Portrait pose by two members

Richard Squire returned to the club to talk about and demonstrate his method of portrait drawing.
He explained that he bases his portraits on careful observation of the subject and not rule of thumb ideas of face proportions.
As with life drawing, the first thing to establish is the overall shape of the head by lightly drawing the outline, checking and correcting.

He suggested that members establish a vertical reference line and lightly mark the angles of the hairline, eyeline, ears, nose. Then observe the face symmetry and lightly mark the position of key features.

After careful comparison of the layout against the model, members could start drawing in their own style, paying particular attention to the shape of the subject’s actual eyes, nose, mouth and ears. The position of the pupils is particularly important as eyes can vary.

Richard mentioned that he draws in tones rather than in lines. Mouths are mostly areas rather than lines. He adds colour tones where appropriate and white as highlights.

Members’ Portraits in progress

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