What comes first when drawing a portrait?

[Lemnus]

Head first for angle, then basic outline of the face. Then, I start with the mouth. I find that it’s more obvious to me as to where the mouth should go than it is the eyes, because the mouth is closer to the chin, and there are no other features along the way. Then, I work up from there – nose, then jump to brow line, then draw eyes last.

"A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a Danish." - Ty Webb quoting Basha

[Gail45CA]

JP, I agree that if it works for you, go with it, for sure. (By the way, how’s California lately? I’m from San Diego but now am living in Tx. I miss it, though!) Anyway, I usually start with the hairline. I don’t draw the whole outline of the face yet. I just do the front hairline. Then I drop down and do the eyebrows, then the eyes, nose and mouth. Then I draw the outline of the face around that. I used to draw the head first then fill it in but I, too, would sometimes be way off on my features. The only reason I put in the hairline before the eyebrows is that I always want to make sure I’m leaving enough space for the top of the head. Do what works for ya, it’s all good!

[eezacque]

This afternoon, the last session of the season, I spent about 45 minutes on a portrait in white Conté on black paper. I didn’t focus on facial features at all, instead I concentrated on shapes and masses, until finally a human face showed up on my paper. And, after one season of struggling, my teacher told me: ‘It’s him! It’s a very emotional portrait, very subtle and well done!’. It’ll take a lot more practice, and take a lot of experiments with gesture, masses and anatomy, but I believe I’m going to get somewhere…

[JPRussell]

(By the way, how’s California lately? I’m from San Diego but now am living in Tx. I miss it, though!)

well california is nice now. i am in stockton right now bc this is where my school is, but i am originally from san juan capistrano, which is an hour north of SD. Stockton is suposed to be getting very hot very soon, so i am not looking forward to it.
-JP

[JPRussell]

is seems to me that a lot of people don’t seem to do it my way bc they are worried about the finished size of the head and where it lays on the surface of the final piece. i guess i have been doing it this way for so long i have gotten used to it, and when i start, i visualize how large i want the head to be. i guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to draw a light sketch of the shape but visualizing does teh trick for me.

i think it is awsome that we have different methods. wether it’s the chin, head, eyes, hairline we all get what we want. these different ways cater to all of our own personal needs as artists and that is important to know. how boring would it be if we all did the same methods? there would be no point to this discussion forum.

Even then its important to me to step back and look at the overall portrait from a distance because its then you see subtleties that need to be addressed that are not apparent when you’re working up close.

i do this also all the time and adjust accordingly, i also look at the piece in a mirror. that really helps you to see it as u are looking at it for the first time. it’s funny whenever i am in painting class at school, i often take my canvases into the bathroom with me to do this. i am sure all the graphic designers around are like what the heck is that weird art student doing taking his painting with him in the bathroom.
-jp

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well california is nice now. i am in stockton right now bc this is where my school is, but i am originally from san juan capistrano, which is an hour north of SD. Stockton is suposed to be getting very hot very soon, so i am not looking forward to it.
-JP

Stockton, I grew up there. I visited a few years ago and could not believe how it had changed. The Stockton I lived in from 1961-1968 was very different. I would not give the City Planning Commission a high mark. Are you attending UOP? That is an oasis. A good friend’s father taught there. Any chance you recognize the name McMasters? He is probably retired by now. BTW it can get hot in the San Juaquin Valley, 85-100+ degrees. I’m sure there are some great things about Stockton. Or, maybe not?

Carl

[lovis-corinth]

I start with the eyebrows, it’s the easiest way to measure the width of the head, and also get the ears, nose and eyes in the correct place afterwards.

I close my eyes to see.

[DanaT]

A figure drawing teacher once taught us how to start with the big shapes and make it relate to the detail. It was a breakthrough in figure drawing and surprisingly it helped with portraits too.

He said start with the basic big shapes, then separate the light from shadow paying careful attention to what happens to the edge between the light and shadow. Once you get the basic light and shade shapes, pick an area that interests you and refine the contours and values contiunally relating to the larger forms. Don’t be afraid to go back and correct the big shapes. Always conduct your drawing in a sensitive investigative manner and think of it as flexible to the very end. Although you’re going into more detail, don’t stay in one place too long, keep your pencil moving from form to adjacent form.

I think JP when you start first with the eyes you’re jumping to what he referred to as picking an area that interests you and developing it further. The advantage I found in separating the light and shade of the big shapes was that it already gave me a sense of volume in the head so that I’d get a three dimensional effect very quickly. This effect actually aided me in placing the actual features correctly even though the shadow shapes themselves were off. And since I had sketched the shadow shapes broadly they were easily to erase and move around as I saw fit.

I’ve taken with a lot of art instructors and this is the first one who put the two pieces of the puzzle together. I wondered why it took so long but was glad to see my drawing improve tremendously.

My Blog - Small Shafts of Light

[JPRussell]

sorry for getting off topic guys

Any chance you recognize the name McMasters?

Carl- i don’t know if there is a connection but i do know a Ruth McMaster. She is the nicest lady and is around the art building a lot and paits with us. This might be his wife. I am not sure. that would be very funny if this was true.
-JP

[JPRussell]

I think JP when you start first with the eyes you’re jumping to what he referred to as picking an area that interests you and developing it further. The advantage I found in separating the light and shade of the big shapes was that it already gave me a sense of volume in the head so that I’d get a three dimensional effect very quickly. This effect actually aided me in placing the actual features correctly even though the shadow shapes themselves were off. And since I had sketched the shadow shapes broadly they were easily to erase and move around as I saw fit.

its funny, now that i think about it, i paint in this process you described here. it is more difficult to just do one thing at a time and build off of it bc it would take a lot more time reapplying the different colors of the paint. to go back and forth between ligth shadows and dark shadows would be annoying. i create a shade and apply it to all the appropriate places first, then move onto the next shade or color. but i do it the other way when i draw bc it is not as difficult to switch values, jsut pick up another pencil and press harder or lighter.
by the way DanaT, i really like all of your posts. u have very good insight.
-JP

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sorry for getting off topic guys

Carl- i don’t know if there is a connection but i do know a Ruth McMaster. She is the nicest lady and is around the art building a lot and paits with us. This might be his wife. I am not sure. that would be very funny if this was true.
-JP

JP,

Yes, my friend’s mother was named Ruth. Depending on age, this could either be his sister as I don’t recall her name, or his mother if she is in her late 50’s or older. The odds of a Ruth McMaster in Stockton, CA being unrelated are slim.

Carl

[DanaT]

its funny, now that i think about it, i paint in this process you described here.

That makes sense because this teacher taught painterly drawing.

by the way DanaT, i really like all of your posts. u have very good insight.
-JP

Thanks. I enjoy reading what you have to say also.

My Blog - Small Shafts of Light

[Cayolinda]

JP, I use your same method. I’ve been drawing since I was a little girl and without lessons or instruction, that’s just where I automatically started – the eyes and then down the sides of the nose, to lips, and then I scribble in the basic hair shape and figure out the head proportions from there. I’ve always created a very good likeness this way. Along the way I was told to start with the shape of the head first. Tried it and it didn’t work for me. Recently I’ve begun to measure the length of one eye (where I start), and use that as my base line for proportions and other feature measurements. Wallah!!! What a help that was in creating likeness almost immediately! I’d love to see samples of your work sometime.

[FONT=Times New Roman]Linda

[barbyart]

After a very rough sketch to map out the face I nearly always start with the eye’s.

I find that if I dont start with the eye’s it somehow throws everything else off and I have major problems with result in it being binned

Take care,

Barbara

[Author]

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