Article Pool

Free Article Directory!

• Home
• Submit Article
• Recent Articles
• Top Authors
• Top Articles
• Article Distribution Service
• Article Writing

Tips on Pencil Portrait Sketching - The Trouble with Seeing

Published by Remi | January 7th 2009 | Views:

Loading

|

For untrained artists the problem with seeing lies in the conflict that exists between the actual visual reality of an item
and the way the mind attempts to represent our perception of this reality on the drawing paper. This attempt always involves the propensity to draw our iconic preconception instead of the actual reality.

Iconic preconceptions are part of a subconscious visual lingo that uses symbols to represent known entities. This lingo of symbols evolved as a mechanism to help us survive as a species. These symbols help us, for example, to instantly recognize food sources or treacherous predators.

When we note an unknown item our subconscious mind instantantly tries to form a new symbol to represent and store the item in memory. Often beginning artists will more accurately sketch unknown entities than familiar ones because they are not yet wedded to the new symbols.

However, when they attempt to sketch the same item a second time, it is likely that a more iconic image will emerge because ready to use symbols have already been stored in the mind.

Consider, for example, the word "head". Immediately an image comes to mind which is iconic for the head. Unfortunately, this symbol is only a schematic image of a head and is invariably a gross simplification of a real head. Nevertheless, there is a strong subconscious pull to draw the schematic instead of what we actually see.

It is this confsrupted. We will be forced to draw without our schematics. The result will be a purer drawing experience free from a contaminated observation.

As you sketch the lines and hatch-in the tones you will feel quite awkward in your drawing. This is a good thing. Do not be concerned with the quality of your drawing. This is an exercise in seeing.

When working with line and tone this way, beginning artists often get better outcomes than from the right-side up way. Trust yourself and throughout the exercise only look at your paper picture in the upside-down position even though it may feel quite uncomfortable.

You will learn to see and sketch tone as forms and will be able to break down hard edges into short, straight lines instead of the usual schematics your mind will give to the nose, the ears, etc.

Thinking of and naming perceived entities will lead you down the garden path of oval shaped eyes, two holes for nostrils, a cluster of lines for hair, cauliflower ears and something that looks like the letter M sitting on a bowl for a mouth instead of what is actually there.

Artists will never be free of schematic predeterminations|fixations. The schematics actually change and become more refined. It is only by constantly analyzing and abstracting shape that we are able to sketch realistically.
Rate this article:

Total Vote: 0, Rating: 0/5




Comments (0)
Post a Comment