portrait sketches - critique welcome

[retro002]

hi all,

as this is one of my favorite sections on this board an' i just scanned a couple images for web, i thought i gonna post em here for some crit. i did these at adult evening classes (thats what the translation prog called it, somehow doubt this is right english) in first semester this year; the new semester starts in a few weeks, so perhaps some of you could tell me what to do different/better...

http://free.pages.at/retro002/vhs_portrait_001.jpg
http://free.pages.at/retro002/vhs_portrait_002.jpg
http://free.pages.at/retro002/vhs_portrait_003.jpg
http://free.pages.at/retro002/vhs_portrait_004.jpg
http://free.pages.at/retro002/vhs_portrait_005.jpg
http://free.pages.at/retro002/vhs_portrait_006.jpg

thanks,

sven

[littlejohn]

I really like these. The line work is nice and engergetic - especially in the last one.

No real critique. Maybe try some tone this semester?

[rubygenesis]

yes i agree, time for some good'ol fashion rendering! :)

[Dave Seeley]

Nice line quality....but I'd try to get some variation in the line itself. Use a softer pencil....I like the berol drafting 314 pencil. You can get a very dark line and it can be thin or thick with pressure and tilt. Play with using the lighter line to lay down some benchmarks and then laying more dominant lines in on areas you become more sure of.

[Jason Manley]

they are not bad ...a couple are great starts...I think more time could be spent inside the lines...larger masses of value to define forms...and a bit more time spent feeling what the model is feeling and trying to instill that projection into the drawing through your marks...the spark behind the eyes ya know.

look at rembrandts portraits...look at michealangelos drawings...look especially at the drawings of raphael and see how he creates forms...spaces....depth.


:)

j

[MolvaDo]

for a first semester student these have a lot of potential. A few things you can work on to get the drawings to pop would be using a draw through technique, looking at the model in three dimension and simply take the basic shapes and align them properly and add detail on to that. Don't erase leave yoour under drawing there. Try not to erase ever! Another thing is try working volumetrics into the piece with well places highlights and shadows. One last thing is your line quality is good, line varity is good, ungulation gives a lot a charater and depth to a drawing.