All in the family: My niece's birthday

My niece is all grown up now and she is turning 18!!! I always remember her as a little girl, not some grown-up uni student, which is what she is now.  So Happy Birthday, this is a shout-out to you. Illustration and Drawing Made Easy

Portraiture (Drawing a Model)

Assignment 5 – 20986A/05

Colleen Sedgwick

12/23/2011

This one is about portraits – the main challenge being trying to capture the ‘essence’ of a human subject.  I attempted the exercises in the manual (and included them in my Assignment) before including some original drawings of my own.

I have found the portraiture assignment to be more difficult than the one calling for hand portraits and the main challenge I found was trying to capture the ‘true essence’ of the person I was sketching (especially in their facial features).

I have done the exercises prescribed in the text.  Pictured below are the steps I took using the basic shapes method to sketch the boy and his pet rabbit[1].  I used a Faber Castell 2B pencil for this one.  I liked this one and thought it was really cute.  There is nothing quite like the bond between a child and his or her pet (or even a fluffy toy). 

The next exercise I did of the mother and child was done using a combination of the basic shapes and the grid method[2].  I initially used a Faber Castell 2B pencil for the sketch but completed the illustration with a brown Texta (felt-tipped pen).  I scanned in the final picture using a sepia colour.

The ‘action figures’ I did using the stick figure method[3] were of my sister, who at the time was a keen dance student (who did ballet, jazz and tap) and these ones are of her in her leotard and in her stage clothes.  

  

 

My final portrait is of my niece, who was receiving her First Holy Communion (a very important milestone in the lives of Catholic children).  I thought it was a lovely picture of her, so I decided to use it as the subject.  I used the grid method to do this sketch[4].  I also used a Faber Castell 2B pencil for the initial sketch and some black and grey felt-tipped pens for the different lines in the picture (the Faber Castell ‘Manga’ set of felt-tipped pens).

 

I found that her most prominent characteristics were the hair, eyes and eyebrows.[5]  The position of the subject was also very important – ‘front on’ lighting (and the fact she was standing up, or sitting up straight) made it easier for me to draw this person because there were no dark shadows or no complicated positions in which to draw her[6]. I found that her most prominent characteristics were the hair, eyes and eyebrows.[5]  The position of the subject was also very important – ‘front on’ lighting (and the fact she was standing up, or sitting up straight) made it easier for me to draw this person because there were no dark shadows or no complicated positions in which to draw her[6]. 

I have also decided to include another portrait of my sister (who was photographed at her Year 10 School Formal at the time in 1985), but I did this portrait of her in charcoal as a gift to her for her 21^st birthday (back in 1990).  Unfortunately, I decided to not give her that portrait because I wasn’t sure as to whether or not I captured her ‘true essence’ well enough.  So this sketch remains in my possession til this very day.

I have also done a ‘self-portrait’ where the picture of me was taken in 1^st grade (Primary School).  However, I did this sketch of myself when I was in Year 11 – 10 years’ later (at St Ursula’s, at Kingsgrove – a school which had a *very* good Art Department with very supportive teaching staff during the time I went there).  I added the double ear piercings and ‘I Y Judas Priest’ badge out of jest (though double and multiple ear piercings were unheard of back in 1975, and I certainly didn’t know who Judas Priest were back then – though they most certainly became my favourite band of all time 10 years’ later J)!!!

Hence, while I was unsure as to whether or not these portraits of people (including myself) had captured the ‘true essence’ of the subject being drawn, and sometimes, there is always the risk that someone might think I was making fun of them if I don’t portray them correctly (unless, of course, I am doing a caricature of them, and in these cases, the subject is meant to be ‘humorously depicted’ – like a politician, of course).

One of the advantages of this course is that I haven’t yet had to draw from ‘live’ models (called ‘Life Drawing’ in Art).  This was one of the topics I had covered in the Julian Ashton Art Institute.  The challenge with this is to capture the subject in a relatively short space of time – this is very difficult for both the artist and the model; the artist has to work quickly (which is hard for an up-and-coming artist who is not so experienced in this type of work), and the model has to be still for a long time (this is much easier for adults than it is for young children[7]).  Even more difficult (for the model) is that some of them had to pose nude, which is something I cannot imagine would be too pleasant for them during winter time (and not to mention what being seated for a lengthy time span would do to their ‘bits’, especially for the male models J)!!!  And overall, both the artist and the model have to be in the ‘right place at the right time’ if a live portrait is to be done.

Whether I work with a live model, or from a photograph (the latter being my preferred technique because it can be accomplished at any time, in any place); I feel the most important thing about a portrait is that not only should it capture the true essence and appearance of a person, but also the place and time.  To me, every picture I do has a story behind it – not only about what I drew, and where I drew it from (whether it’s a photograph or a live model), but also why I chose the subject of my picture, the technique used or the media I used to do the picture, even the school from which I had learned the technique.  If that doesn’t help me capture the essence of a topic, then I don’t know what does. J

References

• Cheek, Carl (1959): ‘Drawing Hands’ – published by Grosset and Dunlap, New York City, New York, USA; pages 14-6
• Gruerio, Anthony (1972), ‘Portraits in Pencil’, Grosset and Dunlap, New York City, New York, USA; pages 6-7, 11 and 14-5;
• Warren, Tracey (2007): ‘Chapter 5 – Drawing Portraits’ in Section 5 of 20876A – Illustration and Drawing Made Easy; Willow Productions; reprinted by Cengage Education, Lv1/1 Waltham Street, Artarmon, NSW, 2064; pages 71-92

[1] Warren, Tracey (2007): ‘Chapter 5 – Drawing Portraits’ in Section 5 of 20876A – Illustration and Drawing Made Easy; Willow Productions; reprinted by Cengage Education, Lv1/1 Waltham Street, Artarmon, NSW, 2064; pages 71-5

[2] Ibid pages 76-81;

[3] Ibid pages 81-9;

[4] Ibid pages 91-2;

[5] Gruerio, Anthony (1972), ‘Portraits in Pencil’, Grosset and Dunlap, New York City, New York, USA; pages 6-7 and 14-5;

[6] Ibid page 11

[7] Cheek, Carl (1959): ‘Drawing Hands’ – published by Grosset and Dunlap, New York City, New York, USA; pages 14-6 – Even though this book mostly is about drawing hands, there is a section on children; and the author makes the point that few children can sit still long enough to have portraits done of them.

And if you want to see the blog entry showing what her kids can do, here are some of them doing art work.