Chapter 5 | REAL FACES
When drawing portraits, it’s helpful to first realize that a drawing is a completely different medium than a photo. This realization can be liberating. Experience it for yourself with the exercises in this lesson. For a self-portrait, all you need is a mirror!
Exercise 1: Draw your mirror image WITHOUT LOOKING AT YOUR PAPER IN BETWEEN! If necessary, use a surface for your paper (such as hard cardboard), so that you don’t have to sit at a table to draw. Hold your pencil further away from the tip. Keep your pencil in contact with the paper while drawing. Quietly explore your mirror image as if you were gently touching every detail in your face. The result is always a surprise and certainly not a glamour portrait. The funny thing is that you are really hidden in those drawings even though photographically they don’t look like you at all.
Two self-portraits without looking at the paper
Tip: It is fun to do exercise 1 with someone. Sit opposite each other, start drawing at the same time (it can also be done in sketchbooks) and after five or ten minutes, for example, show each other the surprising results.
Exercise 2: This time, allow yourself to glance at your paper while drawing your reflection or someone else. Keep your pencil in contact with the paper all the time so that everything in the drawing will be connected.
This portrait of a man by the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti is a very original example of a way of drawing in which everything in the face is connected.
EXTRA 1: DRAWING FROM MEMORY
Put a small mirror in front of you. Study your mirror image for at least 5 minutes WITHOUT DRAWING! Put the mirror away and draw in five minutes what you can remember. Repeat this sequence: first five minutes just looking, then another five minutes drawing from memory. I got this exercise from Anastasia K, a young artist who lives and works in Rotterdam. She gives painting courses and workshops in her studio: https://www.art-workshop.nl
EXTRA 2: FOCUS ON SHADOW
Take a selfie or a photo of someone else in close-up (head, face, neck and a bit of the shoulders). Make sure there is strong light from the side so that you get nice shadows. Change the photo on your camera or computer to black and white. First draw the face from the photo in line (far left). Then rotate both the photo and your drawing 180 degrees* (second from the left). First fill in the darkest shadow areas. Finish with the ‘midtones’ (everything between the lightest and darkest areas). This exercise comes from an online course by the master illustrator/portraitist of the NRC, Siegfried Woldhek. You can buy this portrait course using the following links: https://www.woldhek.nl or https://www.pronkacademie.nl
*Rotating the drawing and photo 180 degrees allows you to focus much better on light and dark instead of fixating on eyes-nose-mouth.
Finally, working with gray tones is a good preparation for painting.
