In the last post of this series, I’d set up the easel (and then drivelled on at some length as usual),put in my central line and madethe first few marks, establishing the main points of the head along the centre line. Now I can start to establish the size andoverall shape of the head.
The first stage in this process is to find the overall width, marking the sides of the head in relation to the centreline. I do this by eye initially and I think it’s good practice to do so. Judging as much as you can by eye from this point onhelps to stretch yourability to judge distances accurately. Once the mark is made, you can always double check and adjust accordingly.
The next picture shows the first attempt at placing the furthest left line of the head. This is judged in relation to thecentre line:
All I’m interested in here is getting the distance of that line from the centre line. I’ve taken the side of the head oppositethe point on the centre line where the corner of the eye crosses it. This is the furthest part of the head from the centre lineon this side.
Now I’m starting to draw, it’s worth saying something about my position in relation to the easel and use of the pencil. Ingeneral, I think it’s important to stand as far back as you can from the drawing, especially at this stage. The farther back you are, theeasier it is to judge distances and also to guage the overall effect. I’m standing with my arm out in front of me, relaxed butalmost fully extended.
In the beginning stages I generally use a light, hard pencil. This is a 3H graphite pencil, sharpened to a fine point witha knife and sand paper. I hold the pencil towardsthe opposite end of the business end, which allows for much more freedom. It also enables lighter drawing, with only the lightestpressure on the paper. Drawing from the wrist like this makes it much easier to make consistent lines. If I need a bit morestability I rest my hand lightly on the drawing board. Another advantage of this is that your hand obscures as little of thepaper as possible.
With the left-most width established, next I need to find the right most point of the head. In this drawing, I’ve decided tostart by finding the distance from thecentre line to the point where her hair meets her ear, the right most part of the cheek-bone. Ordinarily, I’d try to establish theouter outline first, but in this drawing the outline of the head often vanishes into shadow. The outline of the face is more clearly statedso will be easier to judge.
To illustrate the Harold Speed ‘scaffolding’ approach more clearly, I’m going to start by finding the height of that pointin relation to the corner of the eye on the centre line. This is quite a small distance to estimate, and therefore easier,and by relating this new point to what I already have I’ll be able to get it much more easily and more accurately. The importance of havingthose first three points placed accurately should be becoming clearer now. If the position of the corner of the eye was wrong, so would thisnew point be. First, on theoriginal drawing, I draw a horizontal line from the point I’ve chosen to the centre line:
Already I think you can see the advantage of this scaffolding approach. I’m trying to think only in terms of two dimensions atthis point in the drawing, just trying to make sure my judgements of the distances between points, and the shapes that they create,are as accurate as possible.
Looking at the drawing now, I can clearly see the triangle formed by the centre line, the horizontal line I’ve just drawn in, andthe line of her hair down her forehead on the right. Already it’s becoming easier to see the drawing in two dimensions,as a collection of shapes rather than as a head. The accuracy of my block-in will be helped considerably by this.
What I’m doing here, by drawing in the horizontal line, is breaking a complex judgement of distance and shape into smaller, moremanageable parts. The horizontal line has given me the height of the point I’m looking for in relation to the points I’ve alreadyplaced. The next job is to place a similar line on my drawing:
Now I’ve established the height of that point, I need to find the distance from the centre line. Having a horizontal line to sightalong will make that job much easier. As before, I’ll do it first by eye and then check my accuracy. Were this a portrait of a live model,I could use much the same process, except of course that I’d have to either imagine that horizontal line or hold out my pencil in frontof me to recreate it.
Certainly, it’s much easier to do it like this, copying a flat subject like a drawing. But the principle isthe same and this is a good way, I think, to establish the basic skill. The best way to learn any skill is to practice it repeatedly.Simple right? Everybody knows that. But there are very real reasons for it. As well as mapping the functions of the various areas of the brain,neuroscience has also found that repeatedly practicing somethingactually results in physical changes in areas of the brain. Pathways in the brain are formed by habit, and the more often they’retrod the wider and more easy to follow they become. Once established they’re tough to break. Ask any smoker. Ask me, I’m cutting down.As Aristotle said,“You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not an event, it is a habit.”
My own practice has certainly borne that out. The more I draw, the better I become at judging distances and shapes. There’s no great mystery aboutit, it just takes practice. These days we know more about why that is, especially in relation to the physical make-up of our brains. So if youhave trouble with something like judging distances and shapes, it might be an idea to set up a simple, repeatable exercise and do it for afew minutes every day. You’ll get better, simple as that.
Back to the drawing. The next couple of pictures should be fairly self explanatory. I’ve judged the distance by eye, checked it by measuring,realised I’ve got it wrong (too small) and had to adjust it accordingly:
I’m sighting along the bottom edge of the pencil here, lining it up with the horizontal line I drew, and marking the distance along itof the point I’m looking for with my thumbnail.
My first attempt, visible just underneath the pencil, is well short. Just as well I checked.
From Point to Shape
Now I need to start joining the dots to create the overall shape of the head. Since that triangular shape of the top right quarter of thehead has already jumped out at me as a strong shape, I’m going to start there.
First I establish the point at which Lady Spencer’s hair line crosses the centre line. A line has to start somewhere and it has toend somewhere. It’s much easier to reach your destination if you know where you’re headed. With that point in to guide me, I want toestablish the angle of the hair line.
A method I’ve found quite helpful in judging angles is to practice them first. Since I’m copying a flat drawing, I can practice rightover the drawing. Holding my pencil at the end, I practice going up and down the line on the drawing:
You can use this method when drawing from life too. Working sight size makes it particularly effective, since the line you’re about to drawis the same size as the stroke you’re practicing.
Our friend Aristotle’s advice is pertinent here too. I’m looking to get that stroke fixed in my mind before I go to put it on thepaper. Try it, I think you’ll find it makes a difference.
Once I think I’ve got the angle fixed in my brain, I transfer it to the drawing:
Establishing the main shape of the face is now largely a case of doing the same for the rest of the main lines which form it. Because I knowthat my initial points were fairly accurate, I can lay in the rest of the shape with a fair amount of confidence. After a little more work, I’vereached this stage:
So far so good. Now I want to build out from the face and finish the overall shape of the head. As I said earlier, I’ve chosento start by establishing theface and building outwards in this drawing because the edges of the head are quite vague, with the outline often disappearing intoshadow. That makes for a lovely drawing, but also makes it hard to find points to relate to. The face, however, being pale against adark background, has given me very clear points to work to and made the job of blocking in the main shapes much easier.
Next, I want to draw in the curve of the top of the head. As I’ve done thus far, I’ll be reducing the shapes to straight-ish lines,the kind of lines that my hand can make easily. Reducing curves to straight lines and angles makes them much easier to judge.
A line has to start somewhere and it has to end somewhere. It’s much easier to draw between two points than it is towing it. I’ve already got the top of the head where it crosses the centre line marked, it was the first point I marked. Looking along the lineof the top of the head to the right, the first clear point is the sharp point formed by her hat – or bonnet or whatever that is – before itcurves round to the back of her head.
Since I have more of the drawing established now, I don’t need to measure how far away that point is from the centre line. I can see that itlines up roughly vertically with the inside of her ear. I can check it with my pencil over the drawing, as above. In this picture, my pencilis mid-way between the inside of her ear and the point I’m looking for, drawing the vertical guide-line that connects them. Then Ireplicate it on the drawing:
With a combination of practicing the angle, finding the horizontal distance from the centre line, and double checking the height, I canestablish that point without much recourse to measuring. From here on, most parts of the drawing can be judged in relation to parts thatare already there. As long as the first points were fairly accurate, I shouldn’t go too far wrong. The drawing goes a lot faster at thisstage, after a fairly laborious start.
Here we are at the end of this stage. The overall shape of the head is laid in, and I think it’s pretty accurate. I’ve used thescaffolding approach again to find the bottom of the ear, and added a few more lines, where I can see them, to round out theshape. As I go on to the next stage I’ll need to make plenty of corrections, but this careful, slow start is going to make the next stages mucheasier and keep me from getting things too out of whack.
The next stage is where it starts to get more interesting as I start to think in three dimensions and build the forms. In some cases,literally.
This exercise is posted in four parts:
1. Setting up and establishing the main points
2. (this post) Judging Distances and Laying in the Main Shapes
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Hi Paul glad to see you’re still at it :-). I often sketch the figures out of the Bargue book – and I mean sketch 10-15 mins – using a similar method. I have my a4 sitting opposite the page I’m copying – on my lap – and mark off the major points such as neck, hip, knee pending the pose. I normally start at the head and work down using intermediate verticals and mainly angle (Tony Ryder talks about the clock face eg that’s a 3pm line etc..) and triangle relationships to get it down and I have to say with varying degrees of quality but it’s either that time wise or doing nothing so opt for the eye sight practice. I’ll usually have a stint of a few days in a row if I’m not painting. Getting the major distances sorted early definitely make the final thing hang together ie large to small is a great approach. Cheers Robert
Hi Robert, good to hear you’re still at it too! Thanks for popping in.
That sounds like great practice. I take it you mean the line figure drawings in part 3?
Most of my Sargent portrait copies have been done in a similar way, side by side on my lap, on the train on the way to work. I wanted to do this one a bit more in depth though.
>large to small is a great approach.
Agreed. I like the idea of the clock face for judging angles too, I haven’t heard that before.
Good to see you back Paul, I trust your absence from the web has not signified an absence from the easel, I need regular reminders of your dedication to prick my conscience!
Did you submit anything to Discerning Eye this year? I did, but didn’t trouble the scorers as Richie Benaud might say. Ho hum!
Welcome back Paul
I’m so glad to see your posts again, Paul – you are a wonderful writer and artist, so clear in your explanations and thoughtful in your approach. (By the way, I also think in terms of “three o’clock”, etc. as angle measurements. There’s that time/space continuum thing again… :))
Very happy you’re back!
Hi David, glad to hear you’re still at it too. I must admit I haven’t been finding much easel time lately. Starting a figure painting evening class this week though so it’ll be good to get access to a model. I’ll let you all know how it goes…
I didn’t go in for the discerning eye this year, probably will next year when I’l have had a bit more time to get some new work done.
Hi Nick, nice to see you again and thanks.
Hi Linda, always nice to hear from you here. I must remember to try that clock hands thing next time I’m drawing.
Great to see you too the other day. Hope your trip back was as pleasant as nine hours on a plane can ever be 🙂
Hi Paul
Yes indeed the line figure drawings. I keep testing with myself whether it’s worth doing them in this way when the point is to do loads of them accurately. Still I enjoy it, it does help keep my eye in and the fact that I’m working through them like your series idea keeps me on track to want to finish them! Albeit in spurts of effort. Which reminds me …. 🙂 Take care Robert
Hey Paul this is great.
I like the approach and it’s good to see that your working on drawing. I thought you disappeared.
Robert, I’m not so sure there is a correct way to do Bargue copies you know. You’re using them for a particular end, and personally I can’t see anything wrong in that.
I’ve gained a lot from trying to do Bargue plates as accurately as I can I think, but I don’t see why that should be the only way to use the raw material. We don’t really know how they were used in the 19th century either, whether absolute accuracy was the driving force or not, but they weren’t done sight size. I heard that from Graydon, who is an authority on this stuff after all.
Hi Jeff, nice to hear from you. Hope things are going ok for you. Yeah, I’m still working on stuff just not so much now. But like a bad penny I’ll keep turning up 🙂
I purchased the Bargue course based on this this website. I will go on record as saying it’s the single best book on drawing I own, and I have far too many. You are an inspiration. Thank you.
Thanks for the comment Pete. For a moment there I thought you were going to say ‘I bought the Bargue book based on your recommendation and it’s useless so I’m going to sue you.’ 🙂
I’m glad your experience of the Bargue book has reflected mine. Personally, I think the text that goes along with book is as useful – if not more so – than the wonderful plates. I learned sight size largely from that book, which I think says a lot for the clarity of the information contained within it.
I’ve been having an email conversation recently with someone who’s thinking of buying the book but is put off by the price tag. Like, you, I have a lot of books on drawing and painting and most of them would be more useful as palettes. I can understand that it seems expensive, it did to me when I bought it, but all art books are most definitely not created equal. Value page for page, only the Speed books outstrip it IMO and any representational painter’s library should have both.
Excellent post Paul, as always!
Thanks Ariel.
Sorry about the wait for part three – half done but just can’t seem to find the time to finish it!
Sorry, but what are the Speed books?
Life,as always has gotten in the way of my self-instruction in drawing and painting and I am just now checking in.
I found a Dover reprint of some Sargeant portraits and decided to have a look at your always compelling website as I intended to use them for master-copying, hoping you might have some tips. Luckily, my instincts were correct.
Hope Father Christmas was good to all.
Kindly,
Pete
Hi Pete.
The Speed books:
The Practice and Science of Drawing (ISBN-13: 978-0486228709) and Oil Painting techniques and Materials (ISBN-13: 978-0486255064) by Harold Speed. Two of the best how-to books I’ve found and my constant companions.
Life has been getting in the way for me too, and I still haven’t finished this series of posts. I’ll try to get part three done and up before I go back to work in the new year.
I use the same Dover book of Sargent portrait drawings and have learned a tremendous amount from copying them. I hope you will too.
Santa was very good to me and brought me Juliet Aristide’s ‘Classical Drawing Atelier’ book. Very nice. Hope he was good to you too 🙂
The Aristide books are as close as I will come to an atelier education,so I try to review them as often as my attentional defecit disorder (undiagnosed) will allow. These books are definitely on the perrenial “shipwrecked on an island” list. Thanks for being unflagging in your willingness to share.
Pete
I hope I am still on your list and didn’t miss the next segment!! Your work is great!
Hi Claudia-Marie,
Apologies for the protracted absence, work has been keeping me very busy and I haven’t had time to write any posts for the site.
I will be back eventually, I promise, but for now I’m just too busy dealing with life-stuff!
Paul
I’ve looked at your site on several occasions over the last year and find it a real inspiration. I was introduced to the Speed books through contact with LARA where I later did a summer school fortnight last year. The Aristides books are pretty good too – but rather more “coffee table” I feel! I really look forward to your future posts – but note that you seem to be pretty busy with the rest of your life. Kind regards,
Malcolm
http://www.malcolm-cudmore.com
Hi Malcolm,
I’m keen to get down to LARA as soon as I can, I want to sign up for the evening life drawing class but the scheduling is a challenge. How did you find it there?
Agree the Aristedes book is not so tuition based as the Speed books, not as useful perhaps in that regard, but I think there’s some really good info in there nonetheless.
cheers,
Paul
I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 weeks at LARA. All the tutors were very good and I feel I benefited greatly from the experience. As a competent painter/drawer – I was never really pushed during my time at art college doing an HND in Fine Art a few years ago. At LARA, I really had to work hard and really atarted to understand the sight-size method (everything there is based on it) which I’ve been doing intuitively (but not too accurately!) for some years. I hope to return for the summer school this year. I plan to add a post about the experience to my own website when time permits.
Malcolm
I stumbled upon this website about an hour ago. Lady Luck was gracious. I’m teaching myself to draw people and it’s very difficult without a constructive set of tasks and goals, not to mention general helpful information. I’ll be dwelling here. Most websites count their hits; this one should measure the length of each visit.
Cheers,
Eric
Hi Eric,
I think you’re right, one of the hardest things when we’re teaching ourselves – if not the hardest – is having a defined path to follow. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to this myself lately. It can make the difference between aimless floundering and real progress, I’m convinced. In fact, it’s one of the things I intend to make a major theme of what I write about here in the future, and I hope that some of it will be useful to you.
I think a lot of it comes down to being kind to yourself and trying to establish good, regular habits of practice. I used to beat myself up a lot by setting unachievable or unrealistic goals and then, well, not achieving them 🙂
These days I try to concentrate more on evolving a regular, achievable and enjoyable practice schedule. I think it makes a big difference to the rate at which we learn.
Thanks very much for popping in and leaving a comment, it’s always great to hear from people who’ve just found the site and have found something useful here.
Hello again, Paul,
You\’ve certainly gone a long, long way for a fella who\’s self-taught. If you could aim some articles at your fellow masochists I\’m sure they\’d be well received. Betty Edwards\’ book has been the greatest help for me. I think most other books on drawing are most helpful to people who don\’t really need them, people who draw easily. They\’re (the books) left-brain oriented.
Thanks Eric. I’m a fan of Betty Edwards’ book myself, I think it’s a fantastic introduction to some difficult basic concepts, like the picture plane for example. I love the simple, practical way she covers that.
I also think that there’s a lot of mileage in learning from neuroscience and using it’s insights into how the brain works to help us learn.
Although I think the emphasis on the right brain may be slightly overstated in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, it’s perhaps necessary since we seem to have developed a corresponding over-emphasis on left brained mental process in our own culture. I blame the Enlightenment. It’s all Descarte’s fault. 🙂
I’ve been looking into neuroplasticity lately, and I think there’s a huge amount for us to learn from what the last ten years or so of research there can tell us. The most positive bit of news is that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Our brains aren’t hard wired. We can develop and change them throughout our lives.
For reading on this, I’d recommend The Plastic Mind by Sharon Begley and The Art of Changing the Brain by James Zull. Neither are about art, but both provide fascinating insights into how our brains work.
“I think most other books on drawing are most helpful to people who don\’t really need them, people who draw easily.”
Hehe, good point. I think you’re right.
HiPaul, I’m not an advanced student by any means and I probably shouldn’t theorize beyond this point, but I think you have a point about the need for left brain participation. Betty Edwards’ book focuses on drawing what is seen and it doesn’t go into drawing from imagination. This is probably one of the great divides in artwork. I think imaginative drawing would need left brain input. But her book opens a back door. When you become good at making a deliberate shift to the right brain, you become able to use a vague visual vocabulary without making waves. “I need one of those over here…so big, turned this way…” Maybe this would begin to put the left brain to work in a subordinate role. A new world order, hah!
Hi Paul. I think Edwards’ book opens a back door to using left brain logic without making waves. The better you are at shifting to right brain and staying there, the more you can develop a visual vocabulary. A cube isn’t a “cube” it’s “one of those and I need it here turned this way…” It might be the beginning of a new way of left right co-operation.