Charcoal sketch

[Bob Botha]

While in between projects I decided to do a charcoal sketch of my wife from a recent photo. The object of the excercise was to keep it quick and loose in an effort to break myself from the habit of the slow, super realistic (read amateurish) work that I usually end up doing. I started out OK, eyeballing the proportions more than measuring, but when I arrived at the point where I should have said "done" I saw how way off some of the proportions were and started fiddle faddling around trying to correct thigs instead of just leaving it alone. Anyway, the result is still looser than most of my paintings up to now. I would appreciate any and all comments, as I am always a poor judge of my own work!

Oh, it is charcoal on Bristol board 14"x11".

[Alexandra Tyng]

Bob,

Overall, it's a very nice sketch, but there are a few drawing problems, mostly on the right side of the drawing (the left side of her face).

1) Check the edge around her eye (where the skin meets the hair) by moving your eye rapidly between the sketch and the photo. You will see you need to move up the top of her cheekbone very slightly. The edge of her forehead also should go in more towards the top, making her forehead narrower on that side.

2) Also check the left (our right) side of her mouth. It needs more foreshortening. The corner of her mouth is out too far. (Draw some vertical lines from the edge of her nose down to pinpoint where this should be.) Because of this problem, her "muzzle" appears to protrude rather than go in slightly.

3) The angle of her hat is wrong. There is actually more slant.

I don't think you will overwork this if you don't want to. If the drawing is right, the rest will fall into place.

This would make a terrific work in color, too. Your wife has presence and style!

[Bob Botha]

Alexandra,

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to look at this sketch. You are absolutely right in your observations. Once pointed out, how obvious they seem! I knew that the slant of the hat was wrong (I didn't expect it to be that tricky to get right) . It was a classic case of drawing what one thinks, not what one sees. I can easily correct the side of the face, but changing the hat slant may not be feasable. I guess I'll leave it at that and move on. One thing that I have learned is that one should get the drawing right, even with a quick sketch.

Thanks also for the kind comments regarding my wife. She was a real trooper during our photo shoot. She has sat for me before, but prefers not to and I don't blame her!

[Bob Botha]

Alexandra,

Since you took the time to point out the problem areas, it is only fitting that I should make the necessary corrections! Here then is my update, which I must say, is a great improvement, even if the changes were subtle. Thanks again for your advice.

[Alexandra Tyng]

Nice, Bob

I hope to see this in color one day, too. Not to be pushy or anything.