The self portrait

This section asked for 5 sketches of my face from different angles. I'm always surprised when I first draw someone I know well, how ignorant I am of their features. Drawing a portrait makes you really look at someones face, like you have never looked before. This is also true when doing a self portrait. I guess most people don't scrutinise every single lump and bump normally so when you have to draw yourself it's actually quite interesting.

Then I was asked to draw 5 more sketches of the head only focusing on the shape of the head. When I actually spent a lot of time looking at the measurements of my face I got a much better likeness (bottom left).

After that do some sketches of the neck only which I initially thought was a strange request and I didn't think I would be able to draw a neck and make it look like a neck. In the end it was fine though.

The next task was to do 2 self portraits using a different medium and position for each.
I found that by the end of this section I was getting a pretty good likeness and it was much easier to do that on a larger scale but I struggled more with the likeness when drawing face sideon. I was pleased with the pencil drawing. This one looks like me the most but the eyes are a bit starey!

A3 Charcoal

A2 Pencil

Check and Log

1. Could you see the head and face as overall basic shapes? Yes once you looked closely you could see all the lumps and bumps which make the drawing a good likeness but overall the basic shapes are there first.

2. Does the head and face look solid and convincing in your drawing. Some more than others. I think in most of them they look solid due to shading and highlights.

3. Are there any assymetrical lines and angles on your face? Obviously the symmetry is lost when side on which is maybe why I struggled more with these ones. Overall I didn't notice much asymmetry when straight on which indicates I've not been totally perfect because noones face is symmetrical.I don't think I was looking for symmetry when I was drawing though. Because of shadows each side of the face is totally different from the other so I tended to focus on each individual part on its own.

4. Did you have any difficulty putting in the shadows? Yes I did have some difficulties getting the different tones correct and I think these subtle changes across the face are what gives a likeness. I found the most difficult part was getting the nose right when side on.I always have to sit back and look at the drawing and then make the darkest tones darker.

5. Did you readjust the size if the head? Yes I had to readjust the size of the face a lot because I would make the features too small. The forehead was always higher than I thought it would be.