the
Drawing
Newsletter
March 2005
Michael R. Britton
Drawing from life is always better. Especially for learning.
Copying from a photograph is fraught with peril. Foremost is that
you are working from a two-dimensional reference. The other
problem with drawing from a photograph is that the camera  s
eye and the artist s eye  see things differently. The camera s
singular eye distorts and flattens, yet curiously when we look at
photographs we accept them as being accurate and true to life.
The essayist John Berger writes about this phenomenom indepth
in his book  About Looking . Yet when a photograph is copied
exactly and the resultant drawing viewed separately without the
photograph present the distortions are readily apparent.
But there are problems, too, inherent in drawing from life. These
problems are mostly within our mind s eye. When we look at
an object what we  see can dramatically conflict with what we
believe we are  seeing .
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Many times we simply refuse to believe that what we have just  sighted
and measured is true. Even after many years of drawing and painting
I still experience this phenomenom  but I have learned to  give it a
go . That is, I may believe that a certain measure just cannot be.  It s
illogical, my left-brain will be shouting. But I have to override my
misgivings and always, always that weird measure proves to be the
true one.
A case in point is this graphite drawing
of mine. I had the devil of a time cor-
rectly placing her eyes. I kept insisting
on placing them too high. The reason
for my doing so was that, for some
reason, I could not believe how short
the distance was from the top of her
alae nasi (wings of her nose) to the
medial canthus (the inside corner of
her eyes). The root of this problem
is my inherent symbolic preconception
of where the eyes should be. And this
issue of symbolic preconceptions is a
major factor is drawing difficulties.
Curiously, the placement of the sternal notch at the base of the neck
caused little problems. Probably because this model s sternal notch was
dramatically off-center. That is the way she is. A question to pose
is whether one should  correct the model s flaws. That is a matter of
aesthetics that you need to determine for yourself. I prefer the  flaws .
They give a more human quality to the work.
There is a third element to  seeing . Master artists, in particular, the
great Masters, often deliberately distort the proportions and gestural
movements in their drawings and paintings. A better term to use rather
than  distortion is  dynamic construction . The finest artists employ
dynamic construction to effect a poetic sense to their work through an
undulating rhythm of line and tone. Although their drawings look to be
out of proportion they are deliberately stretched and pulled.
This is a study by the French master
J.A.D. Ingres, Study for the Princesse de
Broglie, 1853. It is pencil on paper mea-
suring 11 3/4 x 6 1/2 . The figure is delib-
erately distorted placing much emphasis
on the standing hip.
The British painter Stanley Spen-
cer dynamically constructs an
exceedingly delicate and poetic
tone in this 1931 portrait drawing
of his wife Hilda. The where-
abouts of this exquisite drawing
is unknown. It may have per-
ished in the London blitz of
World War II or may be stored
and forgotten in an attic.
There is a difference between drawings that are dynamically constructed
and those that are merely poorly proportioned. Dynamically constructed
drawings possess a rhythmic power that fully engages the viewer.
The first step is to acquire the skills to draw realistically. Once one has
attained these skills then the greater issues of art-making can be explored.
The rewards are immense. Technical virtuousity alone does not produce
effective art. On the other hand, not having the requisite technical skills
severely limits an artist s growth.
How then does one begin to study portrait drawing? Using the methods
of skill development that I teach in the Mastering Portrait Drawing DVD
Workshop your best solution is to work from the skull. The skull plays a
major role in determining the likeness of your sitters. The muscles of the
face are thin and stretched over the skeletal structures. And, importantly,
too, you are working from life, not a flat, two-dimensional photograph.
I am not dismissing the practice of working from photographs  they
are an invaluable resource. Artists as diverse as Ingres, Degas, Eakins,
Sargent, etc. have worked extensively from photographs. I will discuss
the manifold possibilities of working from photographs in a later newslet-
ter.
Drawing the Skull  Part 2
This is the second part of Drawing the Skull. If you did not
receive Part 1, click here to download it.
Not a pretty picture.
This is what I call the  ugly
duckling phase. Using a
small 1/2 piece of vine char-
coal I roughly blocked-in the
primary dark values. The pri-
mary darks are best seen and
simplified by squinting down
and looking through your eye-
lashes as if you were looking
into the sun.
The vine charcoal is easily smudged down
and worked with both my index and little
fingers to better resolve the initial tone.
A kneaded eraser is used to clean-up and
paint out the lights. This gives me a better
idea of how to place the features.
The first feature to be placed is the Nasal
Aperture. (The base of the nose was estab-
lished earlier in Part 1.) The small, ledge-
like protuberance at the base of the nose is
called the Anterior Nasal Spine.
From the Anterior Nasal Spine you need
to take you best guess at where the apex of the Nasal Aperture is. The
brow ridge has already been established, therefore, your best solution is
to  feel your way down from the brow ridge through the length of the
bilateral nasal bones. This is drawing with a tactile sensibility  feeling
your way along the shortest distance of a form to succinctly place an
element. This skill takes time and diligence to acquire. And, yes, this is
taught in the Mastering Portrait Drawing DVD Workshop.
Using my plumb line I can now verify the horizontal relationship of the
nasal aperture s apex to the condyle. On the skull they are aligned. So,
too, should they be aligned on my drawing.
Now the zygomatic arch, external orbital apophysis and eye socket can be
sketched in. Again, you want to draw with a tactile sensibility  feeling
your way across the form. An excellent way to develop your tactile sense
of form is to close your eyes and run you fingers lightly over the skeletal
features. Uttering the anatomical terms as you  feel them, like a Buddhist
mantra, will train your sub-conscious mind. This training will be reflected
in your drawing.
Once the initial structures
are correctly placed and pro-
portioned everything, well,
almost everything, else will
fall into place. Just like a
jig-saw puzzle, it is simply
a matter of fitting in the
pieces. What I ve done here
is fit in the zygomatic process
(the frontal part of the cheek
bone) and my first placing
of the alveolar process (gum
line will suffice) and maxilla.
It is never a good idea to
remain focused on just one
element. Discipline yourself
to stop and move onto some-
thing else. Everything should
develop equally. You do not
want to find yourself in the
position of having drawn the
finest ear, for example, in the
history of art, but finding that
it is too large and in the
wrong place!
At this juncture I ve added
the superior temporal line
that runs along the upper side
of the skull and have cor-
rected the arabesque.
Now comes the matter of the teeth and the lower jaw. Drawing teeth
require some discussion and are best focused on separately. The April
issue of the Drawing Newsletter will feature the teeth.