11 November 2007

joy (siena)

Charcoal on Utrecht bristol, 14" x 10".

this was a very difficult drawing; i had to do three preliminary sketches before i could begin. i will do more of these to practice.

joyous laughter is inherently difficult to draw because it is a kind of motion or flash of the face, and the movement has to be captured at the right point in order to appear convincing.

drawing teeth is also hard work, the spacing and shape have to be correct, and the profile contours of the teeth and gum line have to be accurate.

finally, i don't know if this is simply my limitation or a common problem: i find it very difficult to draw facial features when the head is tilted to one side. it is very hard to get the mouth, eyes and nostrils on a common line and to get all the features centered in the face. the mouth in particular is difficult because it also curves across the round front of the face, the corners receding into the cheeks.

this was an appropriate emotion to begin with, as siena's favorite email salutation is "joy".

1 comment:

Nick said...

Let a couple of days go by, and look what appears....a lot of busywork, and I like them all...this one especially as it has a sort of double exposure effect - had to look twice.