Day Five of Art Week: Portraits

Day five of art week introduces Portraits.

I've always loved doing portraits. The human face is so interesting and I love drawing hair and getting the eyes just right. (Eyes are the most important, I think. If you get them wrong, nothing looks right. Plus, they're the hardest part for me at least.) For the longest time, my portraits weren't looking "right." They looked fake. One of my teachers kept telling me that I had to get rid of the lines. I had no clue what she was talking about. How can you eliminate lines in a drawing? Anyway, something clicked one afternoon. I really don't know how to explain it other than the classic idea that a million light bulbs just turned on. I understood what my teacher meant and voila! Presto-changeo! My portraits changed dramatically for the better and I'm very proud of them.

This is a portrait of Kate Bosworth from the cover of "W" magazine (I love "W" magazine. It's the only magazine I subscribe to besides GameInformer, which I accidentally signed up for, a relatively short story, but I won't get into it.) Anyway, she was wearing this gorgeous gold dress with matching earrings and I knew I wanted to draw it, even though I knew I wasn't going to use color. I just used a plain old Ticonderoga pencil. I love this pencil even though it is very light. I also had a blending stub (my new favorite tool) which I used for any shadowing and soft outlines.







This is a portrait of Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow from the cover of Rollingstone. So much care a detail went into his costuming. I loved the scarf, beads, dark eyes, and rings. It was too much fun to pass up. Unfortunately, it's wrong. I'm certain it's in the eyes. (Like I mentioned before, they are the hardest things to draw and it's all or nothing when it comes to the eyes.) I've tried to go back in and fix it, but the paper is wearing thin. I'm afraid that if I go in and erase again, the paper will tear and I will cry. Perhaps one day I will start all over again instead.

This is a picture of Angelina Jolie from a photo shoot in "W" magazine. I think the reasons why "W" is a great magazine to draw from are because the pages are large and the lighting is dramatic. There is always a really beautiful contrast and awesome shadows. This portrait was done the day after I finished the Kate Bosworth portrait. I was really on a roll that week and drew for hours. Again, this was done with only a Ticonderoga pencil and a blending stub. It's one of my favorite portraits because Angelina has great hair and the angle of her face, looking over her shoulder, was a real challenge.