Posthumous Commission
 

Hi,
This is almost done and is for a daughter, a portrait of her deceased mom. The step mom will be in from New York this weekend, so it has to be finished by then. I am posting a poor pic of the reference, but you can get an idea. I am happy with the likeness and am just wondering about how "finished" to make the hair. It just looks black and very dark and her ear is sticking out in the photo and I don't know how good it would look in the drawing. I see, looking at the image I have to tone down the corner of her mouth on our left to push it back more. Anything else glaring out at anyone??

Thanks for looking.

Here's a closeup
 

A close-up

Hi Pat,

This is coming out great! I don't see an issue with the ear, but you should ask before deciding to eliminate it. I would leave it in assuming it was part of the lady's character. It looks like it would have always been poking out.

I would leave a medium tone near the highlights in the hair. Have it go dark, then use your judgement with lightening it as it goes near the highlight.

If you don't mind, here are three examples from the same drawing of a girl with black hair. You can see a mid-tone before the highlights in the top of the head one. The second is mostly mid and dark, and the third shows a path of where I would put highlights if it were needed and not clear in the reference. You may already be using one, but I get the the brightest parts with a kneaded eraser that I shape so it has a edge, then lightly drag it along. Hope it helps, and I apologize if I'm telling you stuff you already know.

I'll be waiting for the finish. Good luck.

Jimmie,
You are a godsend. Thanks for the images. I will print up and have with me in my studio while I am working on her hair. I also think the ear should show, but I will try to play it down a bit. For some reason I cannot pull out the graphite with the same success as I see you do on your drawings and I know I am using the same paper as you use. Is there a particular brand you use?

Thanks.
Pat

This is lovely, Pat. I can't wait to see it done. What a beautiful woman!

Jean

Pat,

This is really beautiful!

Personally I'd lose the ear, since you as the artist need to attend to the design elements, and the ear is a little disconnected island of white, and will draw from your focal point.

But if in doubt, follow Jimmie's advice.

PS You have handled that shoulder beautifully.

I don't think that the hair needs a great deal of finish, but I do think that it would benfit from some dark values, just as long as you keep the silhouette edges of the hair soft.

This drawing is really lovely! Have you ever tried drawing on tracing paper to lay over your good drawing? This way you can try out hair finished to a different degree, lay the tracing paper trial over the drawing you don't want to ruin, and see if you want to go in that direction.

I must admit that I rarely do this, but your drawing is finished to a point that you may want to think twice about adding more.

Thanks for the input Jean, Chris and Renee. I worked on her last night and I am almost finished. Some finishing touches on the hair and then it's done. I realized yesterday the upon looking at the photo with a magnifier, I do believe she is wearing a wig!! That, or this woman had a real HEAD of BLACK shiny hair! I will post the finished drawing tomorrow. I came up with a idea that I think enhances the drawing, as far as matting.

Renee, when I read your suggestion this morning to use tracing paper I laughed. I couldn't decide where to put my signature when I finished last night so I wrote it on tracing paper and moved it all around the portrait!!! Next time I will do this with a more important element, LIKE the HAIR ;)

As always, appreciate the comments and support!!

I still have tomorrow morning if this needs "tweaked" in any way. The cropping you see looks crooked, but it is generally how I think I want to matt it. I think showing the shape of the back of her hair makes it look VERY dated. I would rather the portrait look more timeless. The way this is reading on my monitor I think there is glare on her hair just to the (our) right of her ear. That section is actually very dark. But you know how graphite gets a bit shiny when darkly applied. is there a fixative that can take care of that???

If anything jumps out at you, feel free offer your opinions or suggestions. I am still open to making this better.

Thank you for your support and additional critical eye!!