The Portrait
Drawing The Observational Portrait
Exercise 1: Gesture: Spend at least two hours making gestural studies of many different portraits from real people. If you don't have any modles close by, use magazines or frozen images on a tv/computer screen. Try and vary the ethnicity, gender, and ages in your selections. Also choose different view points of the face, such as straight on and 3/4 views. You may do several on a page or work on standard sized paper. After completing these quick drawings, measure the actual proportions and make corrections as needed.
Exercise 2: Partner Portraits: Sit in front of a partner and take turns drawing each other. It is okay if your subject is working at the same time. Create two blind contour drawings and one sustained portrait. Remember that contour, unlike outline is spatially descriptive. It is plastic, emphasizing the three-dimensionality of form. You may chose the medium. It is okay to create a caricature like the artist Philip Burke does.
Philip Burke Interview
Exercise 3: Transfiguration: Taking one of your portrait studies in exercise 1, create a transformation portrait where the face is developed through another form. Arcimboldo created portraits out of vegetables and flowers. You could make the face into a robotic form or an animal.
Exercise 4: Repetitive Mark Making: Use an non traditional process for developing your portrait. Chuck Close created realistic portraits using a stamp pad and his finger print. You could use a stamp pad or a repetitive stamp. Varying the pressure of your mark will help develop the portrait.
Exercise 5: 18X24 Scribbled line gesture drawing in pen only – self-portrait
Reminders: *use tight network of lines *apply mass through weight of pen use and scribbled line work
*areas that are recessed will be more opaque (underneath mouth, nostrils, eye area, sides of nose, etc.)
*outer edges are loose and somewhat fuzzy
*scribbled lines vary by amount of pressure to create lights or darks, thickness of scribbled line, and space between scribbles
Drawing The Observational Portrait
Exercise 1: Gesture: Spend at least two hours making gestural studies of many different portraits from real people. If you don't have any modles close by, use magazines or frozen images on a tv/computer screen. Try and vary the ethnicity, gender, and ages in your selections. Also choose different view points of the face, such as straight on and 3/4 views. You may do several on a page or work on standard sized paper. After completing these quick drawings, measure the actual proportions and make corrections as needed.
Exercise 2: Partner Portraits: Sit in front of a partner and take turns drawing each other. It is okay if your subject is working at the same time. Create two blind contour drawings and one sustained portrait. Remember that contour, unlike outline is spatially descriptive. It is plastic, emphasizing the three-dimensionality of form. You may chose the medium. It is okay to create a caricature like the artist Philip Burke does.
Philip Burke Interview
Exercise 3: Transfiguration: Taking one of your portrait studies in exercise 1, create a transformation portrait where the face is developed through another form. Arcimboldo created portraits out of vegetables and flowers. You could make the face into a robotic form or an animal.
Exercise 4: Repetitive Mark Making: Use an non traditional process for developing your portrait. Chuck Close created realistic portraits using a stamp pad and his finger print. You could use a stamp pad or a repetitive stamp. Varying the pressure of your mark will help develop the portrait.
Exercise 5: 18X24 Scribbled line gesture drawing in pen only – self-portrait
Reminders: *use tight network of lines *apply mass through weight of pen use and scribbled line work
*areas that are recessed will be more opaque (underneath mouth, nostrils, eye area, sides of nose, etc.)
*outer edges are loose and somewhat fuzzy
*scribbled lines vary by amount of pressure to create lights or darks, thickness of scribbled line, and space between scribbles