Monday, August 12, 2013

Back to the Drawing Board


   

Left: Value study of twins from a photograph
Right: Copy from a Sargeant drawing of Mrs. Horace Webber

Here is my drawing board. Both of these were basically quick studies, done in less than 30 minutes (I think). The Sargeant portrait is from the Dover book of his drawings which are black and white studies. It makes it pretty easy to copy exactly what he did, although if you compare mine to his you will see how many places need to be fixed.  I need to work on how to do the nose and mouth, so this is really helpful.

The value study from the photograph presents a completely different set of challenges and learning. First of all, I had to find a photo that lends itself to becoming a portrait. Then I realized that I don't have much experience drawing from photos. I chose this one because the two boys are identical twins, but don't actually look exactly alike. I wanted to see if I could capture the difference. Shane is pretty close but Nathan got lost back in the shadows. Those shadows again!!

It is also interesting to put these side by side. Clearly Sargeant had an eye for composition and contrast. He knew how to accentuate the features that he wanted to describe. Striking.


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