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| 7/10/15 ink |
I think a lot of sketchers shy away from people as subject
matter because they believe that capturing resemblance accurately in the human
face is too difficult. Indeed, it’s very challenging, and it’s hard not to
think about attempting likeness. I think about it, too, of course, and I’m
thrilled when a viewer tells me they see a resemblance in someone I’ve
sketched.
My goal when I practice sketching people, though, is to
capture not so much a resemblance as posture, mood and that difficult-to-define
thing called essence. For lack of a
better definition, I’d say that the essence of a person is the thing that makes
them an individual and not a generic human. Even basic characteristics like age
or race help to make him or her a specific person I saw at a specific time or
place – not just anyone.
The other day on my bus ride downtown, this person (at right) sat
slightly in front of and to my right, so I got the always-difficult
three-quarter view (I don’t know why this view is so much harder than a profile
or even a full-frontal face, but it is). Can you identify his age range and
race from my sketch? (Answer will appear later in this post.)
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| 7/13/15 inks, colored pencil |
It’s been months since I’ve done any life drawing or even
coffee-shop sketching; this morning at Zoka Coffee, I felt rusty. With my first
sketch of two young women deep in conversation (at left), I attempted to capture their
postures and body language without thinking much about resemblance, though I’d
be pleased if you can at least tell they are young.
In the sketches below, the man sketched alone (and doing
something strange with his thumb) is the same man as the one on the left
playing go with the guy in the
baseball cap. In the first sketch, I got his age all wrong: he looks a lot
younger than he really is. Later when he put on glasses, it helped a little,
but I think I got his hairline more accurately, so he looks closer to his
actual age. Again, I doubt his wife would recognize him. J But I’m happy if I get the age of a person in the right range.
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| 7/13/15 ink |
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| 7/13/15 ink |
How about this last sketch of the morning – the man and
woman in stuffed chairs (below)? The bald guy is kind of a giveaway, huh? J
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| 7/13/15 inks, colored pencil |
Here’s the answer about the man on the bus: He was in his
30s and Asian. How’d I do?
I guessed 20s and Asian, so darn close -- good job! Amazing how much can be conveyed with a few well-considered strokes.
ReplyDeleteYou did great. I thought he was Japanese but as for age, I can't guess that even when I'm looking at the real thing :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree, you did great! Your work has just taken a quantum leap in the past few months. Way to go, Tina!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Alex, Larry and Michele!
ReplyDeleteGood sketches! I think you did capture the essence of the people...you are not doing portraits so it is fine if they may not be recognized by their spouses...but they should recognize their postures anyway. Keep going!
ReplyDelete