This is something that I am still find hard to do. Basically you should be asking yourself a bunch of question while you are drawing…how light is that area comparing to its neighboring area, how is that curve different from this curve etc… The trick is to be able to compare with the model and to do that it is important to view your drawing from a distance.

You should: Squint your eyes…look at the subject..look at your model… look at the whole picture to try to see what areas needs more work. 

If in doubt, always look at the model. It should be telling you what is needed. If something doesn’t look right ask yourself what you need to do about it and then check the model. Do you need to add more layers of tone…do you need to make an adjoining area darker. It is all about comparing parts of the drawing with the same parts on the model. 

When I was working on the lips the upper lip started to have this dramatic transition between two areas. The transition looked really hard and not very natural and I couldn’t see the same transition when looking up at the model. So what was wrong? Either I should add more tone to the upper lip to smoothen out the transition or I should remove some layers (using eraser). Which alternative should I choose? 

The model will give you the answer!

I started to look at the model but wasn’t able to solve my problem. Igor told me to look again and this time to look at the whole model not just the area that I was concerned about. I squinted my eyes and started comparing the model and the drawing to see if anything stood out. I could tell that there was an area above the upper lip that looked darker on the model than on my drawing. I started with adding some more layers of tone to this area and then put the drawing at a distance from me again and starting comparing. Now I saw that the area that I just worked on was blending together with the upper lip…that was the confirmation I needed. I added more tone to the upper lip which was the answer to my original question.

David's lips - Part II

Here is the result after last Friday’s session over at the Sofia Art Academy

It was a pretty hard session I though because I started to get into really subtle patches of shading and needed a lot of help from Igor to figure it out. I do think that I am getting more used to analyzing the model instead of just copying it but I still have a lot to learn in that department. Another thing that I slowly realized is that I have to be aware of what type of object I am drawing. I should have known that the area above the upper lip should be a bit darker then the sides of the face because it is a different plane. There is a lot of muscles above the lips that curves and it interacts with the light differently than its neighboring areas. I need to be studying more anatomy than I have done before…

Drawing tip #2 - View your drawing from a distance

After the initial construction and after having blocked in some of the darker areas and added some tone it is important to start looking at your drawing from a distance from time to time. Place it closer to the model you are drawing so that you can easily shift from watching the model to watching your drawing. When you work on your drawing in your lap it is too close for you to get a overview of the drawing and by placing it in front of you and away from you you will be able to get that overview that will undoubtedly tell you what areas need more work. Squinting your eyes while looking at your drawing and model from a distance is important since it helps you focus on the “big picture”.

David's lips - Part I

I started working on the lips a long time ago it feels like but got sidetracked and started and finished the nose instead. Since the nose is finished Igor and I started back up on the lips and here is the current state of my drawing:

I do have a lot of work left on this drawing so you are seeing some really early work. Hopefully after my next session it will look a lot better. Igor will also give me some pointers in how to take a better picture of my drawings and I definitely look forward to that.