50 min portrait painting.
© 2019 Polyvios Animations
Goal: Sketch in the facial muscles precisely without any underdrawing.
Here is a portrait (my latest one) all painted out in watercolors. I got all my gestures of my facial muscles exactly without any underdrawing, I think. So, what do you think? Do you think I did an exceptional job, or could it be better?
Done as part of a 3 hour class.
Firstly, (not exactly a critique, but more of a tip) your goal is "Sketch in the facial muscles precisely without any underdrawing", and for this purpose, I think you should take a few more things into consideration. One is using a model with less facial hair so you can discern the facial msucles better. Also, it might be better, especially using water colours, to use a larger paper with more focus on the face than the shoulders.
Watercolour is a tricky medium for figure drawing, especially without an underdrawing. While the overall image seems relatively appealing, there are points that could have ben refined with a little more attention and time.
Three hours is honestly not enough for watercolours, if you consider how much of it is spent waiting for a layer to dry before painting over it! That is how smudges (as seen near the nose and neck) could be avoided, and how you can get crisp neat lines. A finer brush for those details would be better as well.
I appreciate your attempts at incorporating shadows and highlights, but there is potential for further improvement.
Here's a tutorial that I have found helpful:
Thanks for the tutorial. I found it so helpful. so, if you think 3 hours isn't long enough, how about a 6 hour class? Already did an hour 50 drawing of a grotesque caricature in mixed media, in graphite, crayon, white paint marker and colored pencils.( with some watercolor).
Next time, I'll try a slightly larger paper, and yes, I'll try a finer brush for the details (or a finer dip pen in white acrylic).
Thank you,
Polyvios Animations.