| Author | Message | ||
  Marie Senior Member Username: Marie Post Number: 416 Registered: 8-2006 |
The big places I mark are the cranium, making a special note of the turn from the forehead to the temple, the zygomatic arch and the cheekbone, and the eye sockets. Also, I usually start drawing at the neck and draw a line along the sternocleidomastoid (sp?) muscle. A medical grade plastic skull is fine. I think the technology for making plastic skulls has improved since the days when Hale was giving his lectures. Don't get a cheap halloween decoration. A real skull is both very expensive and a little creepy. | ||
Rekha Senior Member Username: Rekha Post Number: 387 Registered: 8-2006 |
Marie, which particular bones do you target or mark on your paper before either drawing or painting. I notice you recommend purchase of skull. Beverly Hale writes don't get a plastic one because the skeleton has been put together by technicians who know nothing about skeletons. Is this true? | ||
Joanna New member Username: Joanna Post Number: 3 Registered: 10-2006 |
As to painting faces, the Cheap Joes DVD on Jelly bean heads (for painting people in a general way, not portraits) is VERY good. You can add people to landscapes and they look marvelous. I enjoy doing the jelly beans for exercises in painting. | ||
Marie Member Username: Marie Post Number: 26 Registered: 8-2006 |
If we can see some specific examples, we can suggest some specific exercises. Many issues with drawing faces are more technical than artistic. Also, we're tougher on Eugene or Eric, for example, because they have been painting for a long time. Having said all of that, I can point a few common tendencies that need often correction when people start to draw or paint faces. 1) Don't obsess over the features until you get the big bony structures in place. The eyes are about halfway down the head, and the cranium is much larger in back than you expect it to be. 2) Many of us have a tendency to draw the eyes in a frontal view even if the head is in a 3/4 or side view. We know that humans have two eyes and we try to put both eyes into the picture, even when we can't see them. This can get you into a lot of trouble. 3) There's a tendency to make everything in the head straight up and down, even if the head is tilted (and the head is almost always tilted to some extent). Evidently, the brain tends to straighten everything up to read expressions. Unfortunately, if you do this when you are drawing the face just winds up looking strange. Beware of anything that is parallel to the side of the page. | ||
Eugene Intermediate Member Username: Eugene Post Number: 55 Registered: 8-2006 |
Rex, Please post-- We'll be kind! | ||
rex Unregistered guest |
thanks guys, but I am not so confident about posting my pics here. I have seen some peoples paintings being discussed to death and criticized like a mania. I certainly will feel very bad and lose confidenct if this happens to me. | ||
Rekha Member Username: Rekha Post Number: 34 Registered: 8-2006 |
rex, I found this site that has flash presentation of the muscles used in various facial expressions http://www.artnatomia.net/uk/index.html | ||
A. Bill Unregistered guest |
rex-- I hope you didn't rob any graves. There are plastic skull models available.  | ||
Marie Junior Member Username: Marie Post Number: 25 Registered: 8-2006 |
Rex, can you post one of your paintings or drawings? It might give me ideas for some more specific things for you to try. Painting faces can be challenging. Keep working at it. | ||
Marie Junior Member Username: Marie Post Number: 24 Registered: 8-2006 |
Also, get a copy of one of the Bridgman books. There are several versions: one for heads, one for hands, and another for general anatomy. I would recommend getting the full version that contains everything; it's only $12 on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Bridgman-Complete-Guide-Drawing-Life/dp/0806930152/sr=1-2/qid=1158162053/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-6266379-0113525?ie=UTF8&s=books | ||
Anne Unregistered guest |
You need an instruction book on heads (or faces-- which will still have heads) because you need to understand all of the "secrets" of facial and head proportions. Withour knowing how to get proportions you are reinvienting the wheel and it will take forever or leave you in frustration. http://www.amazon.com/Portraits-Painter%252019s-Corner-Parram%f3n-Editorial/dp/0764156055/sr=8-1/qid=1158157679/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9088700-1643141?ie=UTF8&s=books Also, take a life drawing class. | ||
rex Unregistered guest |
thanks marie, i just got a skull, a female skull, since i am interested atthe moment in learning to draw and paint a female face, i am practising but it still doesn't come out satisfactory | ||
Marie Junior Member Username: Marie Post Number: 14 Registered: 8-2006 |
Think of drawing heads, not faces. If you get the structure and proportion of the head correct, the features fall into place. If you are serious about drawing heads and faces, I would strongly recommend getting a plaster or plastic skull. Learn to draw the cranium, the cheekbone, and the jaw. | ||
Anon. Unregistered guest |
What I mean it understanding facial proportions, skull structure etc. This includes shading since you'll be redering the details of structure in three dimensions. Once you get this down--it takes a lot of practice, you might temporarily move on to a friendly medium like colored pencil or pastel for a bit to start experimenting with color. Then watercolor--t he handling of which in a portrait is so tricky that to begin with it would only be sensible if you had a mastery of the drawing and shading already down pat. | ||
rex Unregistered guest |
by drawing do you mean just drawing or also shading | ||
Anon. Unregistered guest |
First, it is 98% about the drawing. Get a book dedicated to drawing faces. Master that. If you jump straight into painting faces you will be overwhelmed-- like trying to ride a bicycle across a tightrope while juggling. (you must first master bicycle, tighrope, and juggling independent of each other). If you had a specific question, such as what is the best color temperature for facial shadows, then it would be easy to answer. But your general question suggests you must be given the key: drawing. | ||
rex Unregistered guest |
How does one paint Faces. They are a weak point of my skill set. I am trying to find out as much as i can, about painting faces. Any suggestions. |
