Part 4 Project 6 Exercise 2 Your own face

I have just read about the work habits of Rachel Knowles (Putt, 2016). I have always loved linoleum printing and monoprinting. Her delicate attention to pattern and detail in her nature studies is very appealing. I enjoy the fact that she incorporates a variety of textures and patterns in a single piece. I want to try to concentrate on the textures and patterns found in my self-portrait.

To acquaint myself with the general shapes of my face and features, I started with three quick, ten-minute black pen drawings. My first one was disproportionate, but as I went they started to be more realistically proportioned and a closer likeness to myself. I then strapped two dark pencils together and completed a double pencil sketch. What I discovered from this exercise is that I tend to draw my nose far too long for my face. I reworked this drawing with pen to show where the nose and mouth should have been. The drawing shows my reworking of the features (fig. 4).

Fig. 1. First attempt

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4. Sketch revisited

As I had a few days break between these initial sketches and my preliminary drawing for one of my final sketches, I did another quick sketch concentrating on the shape of shadows and loose contours. What I particularly was interested in doing was to draw myself with my glasses with my head resting on my left hand. I ensured that there was soft lighting coming through the curtain of the sun-filled window. From the angle that I was sitting at my iris and pupils were split with the line of my glasses, causing the eye to refract slightly behind the glasses. I wanted to make this a feature of my portrait. I practiced drawing my one eye to get this right. (Fig. 4)

Fig. 4. Eye study and media practice

When considering how to draw my initial main sketch, I decided to try to use fine lines in building up the shadows of the face, and then watercolor dissolvable 8B pencil to create less detailed broader strokes in the hair and the cabled jersey. By this time, it was getting dark in the room, so I positioned a lamp next to my right shoulder causing the bottom left-hand corner to be considerably darker than the right-hand side.

Fig. 5. Sketchbook study

I chose to draw A3 size. I started with the nose and eyes using a 2B pencil, quickly discovering that I was once again making my nose too long. Once again, I corrected this. I gradually worked the main shading on the face before commencing the hair and arm on the left-hand side of the drawing. I tried to hatch in the general dark zones in the hair and on the sweater with the watercolor pencil then worked this area with a broad watercolor brush. As this area was in the shadow, I did not leave many highlights.

Fig. 6. A3-size sketch

I then worked around the top of the head. Once I had finished the top of the head, I held it upright. To my surprise, what had appeared to be well proportioned, when working flat on the table in front of me, was actually elongated when looking at my face flat on. I showed it to the rest of my family members and they all observed the same proportional change. It was actually quite interesting. Obviously, this is why you would normally work on an easel when working on this scale drawing. So, it will be interesting to try to counteract this distortion when attempting my second drawing.

After completing the majority of the hair, I went back with my 8B watercolor pencil and touched up the eyes, shadows around the eyes and the shadows on the hand, making these areas darker. I tried to keep the pencil work in the jersey, where it is being highlighted, loose, and gestural. Apart from the distortion created by working flat, I think that I have been able to focus on the shapes, contours, textures, and tonal variations, in a manner which ultimately created a fair likeness of me.

For my second A3-size sketch, I wanted to bring in some color. I also wanted to use charcoals, contés, and pencils, instead of just pencils. I practiced in my sketchbook laying down charcoal and red conté dust on the page. I then used an eraser to lift out the highlights, and worked the mid to dark tones in varying pencils and charcoals. (Fig. 4) I chose red as my sweatshirt is a burgundy red tone and many of my features have a red undertone. I followed the directions for “Gestural Tone” found in Drawing Projects (Mick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014) focussing on the negative space and the tonal quality of the light and dark areas.

I commenced by using the eraser to pull of areas of highlights around the nose, eyes, and mouth. I then started to work in the shapes of the tonal planes of the faces around these areas. Once again, I had light coming through the curtain on my right-hand side. I gradually worked across the face and then commencing at the left-hand side, started to work the hair. This time around, I roughly shaded in an ochre color for my hair.

On completion, I decided to show the shadows of the room, and showed where the light was streaming through window behind me. I also added some purple into the red in the jacket to give it a different hue.

Fig. 7 Final Portrait

When analyzing this self-portrait, my family stated that the eyes were a lot more depressed looking than my eyes regularly look like in real life. I know that I was irritated by inter-personal tension at that the time of drawing this sketch, and wonder if this had any impact on the way I viewed myself. I also think my face is too elongated. This time around, my forehead is more proportional, but I seem to have too much space between my nose and mouth. My daughter said that my chin is too narrow, giving my face the elongated look. These will all be areas upon which I can work in subsequent studies.

Works CitedMick Maslen and Jack Southern, 2014. "Gestural Tone - footprints in the snow." In: Drawing Projects - an exploration of the language of drawing. London: black dog publishing, pp. 166-169.

Putt, L., 2016. In conversation: Rachel Knowles. [Online]
Available at: http://weareoca.com/fine-art/conversation-rachel-knowles/
[Accessed 21 July 2016].