202 My Obsession With Portraits

 Show Notes

Sharpened Artist: Colored Pencil Podcast

Release Date: May 13, 2019

Topic: My Obsession With Portraits

Points of Interest:

John talks about his experience of diving back into art about a decade ago. He started gathering instruction wherever he could – mentors, workshops, books, videos, etc. – and decided that he wanted to create his own comprehensive course someday to offer artists not just the how, but the why of portraiture! It finally came to fruition as the Face Value course within the Sharpened Artist Academy.

Check out the links below to see if it’s right for you!

Links Referenced

YouTube Video on Portrait Freehanding Demonstration

Free 30-day Audible Trial:

www.audibletrial.com/cppodcast

Looking for past episodes? The “Techniques” CD is a curated edition of some of our earlier shows. Click here to learn more!

John’s Twitter: @sharpenedartist

Lisa’s Twitter: @lachri

As always, thanks for listening! Tune in next week for more from John and Lisa. In the meantime, be sure to visit www.sharpenedartist.com for additional updates and information. You can also join our Facebook group, Colored Pencil Podcast, or contact us by email at podcast@sharpenedartist.com .

If you want more colored pencil inspiration, snag a FREE sample issue of the COLORED PENCIL MAGAZINE here!

Stay sharp!

031 Interview with Tanja Gant

Topic: Interview with Tanja Gant (self taught colored pencil artist)

Tanja talks about her process and approach to doing portraits in colored pencil.  She works in both colored pencil and graphite.  While her work in unique and easily identifiable, she pushes and challenges herself with each new drawing.  

See more of her work and check out her extensive portfolio at:  http://tanjagant.com/

Links:

http://tanjagant.com/

http://scottwaddellfineart.com/

Closing

As always, thanks for listening! Tune in next week for more from John and Lisa. In the meantime, be sure to visit www.sharpenedartist.com for additional updates and information. You can also join our Facebook group, Colored Pencil Podcast, or contact us by email at podcast@sharpenedartist.com.

Want to submit a question to be answered on the podcast? Email us or click here.

Are you ready to increase your presence online and maximize your art career? Click here to start the conversation today!

Affiliate Links:    http://www.audibletrial.com/CPPodcast

Stay sharp!

014 Portraits That AREN'T Creepy

Topic:  How to render portraits in colored pencil

Intro:  Lisa and John discuss colored pencil portraits AND the new Colored Pencil Paper by Strathmore

Every single part of drawing a portrait is laying the foundation for the final product.  

Before beginning, it is good to know what I want the outcome to look like.

So for me, there are 4 areas that I am most concerned with:

1. The layout - Am I going to trace an outline of the face or am I going to freehand?  Where is the subject going to be placed on the paper or canvas?  

2. The focus in the face - If the focus is not going to be the eyes then that particular feature needs to be something that I think about and make sure that I keep that the focus.  As I’m progressing through my rendering of the portrait I am still thinking about that focus area.  In other words, just because I may be working on a cheek, I don’t want to become unbalanced in that.  In my effort to render a cheek I still want the eyes to draw the viewer in.

3. Values and three-dimensional rendering in the face - For example, if I am drawing a nose.  Then I want to keep in my mind that at least I know in my mind that this is a nose and it has an apex at the very tip of the nose.  The tip of the nose will probably be lighter than any other part of the face because the 3D rules dictate that I do that.

4. Building my values slowly - I do not want to speed things up and start quickly laying down pigment with pencils, just because I know there’s a large area that needs this one color.  I want to take my time and very slowly build up the values so that everything is in balance.  At any time I could stop drawing and call the piece a complete rendering- IF, I’ve kept the right balance.

For me, the face or subject matter is something that should have continuity.  It is sort of like water flowing down a river in one direction or a musical piece.  There is a balance with music.  We don’t all of a sudden in the middle of a piece, typically, change all the instruments and change the time signature.   But rather, there is some confluence in the piece.  There is some flowing from one musical portion to the next.  

Drawing is no different.  

There must always be a balance.