And here it is below in my sketchbook before adding color in Procreate.
Not sure which I prefer. I couldn’t finish the drawing since I ate half of a peach and a banana for breakfast and then needed to refrigerate the rest.
Tag: Pencil drawing
I really tried to focus on two things with this portrait, getting the drawing right and keeping the gouache colors light (gouache dries darker). For once I managed to keep a tilted head tilted in my drawing–for some reason my brain always wants to make everything upright and symmetrical. It doesn’t surprise me since I learned that the image that comes in from our eyes is upside down and it’s our brains that convert it to right-side up. My brain definitely has a mind of its own…oh wait a minute–it is my mind!
Below is the original pencil drawing over which I painted the gouache. I wish I could show you the photo I worked from, but I think those are only meant to be visible to members of Julia Kay’s Portrait Party, which you can apply to join on Flickr and play too, if you want to.
I sketched Stuart (from the Julia Kay Portrait Party) and painted him in gouache. I’m still struggling with mixing colors to dry light enough. In this sketch I started by painting the light on the side of his face and leaving it alone. That seems to be a good way to proceed since painting light over dark doesn’t work seem to work that well for me. I’m so enjoying painting and drawing people. I got too many layers of paint on his hand and arm so I gave up trying to get it right. I know the hand looks like a slab of mystery meat with no bones in it but oh well. It’s always about getting the drawing right first, which I didn’t do with the hands. I also apparently need to use less pink/red in flesh mixtures to avoid getting this icky pinky-grey color.
When I learned that Julia Kay’s Portrait Party (Facebook) (Flickr) was coming to SF in March for a weekend of live portrait party events I signed up. My goal for 2015 is to develop my portrait drawing and painting skills and this seemed a perfect way to get started, along with the excellent 4-hour figure/portrait drawing/painting class I’m taking at my local community college.
Since I’ve been experimenting and teaching myself to paint with gouache (more about that soon, with reviews of paint and brushes for gouache). I thought it would be a perfect medium for my first Portrait Party attempt. One thing that I know about gouache but am not yet accustomed to, is that it dries significantly darker than it looks on the palette (unlike watercolor which dries lighter). That explains the very vibrant tones in the portrait above compared to the original photo (which I don’t have permission to post here)! Below is the original sketch that I painted over in my X-large Watercolor Moleskine.
I’ve been doing more oil painting than sketching lately so it’s taken longer than usual to fill my journal and get to the last page that I always save for a self-portrait (above). It’s interesting how each sketch in the collection below shows a progression upwards in age and (occasionally) in skill and how only bits of them resemble me at all. Also interesting how many of them were done on days I was feeling grumpy and/or tired (probably wisely choosing to sketch myself instead of working on something that “mattered” when I felt that way).
Below is a little gallery of self-portrait end-of-journal sketches since 2009. You can click on any image to see it larger, if you must.
End of Journal Self-Portrait, graphite, 5×7.5 in
End of Journal Self-Portrait, ink & watercolor
End of Journal Self-Portrait, February 2013, Pitt brown Brush Pen and watercolor, 8×5″
End of Journal Self Portrait, graphite and watercolor, 7.5×5″
End of Journal Self-Portrait #1, ink & watercolor, 7×5″
End of Journal Self Portrait, colored pencils, 7×5″
End of sketchbook self portraits, ink & watercolor
End of Journal Self-Portrait #1
End of Journal #2 (Ick!)
Self Portrait B-1, ink & watercolor
Tortured sketch (in mirror), Pretending sweetness (from photo)
Self portrait with birthday flowers
Grumpy Strained Self-Portrait, ink & watercolor, 10×8″
Self portrait with grey sweatshirt, ink & watercolor, 7×5″
Self portrait with ponytail
Line drawing for self portrait scanned from bad watercolor sketch
Birthday Flowers Self Portrait, ink & watercolor, 7×5″
End of Journal Self Portrait #3
Self Portrait with Skethbooks and Tea, ink & watercolor
Self Portrait B-2, ink & watercolor
Back to Real Me, ink and watercolor
Last page self portrait. Ink & watercolor
Thank You Roz! (Gouache & Ink)
