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!

Young Asian Woman Portrait Study

Last Saturday morning I attended Al Hyter's Portrait session. They have a new model for the next 3 weeks. Drawing this model will have its challenges: she is young and her face is smooth so how do I draw her portrait? Here's where less is more. I have to force myself to keep the details and tone light and simple. This is tough for me because I enjoy drawing and can overwork the drawing.

When I first started this portrait I was just going to sketch the head and neck but then decided to include the hands, arms and shoulders. You can see were I changed my mind, there's a large light quick sketch of the head on the right side. I did this because I liked the simple gesture of the hands and the fold from her blouse, plus it was more challenging.

I brought a friend with me to this session. She was a little nervous and claimed to be "a beginner". We are all beginners, I've been drawing for many years and I still have that quest/desire for becoming a better skilled draftsman. It was humbling watching my friend draw, her struggles of drawing from life were no different than mine. I gave her some tips for her drawing but the best advice was to simply draw, draw a lot, and enjoy the process.

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