X-02 ADVANCED: FANTASY & FUN pot

Brenda Hoddinott X-02 ADVANCED: FANTASY & FUN This project explores the process of drawing a caricature from a photo, by utilizing a complex grid. The average drawing time on this type of project generally runs between 20 to 40 hours. To give you an idea of the time I spent on each aspect, I included a brief drawing journal. This lesson is divided into the following six sections:  SKETCHING WITH HELP FROM A GRID: You lightly sketch the outline of the subject by utilizing a complex grid to establish the placements of various components.  OUTLINING AND SHADING STRANDS OF CARTOON HAIR: You outline the subject’s hair with thin lines, and then add shading according to a dominant light source from the upper right.  FOREHEAD, EYEBROWS AND EYES: Crosshatching and hatching are used for shading the upper sections of the face.  NOSE, MOUTH AND EARS: You complete the shading of the ears and the center section of the face with crosshatching graduations.  CHIN, GOATEE AND NECK: A full range of values is used to complete the lower section of the face, and the goatee and neck.  FINAL TOUCHES: After shading the shirt, you are encouraged to check over your drawing and make adjustments to sections you’re not completely happy with. This project is recommended for artists with strong drawing skills, who have a well-trained eye for details and an incredible amount of patience. Curriculum is designed for advanced students of home schooling, academic and recreational fine art educators. By the way, this entire project is rendered with 0.3mm and 0.5mm mechanical pencils, from 4H to 2B. 16 PAGES – 23 ILLUSTRATIONS Published by Hoddinott Fine Art Publishers, Halifax, NS, Canada – March, 2006 Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 2 SKETCHING WITH HELP FROM A GRID Many of my caricatures are rendered from life or memory; however, this particular project is done from a photo. A complex grid is used to properly place the facial features, and then, once I know where the features belong, I modify and/or exaggerate each as I want. To give you an idea of the time I spent on each phase of this drawing, I include my drawing diary. By the way, this entire project is rendered with 0.3mm and 0.5mm mechanical pencils, from 4H to 2B. This particular caricature has been waiting for conception ever since I first saw Lord Algernon dressed in his medieval garb. His wonderfully animated face is an artist’s delight, and lends itself perfectly to pretty much all media. ILLUSTRATION 02-01  Sunday 3 to 4 pm (1 hour total): I take photos with a digital camera, and download them to my computer. Compare the photo to the completed caricature. I exaggerated the size of his head, by drawing a disproportionately tiny neck and upper body. His eyes are rendered in greater detail than the rest of the drawing, and are drawn even larger than they are in the photo. I also modified his hair and goatee; some facial features, forms, and spaces; and added a fancy medieval shirt, instead of a t-shirt. ILLUSTRATION 02-02 The text instructions in this project guide you through the process of drawing a caricature from a photo. You can either follow along with me and draw Lord Algernon, or create an original caricature by drawing someone else. If you work from a photo, make sure you choose one in which the facial features are clear and in focus. 1. Draw a grid on your photo. Following are my two favorite methods for adding a grid to a photo. ¾ Use the lines of graph paper as guidelines to draw the horizontal and vertical grid lines with a fine tip ballpoint pen. ¾ If your photo is in digital format, draw a grid directly on the file in a photo imaging program (I use Adobe Photoshop). Then print the photo. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 3 Don’t forget to mark letters and numbers around the perimeter of the photo so you can identify each vertical and horizontal row.  Sunday 5 to 7 pm (3 hours total): I add a grid to the photo in Photoshop, and then print the file and mark numbers and letters on its top and sides. ILLUSTRATION 02-03 2. Press gently on your pencil to draw a grid on your paper. My drawing is one and a half times the size of the photo. Hence, I have one-quarter inch squares on the photo, and three- eighth inch squares on the drawing paper. If you don’t like measuring to draw the grid squares, you can tape the corners of your paper to a large sheet of graph paper. Then, use a ruler to connect the grid lines on opposite sides. Only the weight of the pencil itself created the very faint lines of both my grid and sketch. Needless to say, this illustration has been scanned much darker, so you can see it! Also, don’t forget to add letters and numbers to your drawing paper to correspond with those on the photo so you can identify each square as you work. Also, refer to Illustration 02-04. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 4  Sunday 8 to 11 pm (6 hours total): I draw a grid on the drawing paper, add numbers and letters, and then lightly sketch the face and hair. ILLUSTRATION 02-04 3. Use the grid squares to draw your subject. Also refer to Illustrations 02-03 and 02-05. When I work with a grid, I prefer to begin in the upper left and then work downward toward the right (I’m right handed). I use an HB pencil, and work on one square at a time, while constantly referring to my photo to make sure that I’m working in the correct squares. Drawing the contents of one grid square at a time is much simpler than trying to tackle a whole section at once. By the way, grids do not hinder artistic growth; rather, they serve as tools to make the learning process more pleasurable by helping with such challenges as rendering believable proportions and correct perspective. The most important component of learning to draw is maintaining the enthusiasm. Aspiring artists should feel comfortable in using whatever tools are available to them, such as viewfinder frames and grids, so as to create drawings that make them happy and subsequently motivated to continue onward. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 5 ILLUSTRATION 02-05  Monday 1 to 2 pm (7 hours total): lightly sketch the upper section of the shirt, and check over the drawing. The shirt is very roughly sketched at this point; more adjustments and additional details will be added in the final stages of the project. An ideal disproportionate width for the upper body on a caricature is approximately the width of the head. To accentuate his most distinctive feature, his eyes, I plan an overall tightly cropped composition. Strong drawing skills and a good knowledge of facial anatomy are important aspects of drawing caricatures and cartoons of people. In other words, when you know the rules, you know how to break them successfully! OUTLINING AND SHADING STRANDS OF CARTOON HAIR A well done preliminary drawing makes the shading phase of a project much simpler. Hence, you first outline all sections of the subject’s hair with thin lines, and then add shading according to a dominant light source from the upper right. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 6 ILLUSTRATION 02-06  Monday 6 to 9 pm: I outline the intricate details of the hair (10 hours total) 4. Use an HB pencil to outline each strand of hair. You now know why this project is in the advanced section! You need an incredible amount of patience. ILLUSTRATION 02-07 Remember to erase the grid lines in each section before you add the outlines. I used a 0.3mm mechanical pencil. If you’re using a regular pencil, keep it nice and sharp. As I outline the hair, I find it very helpful to follow each strand of hair from its origin to its ending, over, under, and behind other strands. Even though all the individual strands of hair are curved, many are thicker than others. They overlap and intertwine throughout the hair. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 7 ILLUSTRATION 02-08 5. Use a kneaded eraser to pat the hair until the outlines are very light in value. I’m into my third day of working on this project and can’t wait to start the shading. By the way, the hours spent working on this drawing, exclude the time I spent writing this text and making scans of the drawing in progress.  Tuesday 4 to 8 pm (14 hours total): I complete the final outlines and shading of the hair. ILLUSTRATION 02-09 6. Add shading to each section of hair. Remember, this drawing has a LOT of hair, so, if you don’t have an extraordinary attention span, choose a less tedious style of drawing. Experiment with different techniques to find a comfortable style for shading the hair before you begin. Rely on the light source from the upper right front, to tell you where to draw the light and dark values. In some of the shadow sections on the left, the values are very dark. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 8 7. Add dark outlines to the shadow sections of hair, and faint outlines to lighter sections. The shading is lighter on the right, with lots of the white paper showing through. I have also added a darker outline around the entire perimeter of the hair. ILLUSTRATION 02-10 The images in the next four sections of this tutorial are fairly self-explanatory, so you’ll find very little text from this point onward. Remember to erase the grid lines from each section before you begin adding shading. Then, pat that section with a kneaded eraser to lighten the sketch lines, and remove any remaining eraser crumbs. FOREHEAD, EYEBROWS, AND EYES In this section you use crosshatching graduations to add shading to the forehead and eyes, and hatching lines to complete the eyebrows. Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 9 8. Refer to the following four illustrations to draw the forehead, eyebrows, and eyes. Begin by shading the upper section of the forehead along the hairline, and slowly progress down the face toward the eyebrows. The shading that defines the forms of the forehead, eyes, and eye sockets is slightly darker on the left. Use a 2H pencil for the light areas, and an HB for the darker shadow areas. All the crosshatching lines used for the delicate facial shading are diagonal rather than horizontal and vertical. This is a matter of personal preference and style.  Wednesday 5 to 6 pm (15 hours total): I add shading to the forehead and around the upper sections of the eyes, and draw the eyebrows. ILLUSTRATION 02-11 For the eyebrows, use a shading style similar to that of the hair. The shading directly below the eyebrows, is relatively dark in value, especially on the left. Remember to keep your pencil point very sharp. ILLUSTRATION 02-12 Copyright to all articles, images, text, projects, lessons and exercises within this drawing class belong to Brenda Hoddinott and may not be reproduced or used for any commercial purposes whatsoever without the written permission of Brenda Hoddinott. E-mail bhoddinott@hoddinott.com Web sites http://www.finearteducation.com and http://www.drawspace.com 10 Outline the pupils, irises, and highlights, and add shading to the upper eyelids and the forms surrounding the eyes. Keep in mind that the shading on the left is darker than on the right. Draw tiny oval-shapes (rendered in much the same way as the hair and eyebrows) as eyelashes. The irises are shaded with an HB pencil, and the pupils with a 4B. The irises are darker on the right, the side where the highlight is drawn.  Wednesday 7 to 9 pm (17 hours total): I added shading to the eyes and the forms surrounding the eyes. ILLUSTRATION 02-13 ILLUSTRATION 02-14 NOSE, MOUTH, AND EARS In this section, you complete the shading on the face with crosshatching graduations. Remember to leave the highlight of the nose white, and to leave a light area along the shadow edge of the nose to represent reflected light. The values on the right side of the face are very light. Also, take note that the ear on the right is much lighter in value than the other. 9. Refer to the following seven illustrations, and complete the shading of the center sections of the face. . Brenda Hoddinott X-02 ADVANCED: FANTASY & FUN This project explores the process of drawing a caricature from a photo,. creating a passion for the subject matter, the quest for knowledge also becomes enjoyable. >Brenda Hoddinott< Born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Brenda grew up in the small town of Corner Brook.