Sunday 27 July 2014

Back to drawing again after a short hiatus

As the song goes ... I can't stop this feeling, deep inside of me ... I just had to pick up my pencils and draw again. Used previously on the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs, an old TV hit Ally McBeal and soon on an upcoming Marvel movie, Hooked on a Feeling is love song but it nonetheless aptly describes my interest in drawing since young. That I wasn't very good at it wasn't the point, what mattered was that drawing made me happy. Sadly, young children nowadays are more likely to have an iPad or tablet in between their hands rather than the old fashioned pencil and paper.          

Back to drawing again and it feels alright ...

As I am still in my portrait drawing phase, I sought out a photo reference that would ease me back to drawing as my skills were fairly rusty. The printout of Emma Stone you see above had well defined hair and reasonably straightforward facial features, so it became the subject matter of my tenth portrait practice piece. Surprisingly, despite nearly three months without drawing, I had somehow gotten much better at drawing proportions of facial features i.e. eyes, nose, mouth, cheek, etc. I guess the break from all pencil-related activity did me some good after all and broke me out of a rut.

Getting the proportions right - faint guide lines for Portrait Practice #10: Emma Stone

Main work on this particular piece started with the patient addition of tonal values, one strand at a time to the hair. At this point in time my drawing of Emma Stone's hair is much lighter than the one in the photo reference. I plan to leave it this way for now until I've had the chance to shade her face.

Working on realistic hair from left to ...
... right using a combination of Derwent and Staedtler graphite pencils

While it would be tempting to say that I have finished with the hair, that couldn't be further from the truth. Further tweaking awaits once I finish shading Emma's face because I would then have to make value adjustments to her hair (most likely darker) to make the whole drawing 'look right'. 

Portrait Practice #10 - Work-in-progress on Emma Stone's hair

So as it stands now,  the hair is about 80% complete with the rest to follow once the face is done. To my Malaysian readers who are celebrating the festive period, I would like to wish you Selamat Hari Raya. Otherwise, just enjoy the weekend off from the drudgeries of corporate backstabbing.  

http://shireworks.blogspot.com/https://www.facebook.com/shire.works

16 comments:

  1. Great to see you drawing again, the hair is looking good, but looking forward to the next phase.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michael ... the next phase is going to be pretty tough as I don't seem to be making much progress with skin tones. Haven't had the 'aha' moment yet. :)

      Delete
  2. Wow, so wonderful! You are a complete artist, sir! Wonderful work so far, I'm too looking forward to see more!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are too kind Suber ... me an artist? ... how I wish. ^_^ Thanks for the positive words as it certainly gives me fuel to draw better.

      Delete
  3. it's fascinating to see you drawing!
    waiting for more.
    bye

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. That particular photo of Emma Stone really had great looking hair, which was one of the reasons why I chose it to draw.

      Delete
  5. Wow, really nice work on the hair!

    ReplyDelete
  6. oooooooooh! I was waiting for a new draw!! the hair is very very good and now I can't wait to see the next step!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much Fed ^_^ I think I am getting better at drawing hair after realising I needed darker shadows for greater contrast to make it come alive.
      But I am still struggling with skin tones; it's hard to self-teach portrait drawing and not have someone show me what I am doing wrong ... but I am hopeful I will get an eureka moment and eventually understand how to draw skin. :)

      Delete
    2. Drawing skin in pencil is not easy at all, I am not good in doing it, but looking at your past works it seems to me that you are not far from your aims :) I am waiting to see this one.

      Delete
    3. Thanks for the encouragement. :)

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. Thanks ... delicate lines were a result of constant sharpening of the pencils. :)

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...