Guidelines for Pencil Portrait Drawing - The Trouble with Seeing
Posted: Friday, January 16, 2009
by Remi Engels
Remi's Arts
For untrained artists the problem with seeing lies in the conflict that exists between the concrete visual reality of an object
and the way the brain attempts to represent our perception of this reality on the sketching paper. This trial invariably involves the tendency to draw our iconic preconception instead of the concrete reality.
When we note an unknown object our involuntary mind immediately tries to form a new icon to represent and store the object in memory. Often beginning artists will more correctly sketch unknown entities than known ones because they are not yet wedded to the new icons.
However, when they attempt to sketch the same object a second time, it is likely that a more iconic image will emerge because ready to use icons have already been stored in the brain.
Consider, for instance, the word "head". Immediately an representation comes to mind which is iconic for the head. Unfortunately, this symbol is only a symbolic representation of a head and is invariably a gross simplification of a real head. Nevertheless, there is a strong involuntary pull to draw the symbol instead of what we actually see.
It is this inconsistency that artists must learn to overcome. This is particularly a difficulty for pencil portrait artists. When sketching a portrait the artist must resolve numerous layers of icons to realize a realistic effect.
We now will describe a very good exercise to learn to overcome the problem of symbol sketching.
We will be sketching from an upside-down photograph. This way our iconic preconception of the head is interrupted. We will be forced to draw without our symbols. The result will be a purer sketching experience unfettered by a contaminated observation.
As you sketch the lines and block-in the values you will feel quite awkward in your sketching. This is a good thing. Do not be concerned with the quality of your drawing. This is an exercise in seeing.
When working with line and tone this way, beginning artists often get better outcomes than from the right-side up way. Trust yourself and throughout the exercise only look at your paper image in the upside-down position even though it may feel quite uncomfortable.
You will learn to see and sketch tone as shapes and will be able to break down hard edges into short, straight lines instead of the usual symbols your brain will assign to the nose, the ears, etc.
Thinking of and naming perceived entities will lead you down the garden path of almond shaped eyes, two circles for nostrils, a bunch of lines for hair, cauliflower ears and something that looks like an M perched on a bowl for a mouth instead of what is actually there.
Artists will never be free of iconic preconceptions. The symbols actually change and become more sophisticated. It is only by constantly analyzing and abstracting form that we are able to sketch realistically.
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