I’ve done a lot of self portraits from my photos since Covid lockdown of 2020 began. Today process included sketching the facial features that I remembered from my meticulous observations of self portraits past.
Yesterday I mentioned the work of John Coplans. He did a series of photos (that I admired) showing his aging body. I thought that I would explore a similar project through my series of self portraits. However, there are some differences that may make this impossible. First, photography, although not strictly objective, is more objective […]
I leaned over the camera for the reference shot to this quick sketch. I wanted to see the weight of my face. I also got to see my double chin. My dad had a double chin; s I only see my double chin now and again. For some reason, as I posted this latest […]
I need practice sketching profiles of faces that are partially turned toward me. The terrain of the far side of the face, is like a crescent of the moon, but it must be matched to the more visible, near side for the portrait to make sense. I’m also trying to make sense of my wrinkles, […]
I tried to sketch this with as few strokes as possible.
Yikes! I didn’t know my sinuses went that far back.
I’m having fun renewing my acquaintance with sketching. Just a few pencil strokes can shade more effectively than spending lots of time carefully perfecting dark-to-light gradients. Now, my challenge is to tighten up on the spatial relationships among facial features. If you look back on other quarantine self portraits in this series, you can see […]
I looked carefully at one of Cézanne’s sketches of his son. I think he sketched the shapes that made up the face, not facial features. This is a different way of sketching, a different way of seeing. We’ll see how it goes.
I have difficulty with portraits where the subject is only partially facing me. Most of the features on the far side of the face are hidden, and must be rendered as isolated lumps or bumps, with no visible connection to those which are visible.
