I can't believe this is free... probably shouldn't say that too loudly
Chris,
Guess I let my eyes do the measuring instead of actual tools, and think it's time I started using some! Thank you for your response. I have even printed everything out and will have it handy for my next piece. I am an inside-out drawer; from photos I start with the eyes, and from life start from the nose, and then put everything in relative to that one feature, and I'd say maybe 90% of the time it works out very well. My professors always hated my method. (But this topic would be better suited for the psychiatrist couch section of the Forum!)
But they never told me why or taught me how else to do it. I think I may try the other method and work outside-in just to see what happens. And measure with a tool.
I suppose I am using the plumb lines but never knew what they were called. I really need to work on the artistic lingo skills! As you can tell, I didn't learn very much in college and I'm paying for it now. (In more ways than one, also a topic better for the psychiatrist's couch!) Ha ha!
Well, thanks again for all the info! Which I have not taken lightly and WILL be using in the future! Maybe when I'm in Arizona visiting the family I'll stop by and get you that drink! (They're just a ways away in Tucson)
Michael,
Exactly one of my problems; I can get pretty close sometimes, but then something is just not quite right. I suppose there is no precise method to capture a likeness and the artist finds their own with practice. But I am looking foward to using some others' methods. I think we are pretty similar in that I never really paid too much attention and just tried to paint/ draw what I saw. But now that I want to try this professionally, I think I want to perfect it as much as I can. I just get too carried away in color and values, and start having too much fun pushing around the paint to not worry about holding on to a likeness. Thanks for your input!