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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
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