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Stuck at 90%
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Message
Posted
Hello all, long time since my last post.
Currently doing a drawing of my brother as a child from an old photo I found the other day.
I seem to be stuck at about 90% done. I get to this point and lose interest/have doubts/think I would be better off starting again or leaving it to finish for another day. So, any advice?
Oh and as a p.s this is my first time using a toned paper and drawing with graphite pencils plus a white Conte pencil for the highlights so a fairly new technique for me.
Posted
Flipping Heck, TB23!! What's not to like? I don't know how good a likeness it is, but I suspect it's a good 'un. I'd think long and hard before you make another mark on that drawing. I know all about the doubts, losing interest and all that jazz. We all suffer from that. But this is a cracking drawing...it has youth and expression...two things it's easy to get wrong.
Posted
I agree with Lew - I think this drawing is finished; have you really lost interest, or just don't know what more you can do to it? If the latter, the reason is probably that you've already done all you can do to it: very few old photos show anything like enough detail (come to that, very few new ones do, either) to make a drawing from that's going to be entirely convincing, so the tendency is to work at them and nag at them until you've killed any spontaneity and freshness. If your brain is telling you not to do that - listen to it!
Posted
Of course you could do that - but when you add detail to features other than the face, you can then find the face itself requires some more work; and as one who has lost a likeness or two, I'm very reluctant to proceed beyond the point at which I've achieved it.
In particular, the photo you've got isn't at all bad, but the detail in the hair is lost; now - hair is hair, how hard can it be? Words which have a familiar, fatal ring to me...
End of the day, it's your drawing and you know better than we do whether you're happy with it or not, and though you're asking, I bet you've already decided to do a bit more. All I can say is, I think the drawing already works, but wish you luck if you're going to return to it.
Posted
I would just darken up the shadows on the shirt a little and then sign it and consider it done.
Before I got to the post with the photo I thought it looked complete but having seen how dark the shirt is I would be tempted to give it a couple of folds (to indicate he has arms) and then I reckon you did a very impressive job.
Posted
Great drawing. I think that the shoulder needs some simple definition to stop my brain from trying to figure out where the shoulder is. I spent too much time looking at the shoulder and not enough on the face.
Also, Using a kneaded eraser, gently lift some graphite to create a highlight as his hair falls over his forehead. Gives the head more form. The photo is too light so use a light touch on your drawing.
This one is a keeper.
Posted
I'm inclined to agree with the posters who argue that you shouldn't really add anything more here. I can see the problem: the reference photo was taken with a flash, and that always flattens out the facial features a bit. Such references are actually pretty difficult to work from. They look great as photos, but turn them into a drawing and they somehow look incomplete, even when the photo doesn't really contain any more detail you can add to the drawing.
For this particular piece it might actually have been a better idea to work in pencil alone on white paper. On another forum a very skilled realist artist gave this advice: cover the entire drawing with a layer of tone. I have seen how well it works for him. But when you use toned paper the tone of the paper already fulfills that function! I would think using white for highlights might work better when the reference has more contrast and highlights itself.
Not that I am exactly an expert draftsman. :-)
Posted
It IS better - I knew you'd have another crack at it..... I was afraid you'd over-work it, but you haven't.
I still like the original version, because ... well, because I'm not over-keen on highly finished drawings (or paintings). Hence my caution. But probably being over-cautious, and displaying too little faith in you!