Drawing Faces

I've drawn realistic faces before but usually from a photograph as the ones I try to draw from my imagination look cartoonish.  I've envied other artists (like my daughter and son) who can draw a face from their imagination.  When I saw Pam Carriker's Mixed Media Portraits book I knew I had to have it.  I read the book as soon as it arrived but it took me a couple of weeks to gather the nerve to put pencil to paper.

 Pam's instructions are easy to follow.  My teenage daughter has tried to teach me the proportions of a face before, but somehow the information, though very simple, has gone in one ear and out the other.  I think I am better at learning from reading the instructions than from just hearing them because I can keep going back and making sure I get it all right.   Here is my first attempt using Pam's method - first a sketch, getting all the proportions just right.  Well - sort of just right!

 And then comes the fun part - SHADING!

I love shading!

I love working with charcoal, pastels and graphite.

I drew the sketch with a 2H pencil and then used a 2B and 4B, 

my finger and an eraser to build up the shading.

About an hour in to the drawing I reminded myself that this drawing was for practice.  It isn't meant to be a masterpiece!  I can still see plenty I would like to do to change her.  A few areas really bug me but I'm going to give myself a time limit on these beginning drawings - perfect or not - and just called it done!  

When my daughter saw me drawing using Pam's book she laughed -  NOT in a harsh, mean way but in a "didn't I teach you how to do this already?" 

I laughed with her and said "I know, I know, you taught me this but I keep forgetting what you told me.  This book lets me refer back to it."

She then proceeded to give me a number of quick lessons in my sketchbook on how noses connect or don't connect, how best to draw teeth, which part of the lip and eyes move the most when we smile and frown, where to place eyelashes for the most natural look and how an eye looks with tears in it.  

She also showed me where eyes go on the face for adults, teens and children.  I didn't realize they were so different.  My daughter is a wealth of information!!  However, my daughter isn't always around when I'm drawing and Pam's book WILL always be around when I need her!!!  I'm looking forward to drawing a lot more faces using Pam's book. 

The next lesson is on drawing a sideways face.

I'm looking forward to it.