Charcoal Portraits
 

Here are four quick charcoal drawings I did recently. Any comments on what I can do to start adding some spark or life to these portraits. Or any other suggestions are gladly welcomed. Thanks.

And another...

One last one.

My advice has to do with the halftone and shadow shapes. They aren't as undefined as we often see them on cursory glance. We can usually draw a line around the difference between a light and medium tone, and between a medium and dark tone. Those lines of value changes, which are the places where the planes of the facial structure turn and capture different light effects, are quite a bit sharper than is usually perceived on first look. Try not to put a value into an area until you have defined that area -- don't just lay a stick of graphite or charcoal down and start shading "toward something" or working the same tonal area all along a curved surface, which is necessarily turned away from and entering into light in various degrees. Sure, of course, you can later go in and soften those contours and blend the value shapes together, but for some reason we often see in our mind's eye a much softer and more extended transition between those shapes than is offered to us in nature. The rather sharp demarcations are what give real "body" to our forms. Don't feel the need to round or smooth out everything. There are a lot of hard edges in nature. (There are even some lines in nature, but that's just between us.)

Steven

Thanks for the advice Steven. I'm going to try out your suggestion and post some more portraits when I get the chance.

Hi Joseph,

I was looking through some older threads when I saw this one. You asked how to get some 'spark of life' into your drawings. I'll try to give some comments that come to mind when I see these.

Something is bothering me about your use of circles to get the form of the head. It makes the drawing process a bit formulaic. There's something about the eyes. The first two drawings, you didn't draw pupils in the eyes, or highlights.

Most portraits come to life using the highlights. Charcoal is a rather crude medium, perhaps making drawings with pencil would be more useful to develop subtlety in your use of lines. The way you drawn shadows in the portrait of the lady looks like she is having some kind of beard.

Drawing the expression of the face is a matter of details. It's the use of certain accents. Try to feel something of the character of the model, and translate this in your use of accents in your use of lines in your drawings. The first two drawings have some kind of empty gaze in their expression.

But a face comes to life with expression. And every detail of the face is part of that expression. So, besides drawing the anatomy of the face and the correct shadows, etcetera, think of the character of the model, the expression of the face you want to show and try to make everything work together. When you draw or paint someone with a solemn expression, try to 'feel' that and translate that to your use of lines , accents. Same is for other moods you want to show in your drawings. Work on the clarity of your lines, they sometimes get broken, or accentuated at places where they shouldn't. Try to make cleaner drawings, that will force you to focus on the purity of the lines.

Greetings,
Peter

Peter, I have been using that circle, then oval method for a little while now. I was surprised at how my speed increased when using this. Also, likenesses came faster and easier. Maybe I should try to erase them afteward so that the viewer doesn't get distracted. I think I know why I avoid putting in the pupils. It's because they are the key to the likeness. I will force myself to put them in from now on. You know whats funny, that girl actually did have a beard. Ha Ha.. Just kidding. I will work on my expressions. Some of my drawings get very rough. I will focus on keeping them clean and foucusing on the line also. Thanks for all of the great advice Peter. Unless someone points out these small things, they usually go unnoticed.

Hi Joseph,

If the method works for you, then it's fine. The problem I have with it is that a drawing becomes so related to the construction of the head. It may seem like a short-cut towards a better drawing, but my feeling is that it also makes the drawings lose some character. But see for yourself. Compare your own results with and without the circle-method with each other.

Greetings,
Peter