Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 6

Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 6

            I spent the last week working on the hair and have it nearly completed.

            Even though the hair is lighter – very blond – it still has a tonal range. It goes from very light, even white, tones in areas which are directly hit by sunlight, to darker areas that are tucked up into the pigtails. The range of tones is similar to that of the face. If her hair had a darker local color (i.e., natural color), the range of tones would toward the darker end.

            Also important when drawing the hair is to avoid drawing individual hairs. I’ve tried (not always successfully) to handle the development of the hair as masses or forms of hair and not individual hairs. The general hair mass, as it envelopes the head, can be thought of as composed of smaller masses, and those smaller masses composed of yet smaller masses – all the way down to individual hairs. But we don’t go down that far. Each one of the masses has a three dimensional form, a roundness, and that’s what we have to keep in mind as we add tone to it. The smaller forms of each of the pigtails go in different directions, and each of those forms seem to separate a bit from the larger form they are composed of, so the shadows must be indicated. Superimposed on these substructures are thin single hairs or, at most, a few hairs that were not drawn up into the pigtails. These latter hairs go in different directions and catch the sunlight. They’re indicated by whitish streaks.

            In order to draw in the smooth curvature of the masses right, it is almost necessary to turn the picture sometimes so it’s easier to draw in the curve. The hair masses flow, and I’ve tried to indicate that, almost feel it as I run the pencil along the curve.

            I also did some touch ups to the face as things popped out. They were small changes but necessary to the whole.

            By next week I should have the clothing drawn in. I’m nearly finished.

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Work in Progress: Savannah, Update 5

Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 5

I think I’m nearly finished with the face. But I’ve found over the past week that, as I’ve begun adding tone to the hair, that I notice some tonal areas of the face require some tweaking, so I’ve done a bit more here and there. I’ve added more tone to Savannah’s chin and left cheek. I’ve darkened her right temple and right cheek also. Looking at the face in low light has also turned up some spots that need some additional work. It helps considerably to walk away from the drawing for an hour or two, then come right up on it quickly. I then glance around at the face and look back and forth to the photo without looking at any detail but looking at an area in general. Things will pop out as needing work. Then I’ll sit down and tackle those areas. I’ll probably be doing that until it’s finished.

I introduced the 4H pencil for areas on the left side of the face and nose, the areas in sunlight. From the high contrast prints I made I could see that there is some tone, albeit very, very light, but there is some, and it seemed to add more dimension to the head.

I started working on the hair with 4H and 2H pencils, blocking in major forms, getting a feel for the shapes, shadows and highlights. One aspect of the portrait that’s given me some angst are the highlighted hairs running counter to the general trend of the underlying masses. They are very interesting and add something to the drawing but are a problem for me to add in. They are smooth, fine lines, curving over the top of darker, underlying hair that’s been gathered up to be tied into pig tails. I tried impressing the fine light hairs, then working in the darker tones, leaving fine white lines, but that didn’t really work. I didn’t like the reflectance left on the edge of the fine line. So, I covered them up. I finally decided that I would have to take the time to lightly draw them in and then carefully add tone around them. I also looked at a great many pencil portraits and don’t see too much in the way of fine highlighted hairs running counter to the general direction of the hair masses. But, in Savannah’s case there are many of them and they form an important part of the hair mass. So I’ve endeavored to include many – but not all of them. I want to give the impression they are there without having to add all of them in.

            After blocking in the hair masses, I started back over with darker pencils, going from the 2H to the HB and then to the 2B in the darkest areas such as the tightly bunched group of hair above and below the hair clips. These are the areas where shadows intensify.

            I’m working back and forth between pencils, working in details and delineating fine hairs. I’m creeping up on the darkest tone of the hair, comparing one area to another, seeing how they relate to one another. I’ll be doing that over the next week, when, I hope to have the hair completed. 

Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 4

The face is nearly complete now. During the past week I worked more on the lower part of the face – the nose, cheeks and chin. Little by little I added more tone. First, I added tone with the 2H pencil, expanding the area of 2H further and further as necessary. Then, I expanded the HB ones further. Finally, I added 2B as necessary to deepen all the tones. I shut the light off here and there and observed the features in low light, comparing the tones to the photo. Then added tone where I felt necessary. The photos here show the progression since last week. If I’m not finished with the face, I’m very close, as I don’t see much of a difference from the photo now – and I’m satisfied with the range of tone.

            One small change I made from last week was to expand the size of Savannah’s right iris. I checked the size on the photo with dividers and determined it was a bit small on the drawing.

            I’m intentionally leaving the sunlit portion of the face the white of the paper to increase the tonal range, contrast and, hopefully, the impact.

            One thing I want to stress here is that I approach the increase in deeping tones very gradually. I continue to maintain very light pressure as I add more tone, trying to keep transitions gradual and continuous. Sometimes it’s hard to see as change in the tone but, as I continue, I begin to see that change, and I stop when I think I’ve added enough. I also deepen the tones by progressing through the range of pencils, from 2H to HB to 2B and up to 4B and 7B if necessary. I always try to work slowly up to where I want to be.

            From here I think I’ll start on the hair. As I work that in I’ll keep checking the tones on the face to see if something jumps out, then make any changes necessary. I’ll also be able to compare the hair tones with the face and see that they are correct in relation to each other.

Work in Progress: Savannah, Update 3

Work In Progress: Savannah, Update 3

Now that the block – in is complete, dimensions and distances seem right, some light shading has been applied, and I’ve started adding detail to the features, the next step is to “key” the drawing. Keying the drawing is developing a range of values. I want to have as broad a range of values as possible. The black and white photo will be the basis for developing the values and, to help me, I’m going to use a value finder to compare the photo to my drawing. The value finder contains ten values ranging from black to white. In the middle of each value a hole has been punched out enabling me to place the value over the area I want to check. As I progress through the drawing I’ll check the photo against the drawing to see how I’m doing.

Another aid to developing the correct values is to pick an area of the photo that has the greatest range. That way, as I begin shading I can check the surrounding features and their values against the area I’m working on to make sure they keep the proper balance relative to each other. In this drawing there are a wide range of values from very light to near black around the eyes, so I started there.

            Savannah’s pupil and part of her iris are the darkest values of the facial features, so I carefully worked them in with a 7B Staedtler pencil. I also used the 7B to work the creases in the eyelids. Then I worked the remainder of the eye – the interior of the iris and the shadow area around the eye with a 2B pencil.

            The lightest areas are on the left side of Savannah’s face, where the sunlight hits directly. These areas will be the white of the paper. Everything else will be some value in between.

            Keeping in mind the anatomy of the face, the three dimensional structure of its parts, I started to model the face with tone, rather than just copying the lights and darks from the photo. I started with a sharp 2H pencil and very light pressure to stroke in the tones around the eyes and onto the right side of Savannah’s head. Once I completed all the sculpting, I compared the 2H tone of the surrounding areas with the eyes. I identified the areas that needed to be darker and went back over them with an HB pencil. Still comparing areas to one another, I identified areas that needed to be darker and started working in the 2B pencil.

            In this manner I continued to alternate between pencils as I went darker and darker with the shaping and sculpting. Sometimes I would check an area with the value finder and find it needed to be darker and would darken the area some more. That required other areas to be darker in relation to it. This process of slowly deepening tone in the area surrounding the eyes will continue until I’m satisfied that the tones are right relative to one another. I even turn the light off overhead and observe the drawing in low light, comparing it to the photo. Sometimes areas that need work jump right out and I adjust them. Squinting works also by reducing the figure to lights and darks and eliminating details.

            By next week I hope to have the area around the eyes complete and this area will help in modeling the rest of the face.