Monday, October 22, 2007

The realization of a portrait ... the making


I'm sketching a portrait for my wi-fi tonight & I would take its photographs at each stage, to see , show & remember for myself - how a portrait develops. This sequence may help someone who's new to sketching real faces or someone learning how to sketch a face !
Let's start (Pencil used - 2 HB) ...
  1. I'm capturing all the photos of the sketch I'm making, with my 6 MP Cybershot, in night-mode (no flash, delayed shutter). So, the backdrop may appear somewhat dark, however not so much to deviate attention of keen observers.
  2. First, the shape of face & orientation - I took the mid-line (vertical) passing the center of nose & the line joining the 2 eyes (horizontal) as imaginary reference lines (without drawing any actual grid) . This usually helps in keeping the size of eyes, nose, cheeks proportionate.
  3. I'm trying to complete an eye, along with the shape of the face & some nose too ...
  4. See ? Using a light stroke for the pencil is useful, if we need to alter the shape of the face / nose later.
  5. Second eye ...

















  1. She's staring at me :-( ... Redid the whole nosy :-) ... I felt it was too small - thanks to the imaginary reference lines. I'm starting the lips now :

  2. Ghostly stage ... Boooo !
  3. Lips completed now ... not pink yet ;-)
  4. Lips touched up & some features sharpened. Added bindi (the holy dot on forehead, between the eyes). Hair formation started ...
  5. Dyed the hair a bit ;-) ... colored the bindi and accented the lips with pink (light strokes of a RED pencil) . Note the left earring.
  6. I jus showed it to my wi-fi & she found somethin missin ! Can you guess what ?
  7. My wi-fi jus approved this one with the neck :-) ... Hurray ! I gifted her the sketch.

Music of the night : Cheeni kam hai (Movie : Cheeni kum ; Sung by : Shreya Ghoshal ) - unique music, good bass, hindi song. This one makes me hum it all day long !

2 comments:

Chinmay said...

Very well written post sir...! Itna lucid fashion mein u hv explained the esoteric art of "Portrait Making" - I am so so impressed. Kal mrng se hi try karta hoon banana portrait ekk...let such posts coming in sir..!

Unknown said...

It's good to hear that my post inspires you to draw a portrait ... I'll sit with you sometime & can explain the intricacies ... maybe we'll add finer points, we'd discuss, to the blog too :-) ... thanks for all comments :-) !