female portrait techniques

[::EPIC::]

This is directed mostly to fredflickstone, since he comes up with some of the most kickass tutorials in here. Your work has really brought me back out of a huge rut in my art.

Now for my questions, basically i would really like it if you could post up a drawing tutorial for female head drawings low and highcontrast values in 3/4 or frontal views.

In the past ive gone on sight alone and the method dosn't allow me to learn anything, since a females features are so subtle in need a better way to capture them and i haven't learned the proper steps to do this. I dunno if Im describing the meaning right but, I find i loose alot of the female form when i try to deal with the proportions in 'blocks'. I know it can work for the overall shape of the female head but when it comes down to the facial features most of my sketches almost always come out like a man's or female in the least but the features are always strong like a female bodybuilder :)

On another note I haven't been able to come accross greater description of "abstractions, plumb lines, and eye units" or how to put them in proper use. I'm sure they are very important so i want to put them into practice asap. If you have time could you describe or link me to the info...

Thanks man!

[talmir]

my main problem with female portraits is that they always come out looking a bit old. That is because to truly capture female looks in a drawing you need to be minimalistic.. think about ways to suggest facial features without drawing the wrinkles.. for the female form minimalism is the key... hmm.. hard to explain.

[Main Loop]

well im no fredflickstone, but i might be able to help some.. ill throw in some things ive observed:

One thing about female facial forms is the curves and bones are more rounded than a male's.. certain angles differ fundamentally.. the slope of a male forehead in profile tends to lean more to the side whereas a female's is vertical.. brows come out further in a male skull.. the part of a skull over the ear sticks out more than the cheeks in a male, and for females the opposite is true.. male jawbones are more square than females..

one key to drawing from life is to be really observant.. for a portrait, capturing the likeness is key, and while the "block" method is good for gesture drawing and placement of characters in layouts/storyboards etc, the over-simplification makes it utterly useless for portraiture.. you want a real good likeness? get the angles right! measure, remeasure, and when you think u got it, measure again.. judge the relationship of all the parts of features to others as you put them down.. plumb lines are good because they show you exactly how things measure up to eachother vertically.. for every other degree of measurement use a straight line like your drawing pencil to connect features.. ill explain how to do that if you're not sure what i mean..

[::EPIC::]

http://www.rev-art.com/lemenimages/p4h.jpg

Are your trying to say that plumb lines are the general relationships between features on the layout. Such as above with the 1/3 rule and use centering techniques to make things line up?

http://www.rev-art.com/lemenimages/hh4.jpg

side profile of plumb lines?

If i have that correct what about abstractions?


Talmir: I understand what your saying it's just that i feel the need to fill in the details that my eye can pick up, cause if i don't she looks like a ghost :)

[tinyhands]

Epic: As a student of freds for a number of years now, maybe i can help. Plumb lines are when you drop straight verticals from one point to another to see where things line up. Their a basic tool for measuring. As far as abstractions go, we have an abstraction for the head based of the reilly method. But fred doesn't really push it because if you use it your head drawings tend to come out generic, and he's a stickler for trying to get a good likeness. What it basically amounts to, is using rythms based on the anatomy of the face to help lock things together and maintain good symetry throughout the head. Just remember to draw through and tie things together on both sides and that should work out for you. But also go track down his other tutorials and study them alot. They help a great deal. Hope that helps, if even a little.

-tiny

[::EPIC::]

thanks tiny, and yes your descriptions do help. I've got a better understanding just got keep at it :)

[AnarchyAo2]

If your drawing a picture from reference then why do you need a tutorial to tell you where lines go?

[::EPIC::]

If your drawing a picture from reference then why do you need a tutorial to tell you where lines go?

That wasn't the whole point to the discussion, i was more interested in a drawing process since the female head is disproportionate to a man's.

[AnarchyAo2]

Ah i see.