Drawing of Patrick

[Beth Barnard]

[Beth Barnard]

The neck on this looks worse than horrible, but I’m too tired to redo it, so it will have to do for today. This is #2 of about a week’s worth of upcoming graphite drawings, as I’m taking time away from sculpting to try to improve my drawing.

[Beth Barnard]

I think I’ll keep my day job.

[erikdennes]

It takes a long time to master this stuff.  Give yourself a break and have confidence that you will improve over time.  If you are used to sculpting, my suggestion would be to draw like you sculpt.  Get the whole mass of the head to read as a sphere, then put the sphere on top of the cylinder of the neck.  Then start working on the biggest planes.  I think you are getting lost in the details and not really getting the bigger picture.  Also grouping your values into those in light and those in shadow will help tremendously.  Bill Perkins talks about this in one of the beginning series videos where he demos a figure.  Good Luck.

[Iliya Mirochnik]

Hi Beth,

 

It’s Iliya again! This portrait is not as bad as you think, and I totally agree with Erik, give yourself a break and just keep practicing. The thing to try is to work on some quicker portraits where you’re only trying to get the essentials. By that I mean the big light and shadow tonal relationship, and the fundamental planar structures. I did a little draw over showing how I would have simplified your drawing. This way, you don’t have to get caught in a lot of the specifics too soon, like the neck ,eyes etc. I’m not saying that’s not important, but it’ll only make sense within the big forms and relationships.

Just keep at it!

Best,

Iliya

Also, I’d recommend checking out my course on NMA.

[Beth Barnard]

Thanks so much, Erik and Iliya!

I’ve read over your helpful suggestions and know you are so right! I definitely get lost in detail and need to step back to see the bigger picture. I wouldn’t have thought of seeing the shadows as you did, Iliya,  which makes me realize that I need to start from the beginning of your courses and also check-out the course that Erik mentioned.  As much as I dread hours of formal drawing training, I also know that this is a real opportunity and can see how drawing well is the basis of sculpting well and I have a lot to learn.

Thanks so much!

Beth

 

[Beth Barnard]

[Beth Barnard]

I followed up on suggestions from my first graphite post of this drawing to see what would happen if I added the shadows suggested. I was afraid that I’d mess the drawing up even more by doing that, but as luck would have it, I had charcoal chalk at home and I was relieved to see that the charcoal covered-up my first horrible attempt at detail on the neck. I think I chose tones that provided too much contrast, but at least I’m a little more satisfied with it to the extent that I’m ready to move-on to something else. Thanks for the previous feedback!

[Michael Benson]

I think the neck is getting there, the neck and upper chest on the girl in dress was better.

I like the hair and the facial features -esp. the lips. And the overall face.

The eyes themselves would benefit from individual practise on drawing eyes: eg – https://www.facebook.com/matt.hall.16718

[Beth Barnard]

Thanks! I’ll check-out your link. I should have added to the eyes when I did the shadowing, but I didn’t have the right material to do that, so they don’t really mesh with the shades that are used. I think I should have also clarified the upper jaw-line better, but maybe next time. Thanks again for your feedback!

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