Portrait Drawing Up Close

I had a good drawing session at the Saturday morning Al Hyter portrait group. Model dressed in costume with her face painted. I got up close to her so I can sketch the details on her face. I often do this. It makes a big difference in my drawings; there is so much more information on the eyes, nose, lips, chin, ears.

Bruce, the coordinator, brought in nice music. One of them is a favorite for everyone: The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews. Nice combo for drawing, had everyone humming the tunes.

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Portrait Study, Man with Russian Hat

I haven't posted in a while. Again I get busy and time just goes by. I haven't been drawing much on my own either. Hopefully that will change soon. I start art school at New York Academy of Art September 3rd! I'm getting ready and that should include more drawing and painting before I go.

I've been attending the Saturday morning Al Hyter portrait sessions. Here's a portrait I enjoyed creating. The model wore a Russian hat. It had a nice shape so I exaggerated the features and size of the hat, it was just fun to draw.

I'm going to miss my Saturday morning portrait drawing group. I'll keep in touch to share my new art adventure in New York!

Portrait Study: Young Man & Hat

I haven't been drawing in a long time. I had a dry spell.  I get that sometimes, good or bad I don't know. When I look back at my drawings I say to myself, "Wow! Those are nice sketches! Did I do that?" It's a weird feeling.  Perhaps its good to step away from my art for a while, it's a humbling feeling when I return. 

I haven't gone portrait drawing in a long time, finally had a Saturday morning off from my part time job. It felt good to visit the Al Hyter portrait drawing group in Toledo, Ohio. I was a little rusty with my technique at first, but after a couple of drawings, I warmed up and I felt comfortable with my medium and was having fun sketching. 

Portrait of Young Woman

I attend Saturday morning Al Hyter portrait group in Toledo, Ohio. They have two new models, but since it’s a two-hour session I focused on drawing one model. I first created the ¾ view then created the profile. It was cold in the room so my arms and hands felt a little stiff but I still had a good time drawing these two nice pieces.

I feel all my recent drawing is paying off because I felt comfortable drawing these portraits. I was confident creating the cross hatch texture, proportions, sighting, and composition. It’s a good feeling for me. I’m looking forward to next Saturday’s portrait session; I’ll focus on drawing the 2^nd model.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE, GRAPHITE ON PAPER 14" x 17"

Full Figure Portrait Drawing of Heather

Here's one of my drawings of Heather from yesterday's Al Hyter portrait session. This was Heather's last modeling session. A good crowd of artists showed up. Everyone produced nice pieces, and Bruce the organizer played some interesting folk music.

The portrait sessions are two hour, so the first hour I created a close up portrait of Heather. Then in the second hour I decided to created a full figure portrait. Here's where all the figure drawing sessions I've attended at Geiger Studios comes in handy: sketching this full figure with chair in 20 minutes came easy to me. I approached this drawing like I would a nude figure drawing. I started with a gesture drawing to make sure the figure would fit and that all main shapes were proportional, then I began to add detail and tone. Creating this piece was rewarding, it's a reminder that I have to keep attending these drawing session and draw daily on my own to improve my drawing skills. It's what it takes for me to become a better skilled artist.

I'm already looking forward to next Saturday's new model.

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Profile Sketch of Heather

I attended the Saturday morning Al Hyter portrait drawing/painting session. It was the model's 2nd of four sessions, her name is Heather and she did a great job holding her pose and maintaining a smile which is not easy. I created several portrait drawings of Heather and the profile sketch I am posting here is the last one I created. I feel this is the best one of the batch; it has a nice loose sketch feel. I captured her character and out of the portrait drawings I created of Heather for the 2nd session, this is the drawing that is closest to her appearance.

Seems like my first drawing is always my warm-up drawing. I loosen up and get in my drawing mood. Usually my first drawing never looks as loose or as nice as my 2nd or 3rd drawing, but sometimes my 2nd or 3rd drawings don't come out well either. This is when I need to remember that I also draw to improve my drawing skills. I say this because it can be frustrating when that 1st and sometimes that 2nd drawing aren't looking good. I do believe that every drawing is a learning experience and always makes my drawing skills better for future drawings.

Tattoo Artist Portrait Drawing

I haven't posted on my blog in a while, feels good to share some new work. In my home town of Quebradillas, Puerto Rico there's a tattoo shop. I walked in and asked the tattoo artist if I can do a portrait sketch of them and they were interested. Here are two portraits i really liked, it was fun drawing this person. I like all the detail of the piercings, the glasses, the goatee, and the tattoo gun. it just adds more depth to piece. It also helped that the tattoo artist stood still.

I've been wanting to draw in a tattoo shop, I don't know why i took so long to ask, they are artist and customers come in with an appreciation for tattoo art so i discovered it's a perfect environments for drawing portraits. I've sketched a lot of portraits at this shop of customers. There's a lot of cool interesting characters that visit this tattoo shops. I'll post more soon.

Portait Drawing of 1980's Teenage woman

This is the other model from Saturday morning's portrait drawing session. The portrait session hires two models for 4 weeks and I spent the 1st three drawing portraits of my friend AJ. On this last session I finally sat in front of this model and made several portrait drawings, she was dressed 1980's style. It was fun sketching her, I wish I had done a painting of her because her outfit was very colorful.

I created the full figured portrait on the right side first in about 40 minutes. I really enjoyed drawing that one, I thought the leg warmers were a good touch. The portrait on the left was 25 minutes, and I created it towards the end of class. It was rushed and you can tell, the eyes on this one aren't right and I lost my highlights on the pupils, so they now look dark and hollow. Lessons learned, I need to make sure I leave a little high light on the eyes.

I still had a great portrait drawing session, the crowd was nice, one of the artists brought Monavie juice drinks that were delicious, and the boom box played a James Taylor live concert recording.