Article Pool

Free Article Directory!

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

Tips on Pencil Portrait Rendering - The Slanted Head Pose

Published by Remi | January 16th 2009 | Views:

Loading

|

To create interesting fluid portraits that breathe life you must appreciate the effect of the spine on the skull and shoulders.

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

In the slanted skull pose the model will show a clear change of bearing from the action of the torso to the tilt of the skull. Also take note of where the shoulders are. The model's shoulders will almost 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 sketching the construct. To do this hold up 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 tilt. 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 draw the construct and verify the height/width proportion.

The axis of the features is vertical to the tilted facial angle. A common trend while rendering is to straighten out the features so that they are horizontal to the paper. Be on the lookout for this and ever on-guard because this trend isulled down. This effect is quite fine but for those of you who are advanced portraitists you should capture this in your initial construct. If you are a beginner just file this information away for future reference.

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

Once the construct is positioned and you are satisfied with its accuracy relative to proportion and form you can draw the features and block-in the chief big darks and lights. Keep the value simple. The more complex the lighting arrangement, the more this applies.

The value arrangements are worked further, but are still somewhat crude and unresolved. The chief concern is the overall light effect.

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

1. Ask yourself how far you want to carry the sketch. You can get a real nice effect if you give the shoulders and upper torso an unresolved quality. Remember, sketches 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 photo.

In conclusion, the tilted skull pose is special in that the features will be centered on a tilted axis and that the tension in the shoulders will be different from one side to the other. Also the changeover from the torso and shoulders to the skull should be carefully inspected.
Rate this article:

Total Vote: 0, Rating: 0/5




Comments (0)
Post a Comment