Portrait Practice #06 - Working on proportions

As I plan to make Katniss Everdeen the subject of my first attempt at sculpting, I guess it stands to reason that I first try to draw a likeness of Jennifer Lawrence, the actress playing the Hunger Games character. One of the key things I am still struggling with is getting the proportion or scale of a drawing correct. The fact that I draw flat on the table rather at an angle could be a contributing factor.

Trying to draw a portrait of Jennifer Lawrence in the correct proportions 

My latest drawing is based on a general photo of Jennifer Lawrence that I found online and not of her in character as Katniss Everdeen. For this practice session, I used a black and white printout of a JPEG file as reference for my portrait drawing (as opposed to my previous drawings which were based off a computer screen). Doing it this way allowed me to get better measurements for my drawings. Another thing that may help would be to use a proper drawing table which is angled parallel to my eyes. Unfortunately, since I don't have the funds for it, a normal table will have to do.

Photo of Jennifer Lawrence used as reference for my drawing

Yet another possibility as to the not-so-perfectly proportioned/scaled drawing is that my application of the light and dark values (shading) lacks enough depth. I need to add deeper blacks to the darkest areas of a drawing and shade the rest accordingly. But before I do that I might need to get drawing papers of a better quality. The ones I am working with are not very good.  

Comparison between the drawing and a black & white photo

To better see how close I came to drawing an accurate portrait of Jennifer Lawrence, I placed the drawing side by side with a black and white photo. I came pretty close this time but not near enough to where I want to be. Additionally, I also did a comparison between what a photograph of my drawing looks like versus a image obtained using a scanner. I feel the photograph more accurately represents the drawing I made although I will need to find a way to make the photograph brighter. I took the camera shot late at night under dim fluorescent lighting so that could have been factor.

Digital image of a drawing using a DSLR camera versus scanner

Who would have thought that drawing could be so much fun ... hard (for me) ... but incredibly fun. Learning to draw portraits also provides me with valuable knowledge on facial features which I hope can be of use when I start sculpting. For now, all I can do is to put up better drawings (and less cringe-worthy ones) in future blog posts. One portrait at a time towards my own Mona Lisa.