brigsis

Doug, try using the lower diaginal left pink petal for places such as cheeks or the chin, I haven't tried it myself but Ive seen other people do it and it looks great!

lilalee

When I took painting classes years ago, we were told to turn objects upside down! It worked great! Except now I don't do that, and as you can see by my ugly faces don't look pretty at all. Another fun thing to do, is have someone put a object (exp. a small tool, something setting around the house) in a small paper bag, without you knowing what it is. Then you have to draw what you feel with your hand in the bag. Can't look either!!

Doug

Thanks! I'll have to digest that, but I'll give it a whirl.

Qsilv

Doug -- I know the feeling. My "On a good day..." was a try at getting past the flat pink skin stuff.

The classic problem with faces is that they're so important to us, so we tend to draw what we expect, rather than what we're really seeing... symbols rather than representations of the 2-D axis... and we assemble collage-like pixel bits with a similar skew.

I sound like a broken record here, but it's really all about seeing, both in details and in keeping track of the whole.

Just a suggestion... try finding a few images of faces that interest you, turn the pix upside down, and draw EXACTLY what you see there.

; >

LadyO

In art schools, copying famous paintings is encouraged. Have you ever been to a museum and see people sketching away? It's a great way to learn techniques.

Although, I have to say that when I log on to draw, I purposely don't look at the gallery so I won't be influenced.