One would think being a landscape artist, I wouldn't care much about the human form. Truth is, I enjoy drawing and painting the human form a lot. The main reason I draw people is to keep my drawing skills honed. While drawing trees and the landscape I still must be accurate, but if I move a branch up a few inches, who will notice? Now if I move a nose up a few inches, well everyone will say I can't draw.I began this exercise of drawing eyes when one day I was drawing a person and realized I was struggling with the eyes. The only way I know to get better at something is to consistently do it. You know the adage, "Practice makes improvements." So I set out to draw and study eyes. Above is a montage of some of those sketches. (While all these are the eyes of women, I did male eyes too, and differing ages. I will post them at some point, I'm sure.)
Sometimes I would just draw the eyes, other times I would anchor them to the nose and cheek structures. Other times, I found myself intending to just draw the eyes, but not being able to stop and winding up drawing the whole face. One of the things I was trying to find out as I was drawing was just how much shading was needed, especially around the nose area. Sometimes there is a distinct line for a nose, but other times I found I didn't need that at all. The rule of thumb is that when drawing eyes and the nose line (especially on a woman) if the angle of the face is over 2/3rds a line for the nose should be drawn, if it is less than that it isn't necessarily needed. Of course, it is strictly up to the artist to determine how much detail he/she wishes to put into the sketch or drawing. It is worth experimenting with, though. I often think it's what we leave out that's just as important as what we put in the work. Like rests in music.
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2 comments:
My difficulties drawing the eyes were what caused me to get poor grades in figure drawing and the main reason I have continued to shy away from the figure since.
Being a landscape painter, I often struggle with the human form, too. Luckily I drew it a lot growing up copying comic book and Frank Frazetta images, and had over two years of life drawing at the American Academy of Art. It helps to have a good teacher who can explain how to draw what you are seeing. That and lots of practice. I just posted a blog about repetition. The more you do it the better you get.
Remember, too, that what you see from an artist is what he/she considers a successful piece, not a failure. We only like to show our best work, but we all have been through the failed pieces.
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