Friday 10 July 2015

Portrait Practice #13 on Park Joo-Mi

On my thirteenth try at portrait drawing I imposed two arbitrary conditions on my subject matter i.e. she must be oriental and be born on the same year as me. With a portrait of the missus still a long way off until my skills are up to par, that meant looking at some Chinese, Korean and Japanese celebrities for inspiration. In the end I settled on 43-year old South Korean actress Park Joo-Mi.    

Portrait Practice #13 on Park Joo-Mi

Yet another self imposed albeit non-arbitrary condition I attach to every practice piece is to, whenever possible, incorporate new techniques or approaches to portrait drawing. In this case, the number of things I did differently from before were threefold:
(a) Using an inclined drawing table - for better facial proportions when drawing;
(b) Using sharpened pencils when shading skin - for better control of tonal transitions; and
(c) Using a combination of camel hair brush, paper stump and soft tissue - for smoother blending.  

Reference photo of Park Joo-Mi

Trying these new approaches has brought me closer to realising my goal of drawing realistic portraits. A small step granted but a step forward nonetheless. Using the inclined drafting table has definitely improved my sense of facial proportions. However, I haven't quite got a handle on getting an accurate likeness. For instance, the margin for error seems awfully small to me. Even slight differences in tonal value - sometimes deviations of just a few millimetres of graphite shading - can cause the portrait to look noticeably distinct from the subject matter that I want to portray through graphite.       

Blending graphite using soft tissue, paper stumps and camel hair
Using an inclined drafting table to obtain better proportions when drawing

Among the things I am happy with are successfully replicating the shirt's chequered texture as well as achieving much smoother skin tone transitions. For the former, I'm glad I didn't chicken out and draw a plain white shirt which was what I initially planned to do. Completing the chequered shirt was a real confidence booster because before the attempt I honestly believed there was no way I could do it. For the latter, I'm slowly approaching a level of smoothness in skin tone that I believe will be the best I can achieve using a 160 g/ student grade paper. Ideally, I would love to work with Bristol paper. From what I understand, certain Bristol papers are good for achieving smooth blends with graphite. 

Portrait Practice #13 (Park Joo Mi) - comparison between reference photo and graphite drawing

Each new drawing I finish always results in cringe-worthy reactions to my previous drawings. But this is a good thing as it means I'm able to spot my previous mistakes; some of them anyway. Hopefully a day will come when I can look at my drawings and be genuinely satisfied with what I put on paper. Chasing the rainbow for the proverbial pot of gold ... who knows, I might just find it. 

14 comments:

  1. Beautiful. Simply beautiful. I agree, you are improving and getting better and better. Wonderful work!!

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    1. Thank you Suber. I'm glad you think I'm improving too. ^_^

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  2. Stunning i love it .The resemblance is perfect and I still love like you do hair .
    Compliment my friend .
    Cheers .

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    1. Thank you very much Vincent. I'm getting closer in terms of portrait accuracy although I admit I've much to improve on.

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  3. Your drawing is absolutely wonderful!

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  4. Great work ! Looks fantastic!
    Greetings

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  5. I have nothing but admiration for your determination and constantly improving skill, bravo Sir.

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    1. Thank you sir. When all else fails, there is always persistence to fall back on. :)

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  6. Your artworks are every time better, I'm just in love with this one.
    I can give you just a piece of advice (but, mind it: I don't have a strong experience in pencil portraits) is to tray to soften a bit the pencil signs at the nose line.
    In any case she is lovely!

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    1. Thank you for your advice Fed. :) I will definitely work harder to reduce hard lines and try to make the tonal transitions smoother.

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  7. No limit to your talents!

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    1. It's more persistence rather than talent but still ... thank you for your kind words Phil. :)

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