Ah, Almost Forgot About These Two

Whew, I had to leave her alone for awhile lol. I think it was the nose I had an issue with first. Also, my perspective was off (on the painting, not the sketch). I had to warp the crap out of her eyes and brow ridge as it was painted too high. I may post the original for comparison. I don't know why, but I like spending time painting the hair. Therapeutic, I guess.

This guy looks nothing like the reference. They could be brothers, but the other dude had a much narrower face. It was meant to be quick, anyway. Quick for me is about 4 hrs (for now). 

Focus on the Face ...

A few skull studies I did from a website  that sells anatomy models.

Following a technique for drawing the head by Proko and a Redmayne (Eddie or Simon?) sketch from GQ magazine. 

Notes and sketches from a Glen Vilppu DVD. I may watch it again.

Notes and sketches from the same dvd. 

Decided to try my hand at the head without reference. I forgot that the face isn't as wide as the head so it's a little off around the eyes. That extra spacing on each side should account for the temporal area and zygomatic process (Yeah, that's right. I've been watching the Acland Human Anatomy DVDs, also. Foramen Magnum. We DO have a hole in our heads). 

Halftime is Almost Over ... Refocusing ...

Figured I better make more use of my New Masters Academy subscription and followed a video on drawing the head (top three). After seeing a link to Proko on another blog, I viewed a few of his videos and followed his outline for setting the head up. I have dozens more to do, obviously.

I threw in a few more women's eyes. Still messing around with brush settings, though the top right was somewhat comfortable. Lashes and brows are still improving, but putting lashes on a separate layer and smudging them works. I need to vary the lengths, direction and thickness. I'm growing fond of building up with low opacities - not sure if that's good or bad.

"We won't forget to cross our T's and dot our .... lower case J's"

The last of the female eyes from a picture with both male/female. These came out quicker. It's funny, when I look in the mirror I look at my eyes more critically - noticing things I haven't paid much attention to before.

I wanted to take a break from eyes and did a face. I'm going to shy away from color for awhile and practice value. The eyes are much better than the two images below. And up until this, I completely forgot about using a color palette! I've just been using different opacities of black and white. For this, I used three greys, also.

A portrait of Daniela Cosio. It was here that I decided to work on eyes more. I was using a 1 or 2 pixel brush to color the iris smh. Took freaking forever as I kept trying different color combinations trying to get it right. The lips don't hover like the one below, which is something else I made sure to spruce up. Also, there is a marked improvement in the hair texture/appearance.

My first color portrait. I had fun blending the skin, but the lips, eyes, brows and hair gave me a bit of trouble. It was after this that I studied other artists' works on Deviant Art and tried to figure out how to simulate some of the works. This was based off a Liu Wen sketch I did awhile ago in pencil. I learned a lesson about having clean sketch lines.

Eye Came, Eye Saw ...

I did four male eyes and messed around with different brush settings for each. Two birds and all that. As usual, eyelashes are still a birch.

I sketched larger with the women's eyes. I took up the whole canvas , then re-sized and merged the layers. It's better to draw large, I've been told.

Eye, Eye Captain

Anatomy4Sculptors (or sculpture?) have resource images I copied from. After the Liu Wen and Daniela Cosio portraits I figured I could use the practice - we can always use some "practice".

Starting off with a circle for the iris/pupil and drawing guide lines (I think the compound word doesn't apply to this usage?) is an interesting technique for laying out the sketch. I have trouble with the width sometimes, but I think the eye is three iris' wide.

The 'orange bandana'. New Masters Academy has a 3D eye of the 'David'. I'll sketch different angles - maybe under different lighting conditions, also.

Heading Back to the Locker Room

    A few minutes left before halftime. Timeout. This play will set the tone for how the rest of the game will go. What must be done to win the 2013 season? The platform used to ask this question is also part of the answer.


"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory."
    - Ralph Waldo Emerson (possibly)