After I learned contour drawing, it took me years before I got up the nerve to apply it to portraits, and it took me a long time to get it down to a process through which I could get a recognizable likeness. I still sometimes err on the side of a too-long nose or face, and the angle can occasionally defeat me; but the process I have evolved, of starting with the eyes and moving downward and then outward has become increasingly reliable, and I have enjoyed creating a sharply defined face to which I can add seductive color.
Today, however, I watched one of my idols when it comes to urban sketching and architecture, Milind Mulick, start with a fast and sketchy face made up of planes and geometric shapes (it took him less than 5 minutes to draw it) and achieve a painting that was accurate to the reference photo and yet more. As Milind put it, he wants to make a good painting first, before it's a good portrait. So I decided to try it for myself.
I have never painted in this way, and I will be the first to admit that my drawing (and my painting!) took a little longer than his, and that some of the nuances of light and shadow escaped me, especially because I followed his example and used a large brush with a giant capacity to hold water and paint, and things quickly got messy. But despite the failure to save some of the lights and whites, I ended up fairly chuffed with my result. Milind himself used a gel pen to capture the scruffy white hairs of this guy's beard and mustache, so I didn't feel guilty for doing likewise. Other than that small indiscretion, the portrait came out spontaneous, painterly, and even resembling the subject, despite a few moments of panic midstream that I had totally lost control and might as well throw it out!
Here is "Man in Turban"—Pencil, Paul Jackson watercolors, Signo white gel pen, on Fluid 140-lb. coldpress watercolor paper, 9x12 inches.
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