All you need is a mirror.
After my session with Jac painting faces from John Deakin portraits, things have been moving along relatively well. Yet even with some knowledge of facial anatomy and the use of the photographic portraits as a starting point it is undeniable that drawing from life helps with understanding volume and planes.
I’ve been listening to John Dalton’s, ‘Gently Does It’ podcasts, he interviews established artists and talks about many things, well worth listening if you’re keen https://www.johndalton.me/podcasts/ . Many of the artists talk about their studios, some with ideal natural light or complex lighting arrangements and the multiple artist models they employ, allowing them to paint from life. Well that’s just lovely, but not so achievable in Splott, Cardiff as an unknown artist on a tight budget.
Jac tells me to to get the mirror out of the loo and draw myself whilst focusing on tonal variations and facial structures as my next tuition session will involve painting self-portraits. That’s it, problem solved, an artist model I don’t need to pay that walks into the studio at precisely the same time as me and doesn’t get bored. I thought most artists painted self-portraits for reasons of concept, vanity, a demonstration of skill or a marker of time passing. I’m somewhat embarrassed for not realising the convenience and cheapness of this arrangement.
I have now drawn my first ever 5 self-portraits in charcoal and sanguine, with each one I improve my understanding.
Well that’s not entirely true as I don’t think there is a consistent correlation between increasing my understanding and my work improving. It seems that I can produce some good and then come out with a shockingly bad distorted face that bears resemblance to a flounder whose face migrates to one side of its head. These learnings obviously haven’t migrated into my subconscious yet. The similarities are astounding!
