graphite

Sketch Awesome.. Portrait from a Loomis Head

| cathmary1030

I have a bad habit of signing up for online classes (Jed Dorsey’s Mini Challenge, Ali Kay’s VIP Fresh Paint class, Sktchy’s 30 Faces in 30 Days, Kara Bullock’s Let’s Face It 2024 (and 2023) and now 2025) and then letting the classes languish. The only good thing is that they’re all “lifetime” (or at least until they go out of biz!)

Anyhow, I suddenly got fired up to draw more portraits, so I went back to Phil Davies’ Sketch Awesome class and looked up week 4 which was about drawing portraits based on the Loomis Method.

Below is the result of doing the head in profile via the Loomis method. I don’t have a credit on the author of the reference photo, which comes with the class.

Another Sketched Portrait

| cathmary1030

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.

Sketch from “Bringing the Portrait to Life”

| cathmary1030

One of the many (!) online art classes I’m taking is called “Bringing the Portrait to Life” by Lauren Rudolph via KaraBullockArt.com. This sketch was done on smooth Bristol paper, based on the reference photo provided in the class. Next steps will be to trace the sketch, and then transfer it to a 9×12 canvas, do an underpainting, and then paint the portrait. I won’t be using oil paint, but acrylics — when I get to it, with all my other projects.

Drawing Circles

| cathmary1030

I read a tip, via browsing on Amazon, from Carole Massey’s Drawing for the Absolute Beginner, in which she refers to Picasso having instructed young artists to draw a perfect circle.  And that it’s more effective to move your arm, in drawing the circle, from your elbow or shoulder rather than your wrist.   So, I was practicing those today.  My circles are still fairly elliptical, and I was drawing them way too fast, anyway.  I also tried drawing them with my left hand, and seemed to be more accurate with my left rather than my right hand.  

But I was also working somewhat quickly as a form of confidence – doubting my ability to create a circular line could potentially mess up my circle.