D R AW I N G P R O G R A M

Head Drawing Phase IV

Three-Hour Portrait
Erik Gist - Male

Lay-in - TIP -
There are many ways of
approaching the head. What Remember to use the
I will be covering here are rhythm lines not as a
the ways that have worked formula, but as a guide of
best for me, but remember judging visual relationships
to look for the under-riding
principles, not the
technique.
Lets start at the beginning.
The silhouette of the head
can be drawn, from the
front, as a boxy oval not
unlike a pumpkin seed.
From just about every other
angle, except behind, as a
sort of buldging triangle.
The head can be broken up
into thirds vertically and
fifths horizontally. If we
take the face plane of the
head (starting at the top of
the forehead or hairline and
running down to the chin)
and break it up into perfect
thirds we will find that the
top of the eye socket and ear
will fall on the first
division, below the hair
line, and the nose and
bottom of the ear on the
bottom division, above the
chin. Now if we divide the
width of the head into fifths
we will find that the middle
fifth defines the width of the
nose which is then flanked
be the eyes, and those by
the width of the head.

Preserving the Traditions of the Masters

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 D R AW I N G P R O G R A M
Head Drawing Phase IV
Three-Hour Portrait
Erik Gist - Male

Block-in
In this phase of the
drawing I like to limit
myself to two values as
much as possible, this two
value breakup is very
important to maintain
through the drawing.
Once you have this
established you can add
as many values as you
want (however I would
not advise this) as long
as you keep the added
values secondary to the
big two value separation.
The rule for this says
“The lightest light in the
dark should always be
darker than the darkest
dark in the light.”
Thus, nothing in the
shadow side of the form
should be as light as
anything on the lit side of
the form. I use this time
to focus on design of the
shadow pattern. There
are three things I pay
particular attention to,
form, compositions, and
- TIP - aesthetics. Try to unify
To best judge the two value this pattern, or mass your
break-up, remember to darks as much as possi-
squint at the model. ble. Try to actually create
a “pattern” and not
fragment your shadows.

Preserving the Traditions of the Masters

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 D R AW I N G P R O G R A M
Head Drawing Phase IV
Three-Hour Portrait
Erik Gist - Male

Full Value - TIP -

The greatest risk at this Strategically place your
point of drawing is to darkest darks to best
inject too many values, establish your full value
too early. Creating a range.
“spotty” drawing. You
want to use additional
values to further unify,
not fragment. I achieve
this by starting with
injecting my darkest dark
to create a full value
range. I often use this
darkest dark to also frame
the drawing, and create
emphasis. I do this by
strengthening the silhou-
ette and increase the
contrast at the focal point.
In this case the hair, and
eyes respectively. This
starts to set-up a value
hierarchy that will allow
me to accurately establish
my half-tones in relation-
ship to the full value
range. Notice how I
created a greater sense of
depth in the shadows not
by using my eraser to
pull-out reflected light,
but by building darker
values therein.

Preserving the Traditions of the Masters

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 D R AW I N G P R O G R A M
Head Drawing Phase IV
Three-Hour Portrait
Erik Gist - Male

More Full Value

Once my full value range
has been established I
begin to develop my
half-tones and edges.
Oddly enough when I start
to inject more values, I
actually don’t draw the
half-tones, so much as
draw around the highlights.
What I mean by this is, the
highlights are of more
importance to me, so I
draw and design the half-
tones, primarily, to reveal
the highlights. This keeps
my shading from spinning
out of control, which can
happen very easily.
When it comes to edges,
I try to limit the amount
of smudging to create
soft edges. Rather I draw
them in by building up
intermediate value-shapes
and gradients to soften
these edges and roll the
form. Strategically inject-
ing half-tones and soften-
ing edges will create the
final sense of dimensional-
- TIP -
ity that I strive for in all
Becareful to limit your my drawings.
half-tone use or run the risk
of a “spotty” drawing

Preserving the Traditions of the Masters

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 D R AW I N G P R O G R A M
Head Drawing Phase IV
Three-Hour Portrait
Erik Gist - Male

Finish

Finishes are really a

matter of opinion and
specific to each individual
drawing. I spend most of
this time looking at final
shape design, value scale,
and the big “egg effect”
or global lighting. Essen-
tially looking to make
sure that the drawing
exists as a whole, and not
just a collection of parts.

I hope this has helped,

and I look forward to see
all of you drawings
online, in the forums.

- TI P -
To best begin to develop
your finishes, form your
own opinions as to what you
admire in the work of others

Preserving the Traditions of the Masters

© Watts Atelier of the Arts, LLC, 2013 www.wattsatelier.com 5