Self Portrait Photoshop Sketch

[Jtorres]

Hey Everybody, here is the first piece I felt like sharing. It was a self portrait that I thought I would sketch real fast. It was right after I started reading through some Andrew Loomis books. His books help a lot in explaining things better for me at least.



I surprised it even ended up looking anything like me haha

[TimothyFenwick]

Hey Bud! I have been an artist for over 30 years and still have difficulty achieving a likeness when drawing a face. If you are good at it, let me ask a question or two.. Is the ability to get a likeness every time (like when your watching a portrait artist at the mall or at a county fair etc.) something you can get good at through practice, maybe using a grid for a while and then getting a feel for how to analyze correctly? I have a feeling of dread when I think this ability must be instinctive because I have a hard time!Lots of erasing ha ha!
If achieving this ability is simply a matter of repetitive practice, then there is hope for me. I must admit I have not practiced this very much because of getting frustrated. IF you can answer this question, then I will devote a lot of time to practicing ! I hope it is do-able after 30 years! Thanks for your attention and best of luck with your art. Hit me back if you want to ... montuwed

[Jtorres]

Well you have been doing art far longer than me but I can try and explain what I personally did to get it close to my likeness. Often what I do is find out what on the face makes me, me (or them, them). I also start with a really simple face and try and figure out the basic shapes on it and build up from there. Like I said, I've been using Andrew Loomis' books to help explain faces and anatomy, they have helped alot ("Drawing the Head and Hands" and "Figure Drawing for All it's Worth" - Both great books). His simplification of the head helped a ton in identifying features. I think it is just practice though, developing that eye that can pick up on key features that make a person that unique person. But that's just my take, I could be a bit off. I'll be fair that this self portrait isn't exact. There are minor differences, I was just surprised that I wanted to recreate my likeness and pretty much got it haha.

[tyree]

great style....i like it!!! tyree

[marecdl]

Nice sketch.
Ah, another fan of Loomis! I found his books in a sale here, worn and torn, but they are good.

[Jtorres]

Originally Posted by marecdl

Nice sketch.
Ah, another fan of Loomis! I found his books in a sale here, worn and torn, but they are good.

I'm a big fan of Loomis. Not only is his instruction in his books clear and concise, but encouraging and fun too. I bought the books new. Titan Books has taken to reprint some of his books! They look exactly like they looked when they came out in the 40's.

http://titanbooks.com/search/?search...omis&x=42&y=12

His books have helped a lot. I felt like that very day when they came in after I ordered them and I started running through them that I could understand principles better. I think that's what helped with this portrait.

And Thanks Tyree! I'm glad you like it.