M2M Day 34: It still doesn’t look like much
This post is part of Month to Master, a 12-month accelerated learning project. For December, my goal is to draw a realistic self-portrait with only pencil and paper.
Yesterday, I started following along with the Vitruvian Studio portrait course, and began drawing a portrait of Derren Brown.
Here’s what I accomplished yesterday.
And here’s my end goal (more or less).
Today, I spent another 2.5 hours watching the course and working on the portrait.
Today’s progress
Drawing in guides
The first thing I did today was add construction lines to my drawing. These construction lines are designed to act as landmarks and help me eventually place the facial features.
First, I drew in the vertical center line, which will help me laterally place the features.
Then, I marked eye level, to start gauging the features’ vertical placement.
I followed up with the levels of the brows, nose, and lips.
I made a bit of a mistake here. I drew the horizontal construction lines perpendicular to the center line (which seemed reasonable), but did not mimic the angle of the features in the actual drawing.
So, I sighted the correct angles, and adjusted the construction lines accordingly.
Blocking in the features
With the construction lines as references, I was then ready to start blocking in the facial features.
I started by adjusting the center line slightly for the nose, and marking the nose’s outer boundary.
Then, I drew in shapes for the brows.
Next, I included the eye sockets and some more detail around the nose.
Finally, I added in shapes for the eyelids and eyes, and finished up for the day.
Reaching this point took another 2.5 hours.
Progress still seems fairly slow on the drawing, but I’m making a conscious effort to work carefully through the blocking in phase (so I can practice what I’m learning, and so I can ensure the portrait is built on a strong foundation).
I’ll start detailing the features tomorrow.
Read the next post. Read the previous post.
