Tips on Pencil Portrait Drawing - The Construct
Posted: Friday, January 16, 2009
by Remi Engels
Remi's Arts
Imagine that we have a pose where the skull, arm, and fingers are visible and are in contact. Very often, the beginning artist will endeavor to draw each of these elements separately|independently. The approach will invariably lead to frustration and ultimately often to failure.
Instead of drawing each element separately|independently, the first step in your drawing should be to draw the "entire" arabesque, i.e., the entire contour of the picture. The entire arabesque which includes parts other than the skull (in this case the skull, fingers, and arms) is called the "construct".
A good construct (also known as a complete arabesque) also contains a singular gestural tempo that subordinates all minutia. In other words, this rhythmic gesture exists free of the minutia.
When you are drawing a single object or skull the examination of the height/width sizing is fairly easy. As a general rule the width of the skull is checked against its length making use of the base of the chin as the principal marker.
If, for some reason the chin is conceiled (e.g., behind the arm or fingers), an other marker must be located. The arm, the jaw, or the lines of the fingers are excellent places to find a new marker.
Once you have drawn an adequate construct it must be checked for correctness. To do this, we can, for example, look for vertical and/or horizontal distances that are supposed to be the same and see if they in fact are the same. Use all your acquired knowledge of sighting. Also use your general knowledge of anatomical placing of the ears, eyes, etc.
Once you are satisfied that the construct is appropriately drawn you can proceed to block-in the principal light/dark blueprint and take your first tentative stab at drawing the facial area, i.e., the placing of the brow, the eyes, the nose and the mouth. Again, if the usual markers for those items can for some reason not be utilized you should be imaginative enough to determine suitable substitutes.
Keep blocking-in all items as soon as you draw them. This includes the fingers, arms, and hair if any of them are noticeable in the particular pose you are drawing. Remember to always work from the general to the specific.
Also, be sure to use a sharp pencil, take into account your understanding of anatomy, and constantly look for mistakes and, of course, correct them.
Next, the pencil portrait drawing must now be worked-up tonally by cross-hatching with 8B, 2H, and 4H pencils, by blening the pencil dust with your fingers or a stump, and by using your putty eraser to characterize the lights. All this should be done in a sculpturally manner.
Finally, you can settle how much minutia you want to put into your drawing or how unresolved you may leave the drawing. For example, you can leave some parts of the fingers or the arm unresolved. Or, if you want to emphasize a particular region of the portrait, you can increase the munitia in that region and leave the other parts slightly unresolved.
These are a few of many considerations that go into drawing a more complex portrait that has a complete arabesque. One important thing to remember is to draw the construct first so you do not end up drawing one element after another without maintaining cohesion. Following these rules will surely put you on the correct path of drawing more complex portraits.
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