here's the basic head shape, drawn right over the photo: now i block in the basic shapes i see in the photo: the hat, the scarf, the hair: i lay in the abstraction lines of the face, focusing on the ones i see in the photo, given that high-contrast light and his face type and his age: i put in the shadow pattern, so that i have a decent idea of where the darkest and lightest values are.... i'm not thinking about details at all, just about things like where his tooth cylinder is, how his cheek muscles fit into his jaw, etc. although i'm doing this paint-over in photoshop, i turned off the layer with the original photo a while ago and have just been using what little i know of the head anatomy to make my drawing: now i go in and work out some details, like the left side of his head (our left when looking at it), his hair, how to show that there's a scarf without drawing every single little fibre, fixing his hat, showing the texture of the hat without going crazy drawing to draw fluffy felt, etc. etc. and because it's now been 20 minutes, and i still have to write this post and upload the photos, i call it good enough for now.... go look at and memorize the anatomy and perspective books ron listed: andrew loomis' out-of-print bibles of drawing Anatomy Bridgeman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life Stephen Peck-Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist John Vanderpoel-The Human Figure Fritz Schider-An Atlas of Anatomy For Artists Perspective Dora Miriam Norton-Freehand Perspective and Sketching Arthur Guptill-Sketching as a Hobby Guptill-Sketching and Rendering in Pencil Ernest Watson-Creative Perspective for Artists and Illustrators practice drawing from these.
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i feel a lot of pressure to sell my painting, because i could really use the money; and i could also really use the external, tangible validation that other people besides myself like my art and think i'm good enough that they'll fork over their money for my work.... it's the place i've been pouring most of my energy into since fall 2002, and it's quite hard to not turn tomorrow night into a judgment on how the last four years have gone and whether or not i'm doing the right thing by pursuing fine art. throw in a little bit of the open-house/back-to-school night jitters because my mom and stepdad are coming -- will my mom like ron?... will they think i'm crazy for wanting to do this once they see the small studio in its cramped reality?
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the book reminded me of something i'd known but consciously forgotten by now: one of the most valuable things i learned from getting my degree in writing is that <em>writing itself isn't difficult -- it's sitting down and getting the writing done that will defeat you.... we had to write in the middle of the loud and noisy cafeteria, we had to write on the grassy lawn in the sun with sleep calling us; we had to write in cold classrooms, we had to write at computers, and with pens and by hand to break us of the habit of getting attached to any one form.... pressfield makes a list of things that generate Resistance, and i thought it'd be interesting to put in bold the ones that currently apply to me: <blockquote><strong>1) The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional.</strong> [should be pretty obvious] <strong>2) The launching of any entrepreneurial venture or enterprise, for profit or otherwise.
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