Skeleton Heads

After beginning to work on what will be a series of anatomy studies to improve my figure drawing and hopefully, in turn, my sculpting, I continued today with sketching skulls from different viewpoints.

 

By trying to draw the skull from a different angle I’m trying to build discipline into my sketching, pushing myself to be able to design characters from all angles rather than just sketching them from face on and resting on my imagination to fill in the gaps.

By working up the tonal values on each sketch I reflect more on the form of the skull, the planes that make up the 3D object and how they translate onto the 2D sheet of paper, more so than if I just leave it at a line drawing. 

By sketching and re-sketching the skull over and over again it does become easier to place the skull in space at whatever angle I want, I’m not as adept as I’d like to be, but the practice is paying off.

 

The drawing looks more relaxed and I’m finding that I have fewer tendencies to distort the facial features when I change the angle from face on. It’s not perfect but there’s definitely improvement, which one would hope given I am sketching almost daily now!

Feeling a boost of confidence I decide to go for it! I’m placing two ‘Skeleton Heads’ interacting, a sketch to be worked up into more of a drawing. I’m creating the line drawing using the mechanical pencil that I’ve been getting more comfortable with, but I’m not sure yet what other drawing materials I’ll use to work the drawing up with. The sketchpad I’m using is a Strathmore 300 Series Drawing pad with a medium surface (11” x 14’ and 104 g/m ²).

The second skull is a little trickier than the first and I think it’s because the viewpoint is from slightly below, another Achilles’ Heel I seem to have when it comes to drawing! But by keeping the pencil marks light and sketching, erasing and re-sketching the lines, eventually it looks better.

I’m using the whole sheet of sketchbook paper, a much larger drawing than I’ve done so far so that I’m not trying to draw the detail in cramped spaces. I worked out the composition beforehand, keeping the sketch simple in design.

Hands are not my strongest point but I want more interaction between the two skeleton heads than just their eyeline so I decide to put skeletal hands into the drawing. I’m not sure about their proportions compared with the heads now that I look back at the sketch, but if you knew how long it takes me to draw hands you’ll let that one go! Hands are on my anatomy ‘to do’ list. 

It may be clichéd but anytime I think of scientific study of skulls I see spectacles. I wore spectacles my entire childhood before I discovered contact lenses and everyone always commented on how ‘studious’ I looked, so maybe that’s where the mental connection comes from.

The spectacles were definitely in the wrong place, and as I’ve already asked for some consideration on the over-sized hands I figured I should correct the spectacles!

So that’s the basic composition sketched out, I don’t think it needs anymore detail added so it just remains to work the drawing up in tonal values which will have to wait until tomorrow.

Architectural Sculpture - P,G & E building Part 2

Today I'm sketching the other side of the architectural sculpture on the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's building in San Francisco. Yesterday I struggled with the sketch on several different levels; drawing the human form because my knowledge of anatomy needs work, getting a better likeness on the face and getting the hands to look realistic. I had a disadvantage in that the photo was not of the best quality but still, with practice, I could do better. I also ran out of sketchbook space because I'd drawn the head too big. So today I've started by roughly sketching out the portion of the sculpture that I want to draw. to make sure I can fit it on the page.

Next I've plotted out the main shadows to help me create the form of the figure. Using a mechanical pencil with 0.5mm lead I build light layers of cross-hatching lines, trying to mimic the shapes of the shadows on the body.

The light on the sculpture is coming from many different directions; the sculpture is set back into the building but the stone is light in colour and reflects the light as well as light reflected by the buildings, cars etc in front of the sculpture. This reflected and diffused light makes it a little harder to see the shadows clearly rather than if there was only one light source but that's the challenge of sketching from a photo taken in this kind of light.

 

By roughly shading in the shapes of the shadows on the figure I start to get a better feel for the form and the sketch starts to look a bit more solid. He's by no means perfect but it's a better sketch than yesterday, so hopefully I'm making progress!

 

After adding in some sketchy detail to the surrounding building it becomes apparent that the figure is too even in tonal values and doesn't stand out enough. I'm realising more and more that the quality of the photo combined with the evident weathering on the sculpture is making it harder to distinguish detail on the figure, and with my need for more practice at figure drawing this possibly wasn't the best resource material I could have chosen!

 

After picking out the darker shadows on the figure and laying down more pencil in those areas the sculptured figure starts to look a bit more solid and fitting in with its surroundings. I'm going to leave it at this stage and focus more on anatomy than sculptured figures, I need to refresh and boost my knowledge, but on the whole I'm fairly happy with the sketch.

Architectural Sculpture - P,G & E building

A while back when I was on vacation in San Francisco I photographed a lot of the architectural sculpture that adorns the city's buildings and in particular the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's building. So when I was browsing back through my holiday snaps I came across these figures which caught my eye, although I'm not sure the photo does them justice, and chose the one on the left for today's sketch. I've already noted previously that I need more practice drawing figures and heads from different angles and as the angle is from below I thought this would make a good exercise.

The photo I used was not the best reference material but I thought the subject was worth using a little artistic license to achieve a reasonable sketch. I started with the head which I drew too small and had to re-sketch it a little bigger. Unfortunately I ended up with the head being too big but I'll get to that later.

 

The shadows were the most visible detail on the photo so I decided to plot out the features using the shadow shapes first; basically I focus on the outline of the shapes the shadows make and draw these instead of the outline for, say, the eyes.

I continued that process until I had a rough plan of the features.

I sketched using just a mechanical pencil at this point. The effect this had was to limit the range of tonal values I could achieve from light to dark which can make the drawing appear a little flat with not much depth. But often when I have a sketchbook to hand I don't have a range of drawing materials, usually just the mechanical pencil or a Biro pen, so it's worth practicing with these tools to improve my skills, enabling me to capture what I see realistically or however I intend to represent it..

There's a fair bit of weathering and discolouration on the sculpture which makes it hard to see the detail, but my skills are lacking when it comes to sketching stone-carved hair.

Rather than just sketching the figure on its own I decided to work outwards and fill in the surrounding detail. Using reference points around the head I was able to outline the arm, which was foreshortened so I had to take care to get the length, thickness and angle right. Often, to help myself see if it is right, I'll draw a line around the limb as if I'm cutting a cross-section out and that enables me to see more easily the direction the limb is following.

I built up the darker shades by using hatching and cross-hatching lines and then blending more lines into the darkest parts to create the form. The neck is not quite right and I think it's because of the twist of the neck, I just couldn't adequately represent the muscle as it twisted. I need more practice with anatomy!

The arm is bunched up as the right hand rests on top of the left, and the view from underneath the sculpture makes the elbow look bigger in surface than it would normally look. I have a tendency to let my brain rule my eyesight and reduce what I see to match what I think I expect to see and so I have to look and look again to remind myself that the arm at that point is thicker than normal. I also struggle to draw hands with any great skill, it's always been my weak point and even though these took a long time and I'm still not happy with them.

Next I concentrated on the stonework around the sculpture and, laying a sheet of clean paper over the sketch so as not to smudge it, I turned the sketchbook almost upside down to draw the curves of the stone blocks. I did this because, for me, it is easier to draw a curve rising upwards away from me than trying to get my hand to curve downwards and turn in on itself. I'll often turn the sketchbook to make it easier to draw a curve; there's no point making things harder than they have to be!

 

I used the pencil in light sweeping motions to sketch the lines that create the shading of the stonework. Although the stonework is light in comparison to parts of the sculpture I needed to eradicate the white from the paper and find the right tone to make the stonework look as it it's behind the sculpture.

I added a little pen to darken around the eyes and face as it looked a little flat, but I'm not sure that I've improved it at all. Because I initially sketched the head a little larger it resulted in my not being able to fit much if the sculpture on the sketchpad, so I've only sketched a tiny portion of the overall image. Doh! The likeness of the face to the sculpture isn't as good as I would have liked and I need more practice with anatomy, and in particular hands. Having said all that I'm happy with the form and detail I've achieved with the mechanical pencil in what was a fairly quick sketch.

Statue of St Michael - 2nd time around

After yesterday's disappointing attempt at sketching this statue I decided to have another go today. I didn't want to repeat the approach I tried before, although I did loosely measure out the figure on the paper with some light pencil lines. Instead, rather than outlining the whole drawing, I started with the head and planned to sketch outwards from there, plotting the figure using reference points around the body and the decoration behind.

I used a mechanical pencil with a 0.5mm lead and a black Bic Biro pen. The head is about 2.5cm in height.

I was just as tired as yesterday but must have been paying more attention to the pose of the figure - it was a lot more successful. I definitely need more figure drawing practice, but one thing I have been able to change immediately from yesterday is that the sketch is on a larger sketchbook and although the sketch itself isn't any bigger it does give me more room by putting the sketch further up the page, which seems to work better for me.

 

By checking and re-checking the position of the shoulder and the tip of the wing in relation to the head I'm more able to quickly sketch out the position of the wing and decoration in the background, and so the sketch grows outwards. When looking at angles of edges or lines, such as those in the wings I tend to hold the pencil upright in front of the line I'm trying to draw and tilt the pencil to match the angle. It helps my brain note the angle more clearly and seems to transfer to my hand more accurately when I sketch the line on the paper. I'll repeat this process several times if necessary to get the angle right.

Using the black pen I pick out the shadows by shading in with hatching and cross-hatching techniques and build up the darkest areas layer by layer.

 

Although the marks it makes are permanent you can use a Biro pen a lot like a pencil. With a light pressure you can put down just a little ink on the paper creating a lighter line, and by increasing the pressure or by going over the lines again you can create a darker line and so build shading, form and depth into the sketch. By practicing different mark-making techniques you can build different textures as well as shading. Although I use a Biro pen all the time for quick, notated sketches when sculpting, I'm out of practice in using the pen with more finesse and subtlety, so this is a good opportunity to practice both my figure-drawing and my control over drawing with a pen.

 

By building layers of ink to create darkness and depth there's a lot of ink on the paper and so I always put down a sheet of plain paper over the sketch where my hand sits so that I don't accidentally smudge the ink while it dries. 

When I start on the other wing I will draw light pencil lines across from one wing to the other so that the layers of feathers are the same size and will line up. I always have a problem reading layers like this; as I work down the wing I easily lose track of where I am, which layer I'm on, and can often end up putting in an extra part of the wing, but by drawing the lines across it stops me doing that. If I'm working from a photo I'll often mark up the photo in the same way and even number them to counteract this problem

 

While I'm letting the sketch develop in in outward direction I still take time to look at the overall picture and check the values of light and dark as a whole, otherwise, by focusing on small individual areas at a time, it's easy to put too much of the same dark values in parts of the drawing that aren't supposed to be that dark and then the drawing doesn't read right, the form gets distorted and the overall depth becomes too shallow. Or I'll end up having to go over the whole drawing trying to darken those already dark areas and I don't want the extra work! 

 

But time has beaten me today, so I'll leave the sketch there for now. Although I need a lot more practice I'm happy with the progress I've made since yesterday and that's a good place to stop at.

Statue of St Michael (attempted!)

One of the subjects I turn to when I'm lacking inspiration as to what to sketch is statues, whether to depict historical events, religious or notable figures in churches, commemorative or public art, there's plenty to choose from and with a multitude of realistic representational works they can be useful for practicing drawing the human figure, and I always need the practice. There is, in Salisbury Cathedral, a beautiful sculpture of St Michael, archangel and the field commander of the Army of God, resplendent with sword and shield and battle armour stood atop a defeated serpent. I wanted to focus in on the statue with some of the ironwork around it.

Well, that was my plan. I have stated that I will share my sketches, good and bad, and today's exercise didn't go so well....

 

I started by measuring up the overall figure, sketching a rough pose. Using the same mechanical pencil as before but a smaller sketchbook than previously.

I had to sketch and re-sketch the figure several times, I just couldn't seem to get the lines where I wanted them, a breakdown between my drawing hand and my brain.

The sketch doesn't look too bad on the face of it but I know the measurements are a little off, enough to make adding further detail to the sketch frustrating and not worthwhile without re-drawing the proportions more accurately. I know the raised hand is weakly drawn, but no matter how many times I re-draw it it just doesn't get any better.

At this stage my frustration has resulted in pressing too hard on the paper and so to erase the lines proves pointless. I think there were several reasons why this didn't go so well today: I'm tired, I found it irritating that I had to 'squeeze' the sketch onto the smaller paper (obviously then I'm happier working on a larger scale), I was too lazy to take the time to plot and measure the figure out properly and on reflection I think I might have ended up with the head a little big, thus throwing off all the other measuring points.

Of course the main reason could be that I need a lot more practice to improve my figure drawing skills!!

Portrait of a Male - RJ Part 2

I left off yesterday's sketching with the remainder of the face to do, the neck and shirt and sharpening up details in the face. 

Continuing to use a combination of a mechanical pencil with 0.5mm lead, a HB and 2B pencils and a kneadable eraser I worked the edge of the face and neck into the drawing, blending gently with the tip of a cotton wool bud. Working at a different time of the day meant the light was very different - the previous picture is yellow in tone as I had a couple of lamps on over the drawing. The next one is blue in comparison as I was able to work in more natural daylight than I had yesterday. It's much easier to see form and shading like this, well, for me it is anyway.

I sketched the lines of the shirt and necklace and blended them a little and decided to stop there. I want the portrait to focus purely on the face. I would probably detail the shirt if I was incorporating the background, but as I'm not, I'll leave all the focus just on the face. To add the final details to the face, particularly the eyes, I used a 5B pencil to really darken the values in the eyes so that hopefully they stood out a little more, making them the focal point.

So here's the comparison of the person and the portrait...

 

I'm ashamed to say it's been a good few years, (maybe even ten?!!), since I've really drawn a face like this, so on the whole I'm happy with it. The photo here doesn't show his freckles which I shied away from adding to this drawing; I decided to quit while I was ahead! Next time! Already sketching on a daily basis is improving my very rusty skills so maybe I'll revisit this portrait at a later date and give him his freckles!

Portrait of a Male - RJ

Today's sketch is going to be worked up into a proper drawing, a portrait in pencil. Working from a couple of photos the subject is a male with pale skin, ginger hair and freckles and I wanted to try and capture his features as realistically as possible.

 

I started by measuring and outlining the features. This stage takes probably the longest because if the features are not accurate the portrait will bear little resemblance. I sketched the lines lightly with a mechanical pencil with a 0.5mm lead on a medium surface drawing paper. I used a kneadable eraser to sketch and re-sketch the features until they were right. The thing I always struggle with is the mouth, particularly when someone is smiling, I always have trouble getting the size right, but he has a broad smile and it looks right.

Then I start figuring out the darkest areas and gently start applying a 2B pencil, working up several of the areas at once, mainly to re-affirm the plan in my own mind.

Whether I'm sculpting or drawing I almost always concentrate on the eyes first because, for me, if I can't get them right the whole piece falls apart. The light in the eyes on the photo is central and flat so I use a little license to try and give the eyes more life. He has grey/blue eyes that are quite dark, so I use a 2B and a HB pencil combined to create the eye, leaving the paper white for the light on the pupil and lifting off some of the pencil for the light on the iris. At this stage, by working up just the eyes they start to look a little large for the face but that's just because the focus is purely on them. Taking the time early on to properly measure the face helps counteract any tendency to alter features later when they appear out of proportion.

Laying a sheet of plain paper over the pencil so that I don't smudge it, I start working up the area around the eyes applying shading with a combination of the pencils and pushing it around with the tip of a cotton bud to soften it. I radiate the shading outwards from the eyes, slowly filling in the details of the head, all the time thinking about the light and dark values, so that hopefully the eyes will remain the focal point. I can go back and add more pencil to them to darken them but I don't want to overwork them and make them flat.

I find the facial hair really tricky to do, to get it to look like hair and not just pencil lines and to incorporate form with shading without smudging the detail of the hair too much. Phew! Because the hair is reddish it's sometimes tricky to see the light and dark values if the photo is in colour, so if I have the image in a digital format I'll use software to change it into a black and white photo which helps.

I decide to fill in the facial hair and will then go back over it to add the shading to create the form of the face and add highlights and detail to show the hair. It's a process of slowly building a little at a time and lifting off with the eraser to catch the light on the face.

It's not finished yet but I'm leaving it there for today. I'll come back to it tomorrow and hopefully will have decided whether to leave the shirt as just sketch lines or work that more into the drawing.....

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.