Art Fun Cheap

By Artfang, guest blogger

To craft interesting fluid portraits that radiate life you must appreciate the effect of the spine on the head and shoulders.

To create a relaxed feeling in your portraits quite often you will need to sketch the head tilted. Most people when they are at ease will view with their head slightly tilted. In this article we will point out what to look for and how to tackle the tilted skull.

In the tilted skull view the model will show a clear change of direction from the action of the torso to the tilt of the skull. Also take note of where the shoulders are. The subject’s shoulders will approximately be aligned with the bottom of the nose.

With this information in mind, the first step is to gauge the angle of the skull’s tilt (from the bottom of the chin to the top of the skull) before drawing the arabesque. To do this hold your pencil (or a knitting needle) at arm’s length, closing one eye, and adjust the angle of the held pencil so that it relates to the angle of the slant. Keeping your arm straight and locked you can now transpose this angle onto the sketch.

Now that the angle of the tilt is established you can sketch the arabesque and validate the height/width proportion.

The axis of the features is perpendicular to the tilted facial angle. A common tendency while drawing is to straighten out the features so that they are horizontal to the paper. Be aware of this and ever on-guard because this tendency is delicate and is constantly trying to sneak into the drawing.

It is not a suggested practice to establish all of the features at this stage. It is actually more accurate to first fix the brow line and the base of the nose and work from there.

When the skull is tilted you should also be conscious of the effect that gravity has on the face. The flesh, particularly on the underside of the jaw, will be somewhat pulled down. This effect is quite subtle but for those of you who are expert portraitists you should catch this in your original arabesque. If you are a novice just put this information away for future reference.

Take note, also, of the neck. The relevant visible neck muscle is extended. Its companion is compressed. This opposite muscle action is referred to as abduction/adduction. This action of the neck always renders a striking effect.

Once the construct is located and you are satisfied with its accuracy relative to proportion and shape you can sketch in the features and block-in the chief big darks and lights. Keep the tone simple. The more complicated the lighting arrangement, the more this applies.

The tonal arrangements are worked further, but are still a bit crude and unresolved. The prime concern is the overall light effect.

There are a few things to keep in mind as you prepare to finalize the sketch:

1. Ask yourself how far you should carry the sketch. You can get a good effect if you give the shoulders and upper torso an unfinished quality. Remember, drawings are not meant to resemble photographs.

2. As you gain a better understanding of the facial structure the trend exists to render what you know rather than what is actually there. So make sure you always pause to observe the life model or the model in the photograph.

In conclusion, the slanted head view is special in that the features will be centered on a slanted axis and that the tension in the shoulders will be different from one side to the other. Also the transition from the torso and shoulders to the skull should be carefully inspected.

Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait sketching? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing tutorial here: pencil portrait tutorial.

Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and practiced sketching teacher. See his work at pencil portraits by Remi.

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