Allison revisited

Jeff Fuchs · 03-05-2003, 11:37 PM

I've been drawing less as Spring, and the prospect of sailing season approaches, but I'm trying to stay on top of drawing, which ain't easy with my new boat in the driveway.

But sailing makes me think of freedom, and freedom reminds me of why I want to paint portraits, and I maintain my focus.

I'm hoping this will be my last attempt at Allison. I started this a few days ago. I just drew the hair this evening, and I will work on deeper contrasts before calling her finished.

This is Ebony pencil on 12" x 9" paper.

Lon Haverly · 03-06-2003, 12:40 AM

May I suggest that you incorporate the contrast as you go along, thus eliminating the redundancy of redrawing over the same territory.

I cannot comment on the form, as there is no reference photo. However, it appears that the face is too long between the eyes and nose, and/or the features are in and out of size proportionate to each other.

I draw portraits one line at a time. Each line must be correct in relationship to the lines I just drew. Some use other methods of positioning of key points. What is your method? What was your procedure in this portrait?

Mari DeRuntz · 03-06-2003, 08:10 AM

Original thread is here.

Jeff Fuchs · 03-06-2003, 09:22 AM

Lon,

As for method, I tried to stick to Daniel Greene's technique for laying out proportions, but I'm starting to see that I may not have succeeded very well. By doing a computer flip-chart kind of analysis (flipping back and forth between the photo and drawing), I see that I got the proportions of length pretty well laid out, but my widths and angles are off a bit.

As for shading, Green didn't cover that, but I was probably mimicking what I learned from Tony Ryder's book, layering shades rather than laying down exact values on the first go.

As an exercise, I think I'll set shading aside and spend some time working on proportions, angles, etc. only.

Lon Haverly · 03-06-2003, 10:24 AM

Sorry, I didn't see the reference to Green.

Sergio Ostroverhy · 03-06-2003, 11:27 AM

I think the composition rather be a little bit more centered, but that is a personal opinion.

Best regards,
Sergio

Jeff Fuchs · 03-06-2003, 05:59 PM

When I view the image from my computer at work, it looks very flat, as if all of the shading was a single tone. You'll just have to take my word for it that it's got a pretty good range in values, though the hair could use more darks. I need to re-install Photoshop so I can match the original better. But first I'll probably draw it over again.

The values aren't an issue with this drawing as much as the correctness of the features.