Measuring Proportions Drawing basics practice
30d
Tommy Pinedo
Ive been practicing the measuring proportions part in drawing basics and Its been tough for me. Ive watched the demo, and eyeballing video several times to write down notes and get a good understand on what to do. This is a practice I did using a reference and I am alright with it. I tried to make her look pretty exactly like the reference but I just like im still far from it. I only focused on the face and didn't go detail on the hands or hair.
This took me about 2 hours to complete. I think my main problem is that I am expecting this to be a finish work of art. I would like to get a critique on this practice I did because I want to improve.
Lastly, I am curious why Stan decided to go with the mapping or laying out approach when doing this portrait practice. When I was practicing I was wondering how come we don't do the loomis method or something similar to get the face right? My guess is because using the loomis method requires us to think 3D? I am still on the shapes chapter and did not get to perspectives yet.
Anyways any feedback or critique would be great! :)
looks cool - more geometric than natural - lots of sharp corners instead of curves. I'd like to see where you go with it - great beginning
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29d
Hey Tommy, you're on the right track! This is a super clean, beautifully simplified lay in which is the most important stage of a finished work of art. Taking your time at this stage to accurately set up your portrait will lead to better finished pieces, so don't sweat it. I did a quick overlay to check your accuracy. Really great job, the top of the hair is a bit high, the bottom 3rd of the face/lips/chin are slightly low, and the nose is a little narrow, but overall these are super easy corrections to make at this stage! You set this up beautifully, and corrections will be quick. Keep measuring by eye as you tailor it in to where you want it to be. You're clearly really taking your time to measure by eye, which can be lengthy and tedious, but you're developing the skill which will repay you in the long run! Use things like negative shapes to accurately dial in your lines. Check out the triangular negative shape between the shoulder, earring, and cheek. You can see the angle break of the shoulder in your lay in is a little low in comparison to the reference. Also checking your drawing in a mirror, or flipping it up side down can help you look at the piece with a fresh perspective. Really nice work breaking this down to clean, simple shapes!
As for why not we're not starting with a Loomis framework for this? Partly because Loomis requires you to think in 3D, but mainly because directly measuring your subject, and breaking it down into abstract shapes with accuracy like this will get you closer to the likeness of your subject faster. A Loomis head framework can be a quick shorthand for developing a portrait, but you'd still need to take measurements and make adjustments to achieve a likeness just like you did for this project. Once you learn perspective and the Loomis approach you can start to combine all of these tools to take your portraits to an accurate likeness more quickly! For now, keep up the good work!! Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for your valuable feedback! Ugh I forgot about the negative shapes! lol Thank you also for taking the time to do the overlay to see how accurate I was. The flipping it upside down or checking it in the mirror is def a new tip for me. I will def take the help into my next drawing. :)
