Jackie our tutor suggested we concentrated on drawing and do so fairly large. Those present (6) used either pastels, charcoal or in my case thick graphite leads. I opted to use a Koh-I-Noor Hardtmuth 5340 metal lead holder with 5.6mm Cretacolour lead. Ordinary graphite pencils of 0.5 to 0.9 are much too small for such a large drawing on A1 paper. Looking at both Great Art www.greatart.co.uk/ and Jacksons www.jacksonsart.co.uk/ I couldn't find any Koh-I-Noor holders on Great Art but they do offer a Cretacolour one at £5.75p. Jacksons have the Koor-I-Noor Versaille 5347, which also takes the same size leads BUT it isn't in the catalogue. Cost is £5.10p and additional leads (6) are £2.70p. This type of drawing tool is more suitable for larger drawings and enables (in my opinion) one to draw freely yet still make a realistic image. Incidentally more and more products are on the website but not in the catalogues.
Sarah 33" x 23" A1 220 gsm Cartridge Paper
The resemblance is quite good and overall I am pleased. You may think the folds in her clothing are too dark, but my thinking was that having emphasized her dark hair and eyes I had to do this to link everything together and better to have greater contrast than be insipid. This course is certainly taking me into new areas which I hope will enable me to raise my game generally. It is exhilarating. Comments welcome.
Next week we have John back followed by Sarah. In the final two weeks we will have a new model so plenty of variation. I am thoroughly enjoying this course and seriously considering taking the follow up 5 week Summer term.
5 comments:
Peter,I'm glad that you're into drawing portrait classes,it is the foundation for a successful watercolor portrait.The more you practice in drawing,the better,as you put it,it will raise your game.I find the drawing quite realistic.My only advice is to that the wrinkles in her face are a bit too dark,conveying the image older than really is.My two cents.
The folds in the clothes are spot on, quite a dramatic effect. I agree with Robert, the more lines on a face the older people look. No lines, Sarah will look in her twenties.
Thanks Robert and Ray for commenting. I would guess Sarah (I dare not ask!) is in her late forties - certainly long past her twenties. Her skin colour is quite tanned, certainly not pink and the lines I've portrayed are there. I don't think I've overplayed them too much - just a little perhaps.
The problem with drawing is the amount of work required to create 'volume' and an essential element in this is the control of mid values. If they are under represented then we get left with the extremes and that makes them over emphatic. This could be why the previous posters see the wrinkles as too dark.
You may be right Mick but as far as I was concerned it wasn't primarily about values. Just a drawing which I tried to make as accurate as I could. The tutor certainly told me to darken the hair and eyes and emphasize the shapes of the cheekbones.
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