Head Sketch - Steampunk Aviator Part 2

Taking the sketch from the last post I began working it up with a Bic Biro pen. Laying down a clean sheet of paper I can gently sketch over the lines with the pen and define the sketch more clearly. I work this way so that the drawing can be developed without losing the crispness of line and so that colour and shading can be added with subtlety. That's the plan anyway!

I lifted off the pencil from the finished pen sketch with a kneadable eraser. I will add shading with the pencil but I want to clean the sketch up at this stage so I can see where shading and colour should go. If you notice a slight smudge around the tip of the nose that's a reminder to wait for the pen to dry before going over the sketch with the eraser - doh! Never mind, I'll soldier on!

Having had a day away from the drawing I have had time to think about the approach and have decided to work in some colour as well as shading. Adding colour should reinforce the Art Nouveau influence and choosing a colour scheme of pale green and orange fits the period.  Using coloured pencils allows me to add and build the colour subtly and to some extent I can lift the colour off with the kneadable eraser.

To maintain the focus on the eyes they will be the darkest part of the drawing and I'll pick out the other details in a lighter shade. I work in several colours and then add detail and some shading with the mechanical pencil and detail and a little shading with the pen.

At this stage I can play around with the depth of colour and shading, trying out how much different parts of the sketch need to be brought forward by building them up more or how much needs to be kept  in the background, working all the details up equally would make the whole drawing seem flat.

 

So I've worked up the sketch with a pen, added in some colour and shading with coloured pencils and the mechanical lead pencil and picked out detail in the eyes with the pen over the top of the pencils. I used colours in pale green, orange and grey and a touch of blue and grey in the eyes. The colours are more subtle in the photo than on the sketch and I've applied them loosely, not really trying to build up form. I think I'm going to leave the sketch alone at this stage rather than over-working it, I like the lightness of it. I'll start a new sketch tomorrow.

Head Sketch - Steampunk Aviator

There's so many possibilities when designing Steampunk characters that after yesterday's sketches I decided to continue working on the Aviator on a larger scale. I also wanted to improve on sketching the head at a better angle rather than just face-on. The plan is to create a female Steampunk Aviator and try to work in an Art Nouveau theme to the sketch - there's a romance to the Steampunk genre that I think will work well with the fluid, feminine feel of Art Nouveau. It works in my head, I just have to translate that effectively onto the paper!
Again I'm working with a  mechanical pencil with an 0.5mm lead and intend to work the sketch up with a Bic Biro pen as well. The head is around 15cm in height.

I began as always by sketching the lines for the height of the head with the eyes halfway between the top of the head and the chin, the nose halfway between the eyes and the chin and the mouth halfway between the nose and the chin. Sketching in a few lines to roughly position the facial features, the face looks a little masculine, but I don't mind at this stage, at least the I've got the angle of the head exactly how I want it.

By creating large eyes, small facial features and softening the jaw-line I make the face look more feminine. Now there's enough pencil on the paper to need a sheet of plain paper to lay down on top of the sketch where my hand sits so that I don't start smudging too much. The features are still a little off but the focus is on getting the angle or poise of the head right and so far I'm happy with it. It's definitely progress compared to yesterday.

After correcting the features I must have drawn the positioning of the eyes at least five times to find the right appearance. I don't want to face to look sad, which it did when the eyes looked down to the left, or somewhat vacant when looking straight ahead. I'm going for 'wistful' in keeping with the romantic approach I'm taking with the genre and theme.

The mouth was a little small so that gets widened and the end of the nose moved slightly to the right. I'm concerned the eyes are a little big for the face and that there's not enough room between the brow and eye and the nose but I intend to pick out the details with pen so it's something I can correct when I return to them later and I still have to decide whether this character will be wearing any goggles.

I sketch back in the measuring lines on the face so that I can check the position of the aviator's helmet. The joy of designing a character, especially Steampunk, is that you can bend the rules and get as fanciful as you like. I want to concentrate on building detail without losing the romantic appearance. The Art Nouveau theme will allow me to add lots of decorative linear detail but I need to maintain a balance in the overall composition of the drawing and ensure the character's personality is equally developed.

Adding the hair detail really alters the appearance of the face and so armed with the eraser I sketch, remove and re-sketch the hair until I'm happy that it fits the character and the composition. All the while I'm thinking about the decoration that I intend to put on the head and around it and how this will spread out from the face. Sketching like this, moving outwards from the main face, is almost the reverse of designing a character's head for sculpting. I plan out the space the head will occupy in the overall composition of the sculpture prior to sculpting whereas sketching like this allows the drawing to grow outwards almost organically.

 

 

After altering the hair and adding some decorative detail I'm ready to put the sketch aside and return at a later date to work it up with pen. I want to retain the eyes as the focal point so I'll need to concentrate on the values of light and dark to achieve that. I'm happy with it so far, the angle works, the face is strong and the combination of Steampunk genre and Art Nouveau theme works, but putting it aside will let me go back to it later with fresh critical eyes. So this sketch is to be continued....