This is a portrait done in HB pencil. Photo by Eli DeFaria on Unsplash.
Drawing
Another Sketched Portrait
Another online class I signed up for last year that I’m going through now is “Acrylic Portraits, Watercolor Style” at KaraBullockArt.com and taught by Lauren Rudolph. This time I’m not using the class-provided reference photo, but instead the photo is by Ehsan Ahmadi on Unsplash. This image was sketched on 300-lb. watercolor paper, and I’ll be painting it in monochrome, as per the class instruction.
3 Faces Ready to Paint
I have finished up 3 faces and am ready to paint them. The first one is on an 11×14 canvas, which I toned with burnt sienna, and then drew in part in pencil last June. Finally finished off the drawing part using willow charcoal. The image is from a Let’s Face It 2018 portrait art “class” (more like an online art experience) from KaraBullockArt.
The second one is on a 9×12 canvas, toned with yellow ochre and clear gesso. I drew this on by hand also earlier this month, using willow charcoal. I’m not sure now where the reference image came from.
Lastly, the third face is based on a photograph I took, and traced on to 300-lb. cold-pressed watercolor, and given a wash of acrylic glazing medium, pyrrole red, and cad-free yellow medium.
Happy New Year! And 2024 Plans for my Art
I’ve got a lot on my plate for January and beyond.. I hope I’m not biting off more than I can chew!
Acrylic University – Clouds Challenge (8 weeks)
Acrylic University — Jed Dorsey’s mini painting challenge (52 weeks)
Sketch Awesome (52 weeks)
Let’s Face It 2024 (52 weeks) – a weekly series of portraits drawn or painted or created in multi-media
Sktchy – 30 Faces/30 Days Pen & Pencil (January 2024)
I’m also working through the members-only classes Acrylic 101 and Color 101 in Acrylic University, and a few other classes on Sktchy: cross-hatching, quick-sketch portraits, and painting portraits.
Abstract Drawing w/ Aquarelle pencils
I did this a few months back, testing out my new Aquarelle pencils, which take a wash of water after you lay down the graphite.
It is taken from a photo of mine when I stood on one of the bridges in Cork City, Ireland some years back.
Portrait Drawing Practice: Day 3
Portrait Drawing Practice: Day 2
This drawing was from one of the exercises in the Draw Awesome course I took a while back, and just now got around to doing the portrait module. I used a soft 8B pencil to do shading, which started to smear (plus I need to work on my shading technique; it’s all over the place!)
Portrait Drawing Day 1 Complete… and Moving on
Here’s the finished piece. Shading was done with Staedtler Mars Black 4B and 6B pencils, and the hair with a charcoal pencil.
Photo by Jassir Jonis on Unsplash
Portrait Drawing Practice: Day 1
I’m putting aside the paints for the moment to focus on drawing faces (before I try painting them again!). I’ve just signed up for Sktchy’s 30 Faces in 30 Days (which starts in January 2024). I’m also going through the Portrait module of Draw Awesome again for additional practice. Phil Davies of Draw Awesome has some free resources, including “Faces for Artists” which is a curated collection of Unsplash images. One of those Unsplash images is below.
To draw this portrait in graphite, I used a method which Davies calls “modified tracing” where you make small marks to denote the width of the eyes (but not the height), the width of the nose, the width of the mouth, and the width & height of the face. The rest is freehand. I am using 9×12 Kraft paper by Stonehenge.
I have done initial shading, and will need to circle back to shade the hair darker, as well as adding white highlights where appropriate.
Photo by Jassir Jonis on Unsplash
BetterLateThanNeverArt 