Basic 101 Class 34 - Female Realistic Portraiture

Anita Murphy · #1 03-06-2006, 12:51 AM

ADVANCED REALISTIC PORTRAITURE PART II

Welcome to class 34

Sugar and spice and all things nice
That’s what little girls are made of!
Women, girls, females, the fairer sex ………..

Drawing the female portrait.
The greatest difference between female faces and those of men seem to be that they are softer in structure (usually).

Skin – Women’s skin tends to be appear smoother than men’s. It cannot be stressed enough that your paper choice will greatly influence the results you achieve.

Some points from JayD’s class 18 on portraiture

a. More males then females have indentations in their foreheads

b. Male brows extend out further then females

c. The bridge of the female nose may be more rounded

d. Female lips are fuller then male lips

Which brings me to what we perceive as realism. We all got very caught up in the last class on circularism and achieving very realistic skin textures. This is not the only way method for producing a realistic portrait.

Definition from Wikipedia

Realism - The representation in art of objects, actions, or social conditions as they actually are, without idealization or presentation in abstract form.

Please remember that we tend to think of photographs as being accurate representations – this is not always the case. If you are wanting to produce photorealism – does that mean exactly like a photo with all the problems that go along with photography? Or do you want to do a realistic portrait – as seen by the human eye? Take what you logically know and apply it to correct photographic imperfections in your reference.

With your first post for the class please give YOUR definition for realism.

Anita Murphy · #2 03-06-2006, 12:52 AM

In the last class Reinhard brought up a point that we all need to ask ourselves with any piece of artwork.
He asked
“What are you trying to achieve with this portrait?”

Concept

What is a concept?

Concept is an idea. In this case the idea behind your portraits. A good portrait is not just an accurate reproduction of a photographic likeness but also contains the essence of the character/personality of the model. Sometimes we are lucky enough that our reference photos show that person as they are. For example in the last class I did a drawing of my son, his expression was so much a part of him, shows his humour and the sort of person he is. If you are lucky enough to know your model you may be able to incorporate what you know into your drawing. Think very carefully about what you want your picture to portray about the person you are drawing.

For a list of materials for this class please see class 33 (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show....php?t=323221).
Additional materials
Chamois
Tissues
CottonBuds
Fingers

Paper textures – consider the texture of the skin of your subject when choosing an appropriate paper/surface to use.

Basic instructions are the same as for the previous class.

It was mentioned in the last class that this class would cover teeth. Photographic references quite often include bright toothy smiles.

Drawing teeth – A tip from the masters – less is more. In those wonderful old masters paintings of fancy ladies in amazing dresses with lots of lace the lace is drawn in detail only in some areas which fools the mind into thinking it we are seeing all the lace in detail. Teeth can be handled in the same way – each tooth does not need to be drawn individually to give a realistic impression of teeth. Remember that teeth follow the shape of the mouth – a horse shoe shape so the teeth that are further back are not as visible as those in the front and should therefore be less defined.

Also do not be influenced by what you know in your head overriding what you see. By that I mean – we know each tooth is separate so natural inclination is to draw each one with a dark line between them. Unless there is a noticeable gap this is not so. The line is in fact very light. With the teeth that are not in the front you may find that the separating line is barely visible, if at all. Also remember that teeth curve at the sides and remember to shade accordingly. Do not forget the shadow of the lip which is nearly always present across the top of the teeth. Teeth are also not BRILLIANT WHITE, except on the highlights – as with the whites of eyes.

Anita Murphy · #3 03-06-2006, 12:55 AM

A note about methods

Circularism – Demo 1 uses cicularism and I found it extremely difficult for women’s skin. The imperfections of this method while great for producing extremely realistic skin textures are a little hard for portraying women, especially if you are working on a small scale. (I am not entirely happy with the resulting portrait)

Blending – Demo 2 uses blending which seems to lend itself much more to a softer look.

Please note that each method is not mutually exclusive. A combination of methods is also possible.

Demo 1 - Mechanical 2B, F and 4H wooden pencils
Circularism

Anita Murphy · #4 03-06-2006, 12:58 AM

Demo 2 – Mechanical 2B, F and 4H wooden pencils
Non-circularism using blending techniques. Almost all the blending in this demo was done using a tissue and fingers. Chamois can also be used and like tissue it will blend evenly but will also remove some of the graphite. (Please make sure you do not eat greasy foods while blending with your fingers – a) it makes the food taste odd, b) it makes a mess of your picture.)

I would like to thank all the subbies in advance for their continued hard work.

Links

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266727

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=275583

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330495&highlight=graphite+portrai t

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=301478&highlight=graphite+portrai t

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=304836

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=264516&highlight=portrait+profile
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=262172

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/show...highlight=hair

remmy · #5 10-05-2006, 10:21 AM

What a beautiful woman! You've done a wonderful job drawing her!

Reinhard1 · #6 03-06-2006, 06:30 AM

Anita, wow wow wow. You did a fantastic job. If I didn't work on my "oversized Thomas" I'd feel tempted to jump in myself. This promises to be another fantastic class.

So you guys, who's the first?

Judi1957 · #7 03-06-2006, 07:21 AM

Don't have time to read this all now Anita~but I know it is going to be another wonderful Class!

Is that your daughter and you in the fantastic demos?

mauricar · #8 03-06-2006, 07:23 AM

Hi Anita. Did you all look at the choices I made? If yes, please decide which one would be best, and I will take a shot at being first to go. I am still in bed, so please be patient with me. I did print out your instructions this morning, so I have a hard copy. The teeth should be interesting.

Mary Woodul · #9 03-06-2006, 07:27 AM

Anita, congratulations on your demo! This will be a great class and I am going to get all my chores out of the way to start today.

Anita Murphy · #10 03-06-2006, 07:32 AM

Reinhard - Thank you! And Thank you for your help - you are a star!

Judi - both images are from the ref library. I would love to do a picture of my daughter but I cannot get a good photo of her.

Midge - I went the whole way through the thread on female ref images and couldn't find anything that you had posted - can you post them again in the sticky thread at the top of the classroom?

Mary - thank you!

Everyone - I have a busy day today - dealing with Mexican Tax office so I can at last get paid for the work I have been doing for the last 5 months, then the exhibition opening and then a job interview!

I will be back late this afternoon.

mauricar · #11 03-06-2006, 07:38 AM

I have posted it.

Reinhard1 · #12 03-06-2006, 08:26 AM

Midge, Anita had answered as I saw right now. Maybe there was some x-posting and lost answers.

I love your reference. This will be a nice balancing act between realism, smootheness, detail, shadow, and light.

To all of us who will participate. Mike Sibley (Animal Forum in ArtPapa), has published a book he calls "From Line to Life". think of that title when starting this project. A good initial line drawing can and will help lateron to have sizes and positionings correctly. Even the first, initial likeness will be there. I had read in another thread where a very good artist (Isabel Chiang) posted that she invested about 15 hours into the initial line drawing. So please don't rush!!!!!!!!!!!!

mauricar · #13 03-06-2006, 08:39 AM

I can't see putting 15 hours into something that is just a shell. Here is my shell: Can you please explain why it should take a lot of detail before you begin to put in the detail?

It is just light lines that give me a framework to build my portrait. You asked us to post what we believe realism to be:

Realism to me is getting a portrait to look like the person, and to try and capture the essense of that person. When someone looks at the portrait they can "see" the person and their personality.

JayD · #14 03-06-2006, 08:38 AM

Well, just got back from the land of pancakes--well done Anita. I will be participatig but I have to get some things together first so by wednesday I will be wanting to dive in and Larn somethin!

Reinhard1 · #15 03-06-2006, 08:45 AM

Anita, may I??

when drawing women, there are some more differences between the sexes. While male subjects are more about angles and structure, female portraits are all about softness, smooth shading, rounder forms. Everything is simply more delicate.

Take a look at the jawbone or the chin for instance. While men have a more square and angled appearance, in women all these lines and curves are smoother.

Men have wider necks than women. In male subjects the neck has more or less the width of the face under the ears, while in women the necks are narrower, having a distinct inward curve under the ear. While men have a clearly visible "jawbone edge" women have there a nice and smooth curve.

When looking at the eyebrows for instance, in women these are less arched than in men, and in men they tend to come lower on the outside.

Just a few additional observations.

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