This time I decided to use pastel pencils, as suggested in the book “The Artist’s Complete Guide To Drawing The Head” by William L. Maughan, where the paper is a middle tone between white and sanguine red, giving you 4 possible tones (white, paper, light sanguine, dark sanguine). The white is using mostly for indicating highlights.
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1. Quick sketch of 20 minutes of the model, at a quarter of the usual size.
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2. First set-up, with the contours of the model in sanguine pastel.
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3. Further definition of the features. Notice that the mouth is not put right in the face (too far to the model’s left).
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4. Definition of the hair and tones in the face. Notice that the head is too wide at the lower half (belove the eyes).
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5. Trying to make the face somewhat narrower, but I guess I overdid it. Perhaps I should have put the eyes differently in the face to begin with.
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6. Here the instructor stepped in and redrew the mouth. It clearly was too far to the model’s left.
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7. I put some extra effort in getting the eyes more expressive. I also had to put on more sanguine pastel, because after applying fixative, it goes deeper into the paper than the white pastel, making it appear fainter than without the fixative.
I must say that, apart from next week, when I didn’t feel so good, each week I see some improvement. If I put all the results from weeks 2 until 10 side by side, I see a gradual improvement in skill level. It seems I’m not paying all those euros for nothing.
And I believe this was the first time I felt somewhat relaxed while drawing. The instructor didn’t give too much critique, because I clearly needed much (well, except the mouth and the width of the face, perhaps).
