To craft interesting fluid portraits that breathe life you must appreciate the effect of the spine on the head and shoulders.
To produce a relaxed feeling in your portraits quite often you will need to sketch the head tilted. Most people when they are at ease will pose with their head slightly slanted. In this article we will point out what to look for and how to tackle the slanted skull.
In the tilted skull view the subject will show a clear change of direction from the action of the torso to the slant of the skull. Also take note of where the shoulders are. The model’s shoulders will almost be aligned with the base of the nose.
With this information in mind, the first step is to measure the angle of the skull’s tilt (from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head) before drawing the arabesque. To do this hold 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 slant. Keeping your arm straight and locked you can now transpose this angle onto the drawing.
Now that the angle of the slant is established you can strike the arabesque and validate the height/width proportion.
The axis of the features is vertical to the tilted facial angle. A common tendency while rendering is to straighten out the features so that they are horizontal to the paper. Be aware of this and ever on-guard because this tendency is delicate and is constantly trying to sneak into the drawing.
It is not a recommended practice to situate all of the features at this stage. It is actually more correct to first fix the brow line and the base of the nose and work from there.
When the skull is tilted you should also be conscious of the effect that gravity has on the face. The skin, in particular on the underside of the jaw, will be slightly pulled down. This effect is quite fine but for those of you who are expert portraitists you should catch this in your original arabesque. If you are a novice just put this information away for future reference.
Take note, also, of the neck. The important visible neck muscle is extended. Its companion is compressed. This opposite muscle action is referred to as abduction/adduction. This action of the neck always renders a striking effect.
Once the arabesque is placed and you are satisfied with its accuracy relative to size and shape you can draw the features and hatch-in the chief big darks and lights. Keep the value simple. The more complex the lighting arrangement, the more this applies.
The tonal arrangements are worked further, but are still a bit crude and unresolved. The main concern is the overall light effect.
There are a few things to keep in mind as you prepare to finalize the sketch:
1. Determine how far you should carry the drawing. 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 tendency 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 photograph.
In closing, the tilted head 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 head should be carefully observed.
Do you want to learn the secrets of pencil portrait sketching? Download my brand new free pencil portrait drawing course here: portrait drawing tutorial.
Remi Engels is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter and skilled sketching teacher. See his work at pencil portraits.
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