Kevin
 

This is a portrait of my son, Kevin, that I am working on and having some trouble with. I apologize for the dark reference photo and don't know if it will help, however it is all I have. The photograph is appealing to me because of the light falling on his face.

My problem seems to be with the mouth and I have looked at it upside down, in a mirror and till my eyeballs are rolling in my head! In my drawing it looks like he is pursing his lips. This is the second attempt at this portrait and I may have to begin again, which is fine. I want to get it right.

I would like opinions on how far to go with the plaid jacket, I know it needs work to make it look like it curves at the front properly, and to "finish it". The photo does not show the shadows as dark as they seem to be in actuality. I may try to take them further with an 8B. I need to fix the eye on our right, if you look closely the iris is not right.

Thanking you in advance!

The reference photo, for what it is worth...

closer view, scary eye, yikes!!!!

Can you post a closer (and lighter?) version of the reference photo too?

See if this helps ...

Thank you, Mike.

I had a bad experience last night. I worked on Kevin and went too far with my nit-pickiness and ended up making a mess. So it is back to square one. However, what I learned was that I did not like the tooth of this paper and will work, instead on the other side, which is smoother. I tend to overwork pieces, any suggestions?

Very frustrated when a good drawing is ruined.

Me, too. I hope yours didn't include folding your drawing up into a WhiteWings airplane and sailing it over the rail into the sea, because I don't think you were far from quite a successful piece.

I've been searching for just the right exemplars to post, but haven't had luck, so I'll just note that I think most of the difficulty you were having had to do with 1) getting the right values and 2) getting them in the right place, in order to correctly describe the form.

Obviously you were dealing with a pretty recalcitrant reference photo when it came to seeking information, but I think you began to get into trouble when departing from the overall value scheme, especially in bringing too much light into the shadow side of the face. This left a stripe of dark value right down the middle, with the effect of, among other things, making the mouth look a little beak'ed, or "pursed," as you put it.

Go fish that drawing out of the water and have another go, remembering that form comes before -- long before -- details.

Patricia,

I know something about nitpicking and I would suggest that big toothed paper does not lend itself to this activity.

Many years ago I showed one of my paintings to an old artist, he looked it over and suggested that it had "died of borning." What I took from that was that it's birth, and it's death, had occured simultaneously. An interesting observation that I will never forget.

I like what you have started above. As to the plaid shirt, I don't think I would go all that much further with it.

Well Steven and Mike,
You both brought me to a smile and that helps immensely!!!! You are exactly right, it died of borning, I LOVE that phrase and I am so guilty of it. I complain all the time that I can kill a portrait in the last hour of work (which is why my drawing from a week long workshop sits unfinished - too afraid of carrying it too far and ruining a week long, intense piece!) Mike, what kind of paper would you suggest???

I did not fold it into an airplane and sail it off the sixth floor balcony (a great idea!) I forced myself to just put it away. But I awoke this morning with it looking at me and I had that sinking "morning after" awareness that it did not get better all by itself overnight! So it is back to square one except that I do believe smoother paper will be a key.

Yes, it did look like I had a dark "stripe" of shadow down the center of the face. It actually did not look that obvious in person, but I knew I had to furn the form with better tonal range. The grainy paper just wouldn't do it for me.

Well, I will post my next efforts and I will wish for you to have a better day today in your studio Steven!!

Tony Ryder says in his book that he uses Strathmore 400 Drawing paper, with a medium smooth surface.