DRAWINGS
PROJECT NAME:
PORTRAIT - PICASSO SKETCH
YEAR: 2021
BRIEF
2020 - 2021 I attended college at IVC and enrolled in their art program for digital media arts. During my time there I took several studio art and digital art classes - one of those classes being the fundamentals of drawing. In this class we learned how gradients worked, how to draw realistic shapes and 3d objects, as well as portions and perspective.
For our final we were given the task to draw a portrait of anyone we wanted - for my final I choose to draw Pablo Picasso.
THE FUNDAMENTALS
FIRST AND FOREMOST - I WAS VERY INTIMATED BY THIS PROJECT BECAUSE IT WAS MUCH MORE ELEVATED AND COMMANDED DRAWING SKILLS I HAD YET TO FULLY BE CONFIDENT WITH.
LET’S START WHERE I WAS FUNDAMENTALLY AT WITH MY SKILLS IN THE CLASS BEFORE APPROACHING MY FINAL…
IN THE FIRST FEW WEEKS WE LEARNED HOW TO USE OUR DRAWING TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS. AND MORE IN PARTICULAR WE LEARNED THE DIFFERENT HARDNESS/COMPACT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EACH GRADE OF GRAPHITE PENCIL.
AS YOU CAN SEE HERE WE MADE OUR OWN GRADIENT SCALES SOLELY USING OUR DRAWING PENCILS.
AFTER LEARNING GRADIENTS WE MOVED ON TO PERSPECTIVE AND SCALE WITH BASIC SHAPES.
AFTER A FEW WEEKS MY SKILLS OF PERSPECTIVE AND LIGHTING/SHADING PROGRESSED AND BECAME MORE REFINED.
REAL LIFE
ONCE LEARNING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF DRAWING AND HOW TO CREATE PERSPECTIVE AND SCALE WE LEARNED HOW TO DRAW REALISTIC SCENES AND OBJECTS.
IN THIS DRAWING YOU CAN SEE THE PROGRESS FROM THE PREVIOUS OF REALISTIC DETAIL AND ASPECTS - SUCH AS THE LIGHT REFLECTING THROUGH THE GLASSES AND DRAPERY
AS CONTROVERSIAL AS PABLO PICASSO IS AND WAS, I DO ADORE HIS WORK.
I HAD FELT LIKE IT WAS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO CAPTURE AN ICONIC PERSON AND CHALLENGE MY SKILLS LEARNED IN THE SEMESTER.
ORGINAL IMAGE
STARTING OFF OUR PROFESSOR SUGGESTED THAT DIVIDING OUR PHOTOS INTO GRIDS AND SCALING THEM WOULD HELP IN THE PROCESS. SHE ALSO HAD ME MAKE THE PHOTO BLACK & WHITE TO HELP IDENTIFY WITH DIFFERENT SHAPES AND VALUES.
Starting off - I sketched out the shapes and outlined the face to start to lay down the base structure.
I did this by using the grid method to help draw accurate proportions and scale of the face.
As you can see with the photo on the right, I used pieces of paper to help my eye focus on each square of the gird.
Once I had my base shapes sketched - I then moved on the shape shading. For this it was easier to divide each shadow/highlight into shapes vs highs and lows.
At this point in the process I was shocked at how the drawing started to look back at me. As well as my ability to take my drawing to this level. I was simply in disbelief that I drew this.
But in retrospect realizing that taking the piece in baby steps and smaller sections in detail created a very refined and rendered piece.
If you look closely you can see that on his nose there was a mistake of over blending. It was unfortunately due to the paper weight being too light and my blending.
One of the most challenging parts of the face was the facial expression that he posses in the photo. He had a beautiful smirk and engaging gaze that was somewhat seductive but also inviting. To capture this in the drawing was a practice of rendering and tweaking small details of the face.
Then moving on to the rendering of the hand, this I approached in the same way with shape blocking and taking the portions grid by grid.
Then followed with shade blocking and creating the highs and lows in the hand.
After a good base rendering of the hand, I move on to the drapery of the shirt which was a bit more challenging because of where the shirt meets the face and hand.
At this point in my process I stopped using the grid method and started to look at the scale of the photos in full and the portions of everything in relationship to itself. Such as the hand to the head and the collar to the ear proportions.
As I started to do this the drapery stared to come alive as well, repeating the same highlight and shadows method to create its peaks and valleys.
After rendering the second hand further, Unfortunately for my Final this was my finished rendered piece - it is still a work in progress and is to date my favorite piece I have ever hand drawn.
Its realistic presence captivates any one who gazes upon it and feels like a living breathing thing in every room it sits in.
It reminds me more of just Pablo Picasso - it reminds me to trust in my ability and that sometimes the best discoveries come from simply trying.
