I used layout paper for all these activities, working on both sides of the paper to avoid wastage. This has affected the quality of some of the photographs but not the drawings themselves.
Activity 1:
Closing your eyes and drawing what you feel
I did make some headway with this and certainly really enjoyed the task. The faces make for great abstracts, even including more than one nose in one drawing. I used a softish 3b pencil throughout this activity. The drawings are listed in the order I drew them. Also, I took my glasses off for this exercise, so I could feel the contours of my face.
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| Two noses! |
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| Using the pencil lead with more pressure to locate the hard planes and bones in the face, hence why the lips and eyes are undefined in comparison |
Activity 2:
Continuous drawing
I had three attempts at this. The first with pencil, the second with a thick graphite lead and the third with biro. I like working with biro, it's possibly because there is no going back with this medium and that serves to concentrate the mind. I used the top rim of my glasses as the starting point in all these drawings
Firstly pencil
Secondly very thick graphite lead, a vigorous drawing!
Thirdly with biro, quite a strong continuous line drawing with concentration clearly marked on my face:
Activity 3
Observed self portrait drawing
This was really quite exhausting to do. I took off my glasses for this exercise, not because it is harder to draw a portrait with them on (in actual fact they are a good starting point to measure the rest of the face), but because one of the lenses affects the left (as your looking) side of my face.
I started with a really super quick drawing to get a feeling for how to divide out the lines of the face and thus get some idea of proportion:
Drawing prep:
Soft colouring pencil on pastel paper. Marking lines visible quartering face and positioning nose mouth etc.
So down to business with an hb pencil this time
I took a break at this point and then returned. I thought the hairline on the right (as you are looking) was too low, so I adjusted this. I do have a widows peak and my parting does actually go like this. Also I did a touch up on one of the eys, giving it a little more definition. My daughter looking at this felt it was a good likeness of me but the consensus is the eyes are marginally too large. I think the nose is also marginally too long
All in all I'm quite pleased with this work although the more I look the more I see could do with changing. Also must work on noses.....
