Perspective of faces

[rogfa]

Hi,

I took a look at your sketch dump and your work is very good. I think your proportions and the features are laid out really well. Drawing correctly in perspective is difficult and takes lots of practice. One thing I can recommend to improve on is to clearly state the planes of the head. The top, front, side etc. When you start thinking of the head as a box it will help line up features in perspective. Also, don't be shy about looking for reference even when drawing from your imagination. Just a couple quick glances can really point you in the right direction. I saved one of your paintings and got a little carried away with paint-over.

A good (and really cheap!) book is Constructive Anatomy by Bridgeman (link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486211045/103-2773576-3105439?v=glance&n=283155)). Bridgman really stresses the planes of the body when drawing. You can soften or blend after you have the proper construction.

But if you really want to learn to draw heads get Bob Kato's Drawing The Male Head (link (http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/bka01.html)). This dvd helped me so much. For years I thought I was drawing heads correctly or "good enough". This dvd helped me improve like no book ever had.

Good luck!

Roger

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6853/faceexercise11wk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[nafa]

Take a look at the link and be sure to follow the link to the Ron Lemen tutorial:
http://drawsketch.about.com/library/weekly/aa121202a.htm

Hope it helps.

[Sylanya]

Wow, thanks so much guys! I ordered that one book from Amazon, thanks for the suggestion.

[Sylanya]

Hey guys. I added a new face to my sketch dump thread. Could anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? I think I need more contrast, but something about the shapes bother me as well. Perhaps I'm refining to quickly?

Also, does anyone know any good books that outline the basics of skintones?

[JTD]

Always have lots of references and resources because it's worth it. But before you get a book, have a look at what your friends are doing for skin tone (They're my friends too but I can't visit them due to this stupid restraining order):

Enayla's http://www.furiae.com (http://www.furiae.com/) Go to the gallery section then select tutorials.

Henning's http://www.henningludvigsen.com (http://www.henningludvigsen.com/) Go to the tutorials section.

By the way, values, tones, and form all come with practice so stop chastising yourself as you're learning; it's discouraging. First of all, comparisons kill so if you're looking at your work and wishing you were like your friends (the ones whose links I provided) then stop, slap yourself, take a deep breath, and start over. I'd slap you myself but then there's that whole restraining order thing again. Your work is fine and if you want to achieve a greater realism in your art then I would say you are close to doing that.

[paperclip]

Something I use a lot is just to pick out a totally random color for skintones and try to paint with that and pick out other colors to go with that. What you end up with is a wider understanding of skin colors past the obvious pink/brown/orange/red...

As for perspective, I think a good way for you to work would be to start out with that cross you often see in sketches- halfway down the middle horizontally and vertically. The eyes are halfway down the head (from the top of the head to the chin), the bottom of the nose is halfway between the eyes and the chin and the mouth is halfway between the bottom of the nose and the chin. (This WORKS and is very useful as a guide.) The vertical line acts as a base for the nose to 'grow' from.

cheers.
clippy. :thumbsup:

[Sylanya]

Aw guys, I appreciate your help. Unfortunately, I already know that stuff, and I have already checked out as many tutorials as I can, including the ones on Linda's and Henning's website. In fact, Linda is my friend too. :D

Anyways, I guess you guys are right. I'm just being too hard on myself.

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